About piper alpha placed at north sea, the platform began production in 1976, first as an oil platform and the. An explosion on the piper alpha platform occurred in july 1988. It was connected by an oil pipeline to flotta and by gas pipelines to two other installations. However, whereas the myriad lessons learned from this disaster are common knowledge among chemical and process engineers, the valuable safety lessons from this harrowing story are arguably not so obvious to laboratory chemists. Before i got to grips with the enquiry i assumed it would be to do with hardware, and to some extent it was, for instance subsea isolation valves that were lacking in the case of piper alpha. This workshop utilizes a case study of the tragic event of the explosion and fire at the piper alpha oil platform in the north sea which resulted in the loss of 167 lives. Highlights piper alpha offshore oil platform disaster used as a safety case study. Nasa embraces system safety assessment in npr 8715. Introductionthis is a case study about the piper alpha disaster, on the management operations and structures, the objective of the management, the industrial process of the platform, the causes of the accident together with the consequences of the accident and case study on the improvement and the prevention of such disaster again. Piper alpha was a large north sea oil platform that started production in 1976. About piper alpha placed at north sea, the platform began production in 1976, first as an oil platform and then later converted to gas oil production started in 1976 with about 250,000 barrels 40,000 m3 of oil per day increasing to 300,000 barrels 48,000 m3 a gas recovery m. Within seconds a major unstabilised crudeoil fire developed and all but the wellhead area and the lower parts of the platform were engulfed in smoke. The failure of the piper alpha was an engineering disaster caused by a fatal gas leak and subsequent explosions on 5th july 1978, reducing her to a wreck and killing 167 of her crew members. Given the enormity of the first tragedy and the careful analysis of its.
Lecture by brian appleton technical adviser to the enquiry on piper alpha accident. May 25, 2014 importance learning from major incident piper alpha disaster 1 comment i t is vital that lessons are learned from all major incidents, as management, cultural and technical failure i. Pdf preventable disasters in the offshore oil industry. The piper alpha was built at mcdermotts offshore construction yard for occidental petroleum to extract hydrocarbons from the piper field in the north sea.
Outline about piper alpha platform the happening event timeline cause of the disaster effect of the disaster key failures improvement and prevention conclusion 2 3. Almost 30 minutes worth of detailed video footage from the piper alpha disaster and the subsequent accident investigation. Ebook or pdf edited book email encyclopedia article govt. A disaster which could have been, if not totally adverted, dramatically changed in course without the horrible loss of human life. June 2008 credited to conocophillips project development. Piper alpha re ceived and sent to the shore the oil and gas production of a group of platforms. Piper alpha disaster engineering bibliographies cite.
It provides the basis of discussion, analysis and training in a variety of ohs areas, including risk assessment, permit to work, emergency procedures, safety design and more. Jun 23, 2010 piper alpha disaster on an oil and gas platform in the north sea, july 1988 background what happened a series of explosions and an oil fed fire on the piper alpha oil and gas platform in the north sea on 6th july 1988, 120 miles northeast of aberdeen, killed 167 men. It utilizes a case study of the tragic event of the explosion and fire at the piper alpha oil platform in the north sea which. Importance learning from major incident piper alpha disaster.
Download as ppt, pdf, txt or read online from scribd. Piper alpha presentation free download as powerpoint presentation. Engineering ethics chernobyls case study tutorialspoint. Using concept maps to assess learning of safety case. Piper alpha platform, north sea offshore technology oil. Jul 15, 20 i was also very conscious of the deadly and profound effect of the disaster. Download adobe acrobat or click here to download the pdf file. The stateoftheart of knowledge at time of piper alpha in a. Root cause analysis ype wijnia 27 february 2015 in a study of the history of asset management just someone1 pointed me on the importance of the accident on the piper alpha for the development of asset management.
The disaster caused the death of 165 men out of 226. The case of the piper alpha accident is particularly interesting for several reasons. A case study in accident investigation piper alpha. If the piper alpha disaster occurred today, discuss the current safety legislative regime that will apply. The longterm psychological effects of surviving a major disaster are poorly understood. Pdf this article compares two industrial disasters in the offshore oil industry, the. The offshore installations safety case regulations came into force in 1992. It should also be noted that, in the immediate aftermath of the piper alpha disaster, operators spent an estimated. The two primary case studies produced by the nasa safety center are the safety and mission assurance sma focus and the system failure case study. As shifts changed and the night crew aboard piper alpha assumed duties for the evening, one of the platforms two condensate pumps failed.
The accident that occurred on board the offshore platform piper alpha in july 1988 killed 167 people and cost. Piper alpha disaster on an oil and gas platform in the. Piper alpha case study petroleum industry hydrocarbons scribd. A disaster which could have been, if not totally adverted, dramatically changed in course without the horrible loss of human lif. It began production in 1976, initially as an oilonly platform but later converted to add gas production.
The operating companies cite the o5 billion targeted for improvements in safety since piper alpha for example, brandie, 19945, and the apparent success of the post piper alpha safety committee system for example, bbc tv, 1996 as proof that a former complacency towards standards of. Piper alpha that killed 167 workers in the worlds deadliest offshore oil industry disaster. Piper alpha was an oil production platform in the north sea approximately 120 miles 190 km northeast of aberdeen, scotland, that was operated by occidental petroleum caledonia limited. The explosion and fire on the piper alpha platform, 6 july. On the eve of the 25th anniversary of the piper alpha disaster, a north sea oil and gas insider claims safety measures are made a mockery by management bullying. A poor quality safety case was found causal to the 2006 raf nimrod crash, killing all 14 crew members. Occidental piper alphas operator, which was found guilty of having inadequate maintenance and safety procedures the enquiry made 106 recommendations for changes to north sea safety procedures. Case study presentation on piper alpha and san juanico incident conference on chemical industrial disaster management cidm c. Students were required to prepare concept maps using piper alpha disaster as the domain.
Industrial disaster management cidm the piper alpha a large fixed platform was located in the piper field in north sea, some 110 miles northeast of aberdeen. Survivors of the piper alpha oil platform disaster. Piper alpha presentation safety emergency incident. Piper alpha was an oil production platform in the north sea approximately 120 miles 190 km. It is a great case study for universities to look at. While this 5 summary has been condensed and paraphrased, it is believed to been consistent with the. Human and organisational factors in major accident prevention. Learning from the piper alpha accident the offshore platform piper alpha, which was lo cated in the british sector of the north sea oil field and operated by occidental petroleum, was engulfed in a catastrophic fire on july 6, 1988. The change in safety management for offshore oil and gas production systems. Piper 1 piper alpha case history the following information has been taken from the uk government publication the public inquiry into the piper alpha disaster the lord cullen report.
It produced oil from 24 wells and in its early life it had also produced gas from two wells. The investigation into the piper alpha disaster has much to teach us thirty years on. At the time of the disaster, piper was one of the heaviest platforms along with magnus and. Analysis of 460 valid concept maps shows that after 15 weeks students still retained knowledge of the event. Sea piper alpha disaster nasa safety center, system failure case study, may. Subsequent repairs required 96 hours of nonproductive time before the rig could resume drilling. The chernobyl disaster was nuclear accident that occurred at chernobyl nuclear power plant on april 26, 1986. Just a sample of presentation format for piper alpha disaster cause which may help u in preparation for something like this in the future. Aug 20, 20 by november 1995, a safety case for every installation in uk waters had been accepted by the hse. Twentyfive years ago the piper alpha disaster changed the oil and gas landscape but have the safety lessons been learnt. The accident killed 165 out of 226 crew members and two crew members from the standby vessel sandhaven. This paper examines the following aspects of offshore safety in oil and gas production systems before and after the piper alpha disaster. Piper alpha 25 years on have we learned the lessons.
Landmark piper alpha cullen report now free to download. These are the sources and citations used to research piper alpha disaster. Pdf survivors of the piper alpha oil platform disaster. Bibliography building process safety culture tool kit. Case study presentation on piper al pha and san juanico incident conference on chemical industrial disaster management cidm c. As part of its macondo investigation, the csb held a public hearing in december 2010 on the international use of. Aug 01, 20 lecture by brian appleton technical adviser to the enquiry on piper alpha accident. She added that the issues aboard the deepwater horizon mirrored those on the piper alpha 20 years before, but that instead of being used as a case study, this near miss was not reported. In 4 cases, the cause of death could not be established, and 30 bodies were never recovered. May 06, 20 case is on ly as good as th e commitment made to its preparation and implementation. We undertook a survey of survivors of the piper alpha oil platform disaster 1988. A look back at the love c disaster buffalo news letter parade needs more paing not less candy grand philadelphia why natural disasters aren t all that opendemocracy pressreader focus science and technology 2018 03 07 can will technology be worst rail accidents in the uk hubpages the world s worst train disasters 1915 gretna rail. Jul 04, 20 on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the piper alpha disaster, a north sea oil and gas insider claims safety measures are made a mockery by management bullying. This platform, located in the north sea approximately 110 miles from aberdeen, scotland, had 226 people on board at the time of the event, 167 including, two emergency response personnel died during a rescue attempt.
The piper alpha incident is still regarded as the worst offshore oil disaster in the history of the uk. Case studies case studies take an indepth look at a particular topic or situation. An explosion and resulting oil and gas fires destroyed piper alpha on 6 july 1988, killing 167. Learning from the piper alpha accident semantic scholar. The report was previously only available in print at a cost of. Furthermore, macondo raises regulatory concerns for the us just as the 1988 piper alpha disaster.
Assuming the piper alpha disaster happens today, there will be a very thorough revision of the previously accepted safety case to ensure that that the operator have followed all the procedures and arrangements described in the safety case and which had been accpted by the hse. By november 1995, a safety case for every installation in uk waters had been accepted by the hse. Safety engineering and risk management debate 2012. Conference on chemical industrial disaster management cidm 1 1 case study presentation on piper alpha and san juanico incident conference on chemical industrial disaster management cidm c. A study carried out for the department of energy, 1983 technica. Safety engineering and risk magement debate 2012 discussion topic 4. It appears your web browser is not configured to display pdf files. Within seconds a major unstabilised crudeoil fire developed. The piper alpha disaster paved way for offshore safety case, formal safety. In the case of piper alpha management, shortcomings emerged in a variety of forms. The operating companies cite the o5 billion targeted for improvements in safety since piper alpha for example, brandie, 19945, and the apparent success of the post piper alpha safety committee system for example, bbc tv, 1996 as proof that a former complacency towards standards of safety offshore has changed. This program utilizes a case study of the explosion and fire at the piper alpha oil platform in the north sea which resulted in the loss of 167 lives.
The change in safety management for offshore oil and gas. Piper alpha was an oil production platform in the north sea operated by occidental petroleum caledonia limited. Using concept maps to assess learning of safety case studies. The piper alpha disaster in which 167 men lost their lives occurred on 6th july 1988. Piper alpha case study rod sylvesterevans rse consultants limited, edinburgh, uk 127 7 the piper alpha disaster in which 167 men lost their lives occurred on 6th july 1988. It began production in 1976, but on july 6, 1988 it was the site of the worlds. Incident reconstruction piper alpha case study forensic. Importance learning from major incident piper alpha disaster 1 comment i t is vital that lessons are learned from all major incidents, as management, cultural and technical failure i.
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