RR738 - Accident statistics for offshore units on the UK Continental Shelf 1990-2007

This report adds additional data (for the years 2005 to 2007) to previous HSE reports. These additional statistics were commissioned by Oil & Gas UK with a financial contribution from HSE.

The work was to further processes data on offshore accident data reported to HSE. This report provides accident data for both fixed and floating offshore installations in the period 1990 to 2007. The report is in two parts. Part 1 of the report contains the full text and the accompanying tables and graphs. Part 2 is the associated Microsoft Excel spreadsheets – one for fixed installations, one for floating installations. These spreadsheets contain the incident coding and text of each original incident in a manner that maintains data confidentiality. The spreadsheets allow the user to more easily interrogate the accident data.

The coding of each incident is in accordance with DNV 'Worldwide Offshore Accident Databank' (WOAD). This allows for a chain of events to be attributed to a particular accident. One accident may comprise a chain of consecutive events (eg a blowout resulting in explosion, fire, and oil spill). The report gives both accident frequencies and event frequencies.

This report adds additional data (for the years 2005 to 2007) to previous HSE reports:

These reports can be referenced for data earlier than 1990 if required.

However, the spreadsheets for this report contain data for the full time period from 1980 to 2007.

This report and the work it describes were funded by Oil and Gas UK and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Its contents, including any opinions and/or conclusions expressed, are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect HSE policy.

The report can be viewed on the Oil and Gas UK website at:

Visit the RR738 report