Andrew Arewa

Human factors analysis and classification system for the oil and gas industry (HFACS-OGI)

The oil and gas industry has been beset with several catastrophic accidents, most of which have been attributed to organisational and operational human factor errors. The current HFACS developed for the aviation industry, cannot be used to simultaneously analyse regulatory deficiencies and emerging violation issues, such as sabotage in the oil and gas industry. This paper presents an attempt to improve the existing HFACS investigation tool and proposes a novel HFACS named the Human Factors Analysis and Classification System for the Oil and Gas Industry (HFACS-OGI). Results found the HFACS-OGI system to be suitable for categorising accidents, following the analysis of 11 accident reports from the US Chemical Safety Board (US CSB). The HFACS-OGI system moreover revealed some significant relationships between the different categories. Furthermore, the results indicated that failures in national and international industry regulatory standards would automatically create the preconditions for accidents to occur.

Analysis of Penalties Imposed on Organisations for Breaching Safety and Health Regulations in the United Kingdom

Background The study analyzes penalties imposed on organizations for breaching safety and health regulations. The research questions are as follows: what are the commonly breached safety and health regulations? How proportional are penalties imposed on organizations for breaching health and safety regulations in the United Kingdom? Methods The study employed sequential explanatory mixed research strategies for better understanding of health and safety penalties imposed on organizations. Actual health and safety convictions and penalties data for 10 years (2006 to 2016) were obtained through the United Kingdom Health and Safety Executive (HSE) public register for convictions. Overall, 2,217 health and safety cases were analyzed amounting to total fines of £37,179,916, in addition to other wide-ranging penalties. For thorough understanding, eight interviews were conducted with industry practitioners, lawyers, and HSE officials as part of the study qualitative data. Results Findings show that the Health and Safety at Work (HSW) Act accounted for 46% of all HSE prosecution cases in the last decade. This is nearly half of the total safety and health at work prosecutions. Moreover, there is widespread desire for organizations to comply with the HSW Act, but route fines are seen as burdensome and inimical to business growth. Conclusion A key deduction from the study reveal significant disproportionality concerning penalties imposed on organizations for breaching safety and health regulations. On aggregate, small companies tend to pay more for health and safety offenses in a ratio of 1:2 compared to large companies. The study also reveals that the HSW Act accounted for nearly half of the total safety and health at work prosecutions in the last decade.