Ole Andreas Engen

Offshore Safety Regimes—A Contested Terrain

This chapter introduces a framework for analysis, and assesses the variance in risk regulating regimes. The legitimate base for risk regulations is grounded in common values stating that citizens should be protected against accident risks, implying that no use of technology should damage individual or public interests. The chapter presents important phases in development of the offshore regimes. The North Sea risk offshore regime has been developed through different phases over a period of 50 years. After the Macondo disaster, members of the EU Parliament raised questions about how robust the existing risk regulatory approaches for offshore health and safety regulation was among the Member States. The Norwegian response concludes by accepting the Commissions intention by proposing a regulation to obtain the same level of safety in all member states with offshore petroleum activities. Safety regulations for workers and safety of the environment have different ideological, institutional and legal foundations. Keywords: EU Parliament; Macondo disaster; Member States; North Sea risk offshore regime; Norwegian response

Critical incidents and social construction of corporate social responsibility

Purpose - This paper seeks to address how major companies adjust their behaviour and definitions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) when exposed to “critical incidents”. Design/methodology/approach - This is a qualitative explorative study including two cases from the Norwegian oil and gas industry, both reflecting critical incidents that are included in the present study: the Utkal case of Norsk Hydro and the Iran corruption case of Statoil. Findings - The critical incidents reported here resulted in changes in decision making and the reformulation of corporate strategies. The findings reported also reveal how the construction of CSR policy and the construction of the reality of the different stakeholders were transferred between companies, NGOs and civil society. Research limitations/implications - Only a small sample of events and companies is investigated in the study. Accordingly, future research is needed on how legislation and government regulations affect a broader scale of different companies and how complex organisations manage individual and organisational challenges concerning all aspects of CSR. Practical implications - Assuming that critical incidents influence organisational attention, interpretation and actions, the study indicates that the incidents can be seen as catalysts for the emergence of new CSR policy. New CSR policy is expressed in the patterns of social behaviour. This implies participating in diverse social networks, partnerships and learning forums and that CSR behaviour is constructed in the interaction between company, NGOs, media and business networks. Originality/value - Similar studies have not previously been undertaken in Norwegian oil companies.

Preventing major accidents and the language of complexity

Abstract In this article, the question of language is considered from the perspective of safety science, as a marker of potential limitations in current risk management practices in high-risk industries. Our main concern is understanding how the language used in daily risk management practices may serve or disserve the prevention of major accidents, as well as what opportunities being aware of such language may yield for improving current practices. We propose 10 different ways of assessing the strengths and limitations of risk management practices through the lens of the language in use. Our main intention is to clarify what characterizes the language of complexity, and how it may contribute to a more functional approach to the prevention of major accidents on a practical level.

Power, trust and robustness – the politicization of HSE in the Norwegian petroleum regime

Abstract Recent studies of offshore oil and gas industry problematize the role of supervisory bodies with respect to the audit functions, the legal basis of the supervisory bodies, and the role conflicts that arise when handling a function-based regulatory regime. This paper addresses how trust and the execution of power among the Petroleum Safety Authority, Norway, (PSA) and the petroleum industrial actors will affect the robustness of the Norwegian safety regime on the Norwegian continental shelf. This requires a twofold discussion wherein we will use empirical evidence to answer two questions: (1) how a function-based regulatory regime presupposes a balance of power and trust between the actors in play, resulting in a possible politicization of the HSE field; and (2) how politicization of HSE may affect the robustness of the Norwegian petroleum regime. The analysis is based focus group interviews from 2013 and 2014.