– It’s disturbing – E24

Industri Energi is concerned about the fires at Equinor’s LNG plant in Melkøya and at the company’s methanol plant in Tjeldbergodden.

Both fires are being investigated by the police, in addition to being investigated by the Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) and Equinor itself.

Industri Energi notes in a statement that the number of serious incidents in the oil business has doubled in 2020.

Therefore, the leader Frode Alfheim at Industri Energi will yell a warning:

– It is disturbing to have so many incidents at once, Alfheim tells E24.

– Then we have to do an additional check and make sure everything is in order. I know the PSA has a lot of pressure on this, and that also applies to companies. We cannot afford any more such incidents, he says.

Following the drop in oil prices in 2014, the oil industry implemented significant cost cuts. In 2020, a new drop in oil prices has once again focused on rationalization. Alfheim wants unions and safety representatives to be heard.

– When the security of the companies is now followed, the conclusions will be strengthened if the employee organizations are involved to the end in this work, he says.

– Must go deeper

Industry The energy manager is particularly concerned with ensuring that management systems in companies are good enough and that parties in working life and safety representatives have the opportunity to do their jobs.

– If there are conditions in the planning of the operation that contribute to things happening that should not happen, then it must be disclosed. We need to dig into this, says Alfheim.

Equinor has also reported oil leaks from the oil refinery in Mongstad, where the Norwegian Environment Agency ordered the company to clean up. Bellona leader Frederic Hauge also reported the leaks to police.

Bellona asks for her release

Bellona is now also addressing the situation of security representatives. Bellona leader Frederic Hauge sent a letter to the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs on Wednesday requesting that the security service in the oil and gas industry be exempted from ordinary job duties.

– The increase in serious incidents is shocking. Minister Asheim must take immediate steps to improve security, Hauge says in a press release.

It states that safety reps have too little time for safety work and are involved too late in decisions to be able to have a real impact.

– Deteriorating conditions for the security service constitutes in itself a security risk and will therefore also worsen all other cases this autumn. This disrupts the tripartite cooperation on which safety is based in the industry, says Hauge.

Letter to the Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority

Industri Energi has written a letter to the Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) saying that learning from the serious incidents is critical. The union believes that there has been a one-sided focus on cost reduction in the industry.

– Have the cost cuts been made at the expense of safety? We are used to reducing costs in both onshore and offshore operations, and we must be competitive. But we must see if this has gone too far, says Alfheim.

– I’ll be careful to conclude now. But we are constantly notified of our concerns and cost cuts are a recurring topic in discussions. When we have many incidents at once, we have to see if this may be part of the reason, he says.

The union is also concerned about orders that have not been properly carried out. The PSA has criticized Equinor after an inspection in Melkøya, because the company had not followed well enough the 2017 deviations related to the maintenance of electrical systems.

After the Tjeldbergodden fire, the Safe union expressed concern that longer intervals between maintenance could affect safety.

Now Industri Energi also says they are concerned about the delay in maintenance.

– This is related to cost cuts. The industry believes it has control over maintenance. But we also have to consider whether there may have been too long delays in maintenance in the industry, although I don’t want to conclude now that this is the case, says Frode Alfheim.

Modified practice following criticism from the Auditor General

Confidence in the industry may have been too high, Oil Director Anne Myhrvold told the Storting last year, after the Auditor General’s Office released a critical report on the audit.

The Office of the Auditor General accused the PSA of failing to uncover security concerns and not using reagents when necessary. Myhrvold promised the Storting to be more strict.

But the PSA hasn’t gotten any stronger in the rush after criticism from the Auditor General’s Office, says emeritus professor Jan Erik Vinnem. The audit has improved to ensure that deviations are tracked, but you think it is still too cumbersome.

Industri Energi notes that the PSA has been more concerned with keeping track of whether companies are actually implementing what they need to do. Alfheim believes that this has been correct.

– We experience that the PSA is more on than before, and we have asked them to continue with that, says Alfheim.

– Is the PSA too awkward?

– I won’t conclude with that at all. But if the audit needs more resources, the Storting must provide them, says Alfheim.

Irene Rummelhoff, director of Equinor, recently said that it is unacceptable that there have been two fires at the Equinor facility this fall. He announced measures to ensure that the company follows up on orders and has the necessary expertise.

– Here we must start a plan to increase security, Rummelhoff told Aftenbladet / E24 earlier this month.

New Equinor order

The Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority announced this week that Equinor received an order to correct “serious breaches of regulations” regarding employee engagement. The audit was applied to all operational areas of Equinor’s development and production unit in Norway.

The audit criticizes Equinor for not giving the security service enough time to do its job. Safety representatives play an important role in ensuring that companies address the health, environment, and safety of employees.

“The audit revealed that activities related to the improvement of the management system were being carried out and that employees were invited to participate, but that no arrangements were made for them to dedicate the necessary time to this work,” the PSA writes in the order letter. to Equinor.

In a report, the audit lists several deviations and points of improvement related to the protection service that have been identified through audits in the period 2016-2020.

This applies to fields like Sleipner, Troll C, Gullfaks B, Drift Vest / Trollfeltet, Veslefrikk, and Grane.

According to the PSA, Equinor will establish a working group that includes security representatives and management. The PSA sees this as a start to correcting the discrepancy.

– The serious events of recent times update things that have concerned us for a long time. It’s about participation. We are told that measures in the industry to stay competitive will not affect safety, but we still experience incidents that will not happen, says Alfheim.

– Then we must ensure that the industry and the Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority are sufficiently organized. There are many changes in the operations of this industry, and the criteria for success is that employees are involved and express their opinion from day one. That is our demand, he says.