Piper Alpha

Abstract

The explosion accident that occurred on board the offshore platform Piper Alpha in July 1988, it killed 165 people and cost billions of dollars in property damage. It was caused by a massive fire, which was not the result of an unpredictable accident but caused by accumulation of errors and questionable decisions. The destruction of the platform by an explosion and the subsequent massive oil and gas fire showed that the potential hazards of the offshore industry were greater than had been generally believed by the public and perhaps by the industry itself.

Content

Title Page

1.Introduction 1

2.Management Operation 2

2.1 The management and the structure

2.2 The objective of the management

3. Industrial Process 3

4. Cause of accident 4

4.1 Human factor

4.2 Design and Process Factor

4.3 Roots factor

5. The effect of the piper alpha disaster 6

5.1 Health

5.2 Environment and ecology

5.3 Damage/Environment/Health/Compensation cost

6. Improvement and Prevention 7

6.1 Design and Process

6.2 Human resource

6.3 Safety and health

7.Conclusion 9

8. Reference 10

1.Introduction

Piper Alpha was a North Sea oil production platform operated by Occidental Petroleum (Caledonia) Ltd. The platform began the oil production in 1976, first oil platform in the world and then later converted to gas production[1]. The piper alpha platform was ran by day shift and night shift worker. Both of the shift was operate the whole platform to continue supply the oil and gas. The platform have several essential personnel, which is OIM (offshore installation manager), (OTL)operations team leader,(OOE) offshore operation engineer,(BCO)ballast control operator (CRO)control room operators [2]. The plant operation of the alpha platform is receive the oil and gases from the other platform, send the gases to the another platform for compressed [3]. The cause of piper alpha platform on fire was due to the gas leak out with high pressure from the maintenance pipe, ignited and explode [4]. The first explosion cause another two big explosion and kill most of the worker, which has 165 worker. The rest survivor jump into the seabed to avoid themselves involve in explosion. In the end, the total lost is up to 3.4 billion is lost for the insurance. So, the purpose that I write the report is we can learn and improve the mistake that cause the piper alpha disaster.

2. Management and Operation

2.1 The management and structure

There have few personnel playing their important role in the platform to ensure the platform can function normally. First is OIM (offshore installation manager), which have ultimate authority during his/her shift and makes the essential decisions regarding the operation of the platform, handle procedures required to manage emergencies that may be encountered on platform and drill rig. Second is OTL (operations team leader), which supervise team operation on a day-to-day basis. She/he able to manage two or more sub-teams to execute the annual work plan, ensure persistent team momentum on various application in scope.

Third is the OOE(offshore operation engineer), the person in charge integrate and coordinate the planning and execution of shutdown activities in collaboration with Production Planning, Maintenance, Logistics and Procurement to ensure resource optimization and minimize shutdown duration. At the same time, manage a workforce to focus on core activities and ensure they react quickly to any unscheduled shutdown and rectify the problem.

Next is (CRO)control room operator, which responsible on a daily basis for keeping the rig afloat, also be involved with anchor running and retrieving operations during rig move plus a whole load of paperwork besides, work permits etc. And the last is (BCO)ballast control operator. They play the important role on the platform, ballast and de-ballast the rig as required to maintain station, monitor all ballast controls and related instrumentation, monitor variable deck load on a daily basis to calculate and maintain the rig's stability. Also carry out preventive maintenance on ballast control equipment and other marine equipment, assist in supervising the deck crew during routine and non-routine marine operation.

2.2 The objective of the management

2.2.1 Getting result with minimum efforts.

Secure maximum output with minimum efforts and resources is the main objective of management. Management is basically concerned with thinking and utilizing human, material and financial resource in such a manner that would result in best combination. This combination result in reduction of various costs.

2.2.2 Increasing the efficiency of factor of production

Through proper utilization of various factor of production, their efficiency can be increased to a great extent which can be obtained by reducing spoilage, wastage and breakage of all kinds, this in turn leads to saving of time, effort and money which is essential for growth and prosperity of the enterprise.

3. Industrial Process

The offshore platform piper alpha, which was located in was located in the British sector of the North Sea oil field and operated by Occidental Petroleum. The oil production was about 125,000 barrels per day. The Claymore field was discovered approximately one year after the Piper Field and operated under Licence Block 14/19. The Claymore platform was developed and the field