By Clara Nwachukwu

For a while now, the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, Nigeria’s oil and gas industry regulator has been criticized for lapses in monitoring and supervising the sector, which is the stronghold ofs the economy.

However, most of these lapses have been attributed to lack of independence of the regulator, inadequate capital to fund its operations and shortage of requisite manpower to carry execute them

Despite these shortcomings, the DPR has struggled to fulfill its legitimate role, as best as it could, especially in the upstream sector that generates most of Nigeria’s wealth.

To this regard, the regulator introduced safety permit for offshore operations, against the backdrop of the high risks associated with offshore operations, the consequences of which are in most cases very grave, especially in terms of loss of personnel in an industry that thrives on expertise to break new grounds.

Purpose of permit

Inaugurating the Offshore Safety Permit, (Personnel Accountability System) recently in Abuja, the nation’s capital, the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, noted that the watchword for any industry operation, particularly that of petroleum, is safety.

According to her, “Our primary focus should be the safety and wellbeing of our workers, without which we would be unable to sustain our business.”

She further noted that “… the dynamic nature of our industry and the ever increasing scope of activities especially in the offshore and deep offshore regions necessitate that we keep pace with the industry with regard to monitoring Health Safety and Environment, HSE performance among its several functions.”

She explained it is against this backdrop that she approved the introduction of the safety permit to ensure proper accountability of men working in the offshore region.

Indeed, breaking new grounds in the industry is not so much of the brilliance and strength of the workers, but more of the type of technology deployed. As such, every worker in the sector should be valued because the retention of his job is limited to the extent that a new technology has not evolved to take it away from him. Consequently, the more automated the industry, the lesser men required.

Clarifying further, the Director, DPR, Mr. Andrew Obaje, said, “The main purpose (of the permit) is to guard against the loss of lives through effective training and ensure compliance with provisions of the Nigerian petroleum regulations and applicable international codes, standards and best practices to achieve the vision of zero offshore incidents.”

Accordingly, he listed the major advantages of the permit to include accurate and reliable data, integrated logistic monitoring, and visibility of certification details across the industry.

 Functions of the permit

Management of details of oil and gas workers

Provision of Emergency Response functionality

Tracking of personnel to and from worksites

Ensuring personnel have access to required medicals and competencies while at locations

Management of the transport of personnel to and fro locations, and a host of many others.

To streamline the operation of the safety permit DPR had to categorise offshore workers:

Category A – Divers and underwater worker.

Category B – Permanent offshore workers (whose stays are above three months in a year.

Category C – Temporary offshore workers (staying below three months annually)

Category D- Visitors to offshore facilities.

Safety permit

As a forerunner to the safety permit, the DPR said it began a sensitization programme for its implementation in 2004, through the HSE Managers Forum with a campaign for the establishment of internationally acceptable offshore training centres.

Such centres became a reality in 2007, after which the regulator sought approval for a new regulation that will enforce the practice in the industry.

The centres are intended to capture real time verification of the identity of all persons embarking on air and marine transportation to offshore platforms and locations; real time verification of the medical and safety training records of all staff going offshore; providing assurance through IT infrastructure that all personnel working offshore Nigeria adhere to existing medical health and safety regulations; and assurance that the competencies and skills of health and safety offshore personnel are not compromised.

To checkmate the flouting of these permit by industry operators, the DPR said it will issue the permit “in form of electronic card after necessary documentation and registration of individuals, thereafter, the data will be maintained in the National Data Repository, NDR.”

Clarifying on the legality of the permit, the DPR cited the powers conferred on it in Section 44 of the Petroleum (Drilling and Production) Regulations 1969, which demands that “The licencee or lessee shall comply with all existing safety regulations and all such instructions as may from time to time be given in writing by the DPR for securing the health and safety of persons engaged on or in connection with operation of his licence or lease.”

This regulation is given additional bite with the Mineral Oils (Safety) Regulations of 1997, which made safety training a mandatory requirement before embarking on any offshore activity, and provides the basis for applying the internationally acceptable standard for offshore training.

To further allay fears, the minister also noted that, “In order to meet the stringent requirements of the industry, the legal and regulatory framework are periodically reviewed to meet global best practice.”

She added that the Federal Government will continue to provide policies to ensure long term protection and sustenance of the safety of personnel and operation, while also promoting a healthy and competent workforce.