Overview

Experience from major accidents in the past is an important source of information to prevent the occurrence of similar accidents in the future. There have been a number of major accidents in worldwide operations in the second half of the twentieth century. There has been a positive trend during the last 15 20 years, resulting in fewer and fewer major accidents.

This is a step in the right direction, but it has one drawback, in the sense that the important experience gained from these occurrences may be forgotten and not be brought forward to future generations. We have therefore seen it as important to document the experience from major accidents in the past, in a concise but still comprehensive manner. The information should be useful for modelling risks to offshore installations, but also as background information to explain why some of the requirements were implemented and why they may be important.

The main focus area is on hostile environments in North-west Europe, North Atlantic, South China Sea and similar environments. But also some of the major accidents in other areas have been included, where they are considered to give important lessons or messages for the future.

Also some accidents that had major accident potential and near-misses which could have developed into major accidents are covered, if they have important messages for the prevention of similar occurrences in the future. These are all from the North Sea, mainly from the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

For each accident we will describe the main...