Safety Hazards Associated with Oil and Gas

Additional scientific description

The oil and gas industry will continue to play a vital role in providing affordable, reliable, and versatile energy solutions to support a growing global population. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), in 2024, oil and gas together accounted for over 50% of global energy demand. The challenge lies in balancing the reduction of emissions to address climate change while ensuring sufficient energy supply to support also meeting global economic development (IAEA, 2019).

Oil and gas extraction encompasses activities such as exploration, drilling, production, and construction. It also involves the transport of materials, planning, building, equipping and maintaining refineries and facilitating the delivery of energy products to end users. (ILO, 2010).

Oil and gas extraction poses significant risks, including damage to property, environmental degradation, and threats to human safety. These risks are heightened if activities are not adequately controlled, monitored or regulated. (Rodhi et al., 2018). Safety hazards associated with oil and gas extraction activities include but are not limited to (US Department of Labor, no date):

• Vehicle collision: workers and equipment are required to be transported to and from sites, which are often located in remote areas. Highway vehicle crashes are the leading cause of oil and gas extraction worker fatalities. In the United States, roughly four out of every ten workers on the job in this industry are killed as a result of a highway vehicle incident.
• Struck-by/ caught-in/caught-between: workers might be exposed to struck-by/caught-in/caught-between hazards from multiple sources such as moving vehicles or equipment, falling equipment, and high-pressure lines. In the United States, this hazard is responsible for three in five on-site fatalities in the oil and gas industry.
• Explosions and fires: flammable gases such as well gases, vapours, and hydrogen sulphide, can be released from wells, trucks, production equipment or surface equipment. Ignition sources can include static, electrical energy sources, open flames, lightning, cutting and welding tools, hot surfaces, and frictional heat. Workers in the oil and gas industry face these risks, particularly the risk of fire and explosion due to the ignition of flammable vapours or gases.
• Falls: can be a direct result of workers being required to access platforms located high above ground.
• Confined spaces: workers are often required to enter confined spaces such as petroleum and storage tanks, mud pits, reserve pits and other excavated areas. Safety hazards associated with confined space include ignition of flammable vapours or gases. Health hazards include asphyxiation and exposure to harmful chemicals. Confined spaces that contain or have the potential to contain a serious atmospheric hazard must be classified as permit-required confined spaces, tested prior to entry, and continuously monitored.
• Ergonomic hazards: oil and gas workers might be exposed to ergonomics-related injury risks such as lifting heavy items, bending, reaching overhead, pushing and pulling heavy workloads and performing the same tasks repetitively. Risk factors can be minimised or eliminated through interventions such as pre-task planning, using the right tools and education and awareness of potential hazards.
• High- pressure line and equipment: workers in this industry may be exposed to hazards from compressed gases or from high-pressure lines. This can be a result of internal erosion of lines which might result in leaks or line bursts.
• Electrical and other hazardous energy: industry workers may be exposed to uncontrolled electrical, mechanical, hydraulic, or other sources of hazardous energy if equipment is not designed, installed, and maintained properly.
• Machine hazards: oil and gas extraction workers may be exposed to a wide variety of rotating wellhead equipment including top drives and kelly drives, pumps, compressors, catheads, hoist blocks, belt wheels and conveyors, and might be injured if they are struck by or caught between unguarded machines.
• Planning and prevention: many countries within the industry use job safety analysis (ISA) processes to identify hazards and find solutions to reduce incidents that could lead to injury or fatalities.

Metrics and numeric limits

The International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (IOGP) recent ‘Safety Data Report’ concluded that fewer fatalities and injuries occurred in 2023 compared to the year prior (IOGP, 2024) and overall, a 36% reduction in the Fatal Accident Rate. In 2023, the industry experienced 27 fatalities in 17 separate incidents across 3.3 billion work hours. The largest proportion of fatalities was attributed to ’assault or violent act’. Data reported by IOGP members also recorded a decline in the number of injuries. In 2023, there were 0.84 injuries per million hours worked, 7% lower than in 2022 (IOGP, 2024).