The U.K. sector of the North Sea is on track to break records in 2009 for serious injuries and hydrocarbon releases, the new head of the Health and Safety Executive’s offshore division said Thursday.

While 2008 was a record good year with 61 hydrocarbon releases, there were 21 in the first three months of 2009, new HSE boss Steve Walker said. Hydrocarbon releases pose the greatest threat to lives, assets and ocean ecosystems.

Walker also said serious injuries were up dramtically, with people “running around trying to impress their superiors for fear of losing their jobs” in today’s atmosphere of economic uncertainty.

He pointed to 2008’s 30 major injuries offshore the United Kingdom, a historic best, but also the 21 serious injuries from slips, trips, falls and crushed body parts in the first 90 days of this year.

He singled out the North Sea’s aging rigs, saying he feared the owners of rigs “managing the aging” of their assets were using classification societies as “just a check in the box” to keep their older rigs compliant and earning day rates.

“We feel the (classification societies) could give (rig owners) much more than they’re getting about their installations,” Walker said.

Rig owners have been busy upgrading their rigs to serve beyond their 25-year design lives to up to 35 years.

He also said asset swaps were creating new dangers.

“It’s a potential risk area when any platform changes hands,” he said, adding that the details of a platforms history needed to be better passed on to new owners.

And there were new challenges: carbon capture, the frontier oil play West of Shetland and the installation of wind turbines.

“We’ve hiring. We’ve got vacancies,” he said.

Tags: CCS