Some 200 delegates of the Scottish offshore industry gathered in a football stadium in Edinburgh today and remembered an offshore disaster which marked the beginning of their modern health & safety regime.

Event visitors at Play Your Part Offshore Workforce Involvement Day in Murrayfield Stadium remembered the Piper Alpha platform disaster in 1988 which killed 167 people and cost an estimated $3 billion in insurance claims.

The 200 heard how the industry now faces ageing installations, changing ownership and management, worker skills shortages, inexperience and “lack of corporate memory by managers”. The event was organized by a unit of the U.K. Health & Safety Executive’s Offshore Industry Advisory Committee.

"Companies should develop approaches based on collaboration and trust,” said Head of the HSE’s offshore division, Ian Whewell.

Whewell advised more involvement of the workforce in investigations of incidents and accidents.

Delegates also heard how BP, Chevron and Maersk Contractors had improved their safety culture by learning what lessons the workforce could offer.

The Piper Alfa platform exploded at the Piper oilfield some 190 kilometres northeast of Aberdeen in 144 metres of water. While the most dangerous oil operations were kept furthest from crew areas on the platform, the same safety thinking was deemed overlooked when the platform added gas plant.

A number of factors were said to have contributed to the accident, including overlapping valve and pump maintenance, faulty routines and platform design.