Why didn’t we learn the lessons of Piper Alpha?

QUESTIONS should be asked why lessons learned from the Piper Alpha disaster oil platform 30 years ago did not help prevent more recent tragedies such as Grenfell Tower, Britain’s top safety expert said yesterday.

Martin Temple, head of UK safety watchdog HSE, said it was ‘pertinent’, following the death of 71 people in the London tower block last year, to reflect on why the watershed moment for the oil and gas industry did not have more wide-reaching implications for health and safety.

A total of 167 men died when the Piper Alpha offshore platform was ripped apart in a fireball on July 6, 1988.

Despite an inquiry and subsequent report by judge Lord Cullen of Whitekirk, there continue to be massive losses of lives in fires that could be prevented, Mr Temple said.

Speaking yesterday at a safety conference ahead of the 30th anniversary of the Piper Alpha disaster, Mr Temple said: ‘It’s pertinent following Grenfell to ask a question why so many submissions for managing risk that came into being out of Piper Alpha aren’t being applied to other parts of our society.’

Industry body Oil and Gas UK’s chief executive Deirdre Michie said there was ‘no room for complacency’, especially following the downturn of 2014 which has led to massive job losses and huge costcutting operations right across the industry.