We continually work to reduce risk and ensure the safety of everyone working for us by setting the right tone at the top and then rigorously implementing standards and policies, training, raising awareness, and sharing information.
Our safety framework
Our Harbour Energy HSES Management System Standard consists of 14 elements, which apply across our entire business. This standard is aligned to key external standards and management system models including ISO 14001, ISO 45001, the Energy Institute Process Safety Management Framework and the International Oil and Gas Producers (IOGP) Standard Number 510. It defines the minimum standards for HSES management endorsed by our Board via the HSES Committee. Our HSES Management System Standard will be supported by new global standards, using best practices from across the Group.
In response to an increasing number of high potential incidents and concerns arising from audits and incident investigations, we introduced a two-step safety campaign in our North Sea business unit: Reversing the Trend, followed by Back to Basics.
Reversing the Trend
Focused on increasing leadership visibility on safety issues. Senior leaders made offshore safety visits, re-enforcing the 'stop the job' authority. They led briefings to offshore crews at the heliport, joined toolbox talks at worksites and discussed the risks, active monitoring and learning from events.
Back to Basics
An ongoing programme, focusing on hazard identification and risk mitigation, control of work simplification, dropped objects and lifting, and contractor engagement. A similar campaign is being run in our international business unit focusing on weak signals, application of procedures, respecting hazards and contractor management as areas of improvement.
In 2023, Harbour delivered an improved safety performance, with our total recordable injury rate reduced to 0.7 (2022: 0.8) per million hours worked. In addition, we achieved two firsts for Harbour with zero lost time injuries and no serious (Tier 1 or 2) process safety events. This improvement was supported by the company-wide Back to Basics safety campaign which was initiated in 2022 and is now fully embedded throughout our business.
We also track high potential (HiPo) incidents - those that could have resulted in a serious injury. In 2022, we recorded 13 HiPos compared to eight in 2021.
Our overall high potential incident rate has increased from 0.68 per million hours worked in 2021 to 1.08 in 2022. The increase in number of high potential incidents was a serious concern and prompted a management intervention - the launch of our Back to Basics safety campaign. While its impact is too early to assess, we experienced a drop in HiPo incidents during the fourth quarter of the year.
We had no work-related occupational illness incidents during 2022.