A guide to the well aspects of the Offshore Installations and Wells (Design and Construction, etc) Regulations 1996 Guidance on Regulations

This is a free-to-download, web-friendly version of L84 (second edition, published 2008). This version has been adapted for online use from HSE’s current printed version.

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ISBN 978 0 7176 6296 8 Price £10.50

This second edition of L84 is a minor revision, which takes into account changes to the regulations and the guidance since the first edition. The guide is for people affected by the well aspects of the Offshore Installations and Wells (Design and Construction, etc) Regulations 1996. It offers a simple explanation of the main provisions of the Regulations to help well operators, installation operators, installation owners, employers, managers, safety representatives, safety committee members and others involved with offshore activities.

This publication was prepared following widespread consultation with representatives of the Confederation of British Industry and industry associations representing offshore operators and contractors, the Trades Union Congress and offshore unions, other interested organisations, and government departments.

HSE Books Page 1 of 22

© Crown copyright 2008

First published 1996 Second edition 2008

ISBN 978 0 7176 6296 8

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

Applications for reproduction should be made in writing to: The Office of Public Sector Information, Information Policy Team, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU or e-mail: licensing@opsi.gov.uk

This guidance is issued by the Health and Safety Executive. Following the guidance is not compulsory and you are free to take other action. But if you do follow the guidance you will normally be doing enough to comply with the law. Health and safety inspectors seek to secure compliance with the law and may refer to this guidance as illustrating good practice.

Contents Preface 4

Introduction Scope of the Regulations 5 Relationship between these Regulations and other health and safety law 6 General health and safety legislation 6 Offshore Installations (Safety Case) Regulations 2005 6 Borehole Sites and Operations Regulations 1995 6 Prevention of Fire and Explosion, and Emergency Response Regulations 6 Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 6

Regulation 1 Citation and commencement 7 Regulation 2 Interpretation 7 Definition of a well 8 Definition of a well-operator 9 Regulation 3 Application 10 Regulation 13 General duty 10 Regulation 14 Assessment of conditions below ground 11 Pre-design stage 11 Post-design stage 12 Regulation 15 Design with a view to suspension and abandonment 12 Regulation 16 Materials 12 Regulation 17 Well control 13 Regulation 18 Arrangements for examination 14 Regulation 19 Provisions of drilling etc information 16 Regulation 20 Co-operation 17 Regulation 21 Information, instruction, training and supervision 17 Regulation 23 Certificates of exemption 18 Regulation 27 Revocation 18

Schedule 3 Revocation 19

Appendix 1 List of abbreviations 20 Appendix 2 References and further reading 21

Preface This guide to the well aspects of the Offshore Installations and Wells (Design and Construction, etc) Regulations 1996 (SI 1996/913) (DCR) is intended to help people who may be affected by the Regulations to understand what they require. It is a simple explanation of the main provisions of the Regulations to help well operators, installation operators, installation owners, employers, managers, safety representatives, safety committee members and others involved with offshore activities.

Detailed guidance on other matters covered in the Regulations may be found in A guide to the integrity, workplace environment and miscellaneous aspects of the Offshore Installations and Wells (Design and Construction, etc) Regulations 1996.1

Introduction 1 This book gives guidance on the well aspects of the Offshore Installations and Wells (Design and Construction, etc) Regulations (SI 1996/913) (DCR), which came into force in 1996. For convenience, the text of the Regulations is included in italics, with the appropriate guidance immediately below, in plain text. Where the Regulations are self-explanatory, there is no comment.

2 This publication was prepared following widespread consultation with representatives of the Confederation of British Industry and industry associations representing offshore operators and contractors, the Trades Union Congress and offshore unions, other interested organisations, and government departments.

3 The well provisions of the Offshore Installations and Wells (Design and Construction, etc) Regulations 1996 (referred to as ‘the Regulations’ in this guidance) are concerned with the safety of wells both onshore and offshore. They replaced the Offshore Installations (Well Control) Regulations 1980 (SI 1980/1759), the Offshore Installations (Well Control) (Amendment) Regulations 1991 (SI 1991/308) and regulation 15 and Schedule 4 of the Offshore Installations (Operational Safety, Health and Welfare) Regulations 1976 (SI 1976/1019). The main duties introduced by the well provisions were:

(a) to ensure that a well is designed, modified, commissioned, constructed, equipped, operated, maintained, suspended and abandoned so that risks from it are as low as is reasonably practicable; (b) to conduct an assessment of conditions below ground before starting a well; (c) to ensure that the design and construction of a well satisfactorily address its subsequent suspension and abandonment; (d) to ensure that before the design of a well is started or adopted, a well examination scheme is in place for ensuring that the well is designed and constructed so that so far as is reasonably practicable there can be no unplanned escape of fluids, and that the risks to people’s health and safety are as low as is reasonably practicable; (e) to provide regular reports of well operations activity to HSE; (f) to promote competence in those who carry out well operations by ensuring they receive appropriate information, instruction, training and supervision.

Scope of the Regulations

4 With the exception of regulation 17, the Regulations apply to wells offshore and on land. Regulation 17, which deals with well control equipment, applies offshore only. This is because an equivalent onshore provision had already been provided by regulation 9 and Schedule 2 of the Borehole Sites and Operations Regulations 1995 (SI 1995/2038) (BSOR).2

5 The requirements are additional to the well notification requirements contained in other UK health and safety legislation. Offshore, the requirement to notify HSE of certain well drilling operations is provided for in regulation 17 of the Offshore Installations (Safety Case) Regulations 2005 (SCR) (SI 2005/3117).3 Guidance on these matters is provided in A guide to the Offshore Installations (Safety Case) Regulations 2005.4 The parallel requirement onshore is provided for in regulation 6(1) of BSOR. Further guidance is provided in HSE publication A guide to the Borehole Sites and Operations Regulations 1995.5

Relationship between these Regulations and other health and safety law

6 These Regulations complement various other health and safety requirements which also apply to well operations. Each regulation describes specific interfaces. This section describes how the Regulations fit in with general health and safety legislation and with SCR.

General health and safety legislation

7 The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HSWA)6 places general duties on all employers to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of their employees and of others who might be affected by their undertaking (HSWA, sections 2 and 3). These general duties are supplemented by the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (MHSWR)7 which contain requirements on risk assessments, health and safety arrangements, health surveillance, providing competent persons and the co-operation and co-ordination of health and safety activities between different employers and the self-employed.

Offshore Installations (Safety Case) Regulations 2005

8 The Offshore Installations (Safety Case) Regulations 2005 require employers to submit a safety case for acceptance by HSE for every offshore installation. This should address hazards with the potential to cause a major accident, including those associated with wells, both on the installation and connected to it. Regulation 12(1) of SCR requires a demonstration of the adequacy of the safety management system to ensure compliance with health and safety requirements.

Borehole Sites and Operations Regulations 1995

9 Onshore, BSOR requires an operator to prepare a health and safety document before starting borehole operations. The health and safety document identifies risks associated with operations and details plans for dealing with and managing these risks. The HSE publication, A guide to the Borehole Sites and Operations Regulations 1995 gives more guidance on this.

Prevention of Fire and Explosion, and Emergency Response Regulations

10 There is also an interface between this part of DCR and the requirements of the Offshore Installations (Prevention of Fire and Explosion and Emergency Response) Regulations 1995 (PFEER).8 The assessment of major accident hazards required by regulation 5 of PFEER will need to consider hazards associated with wells and their control; and, as additionally required by regulation 9, the dutyholder must ensure appropriate measures are taken, with a view to preventing fire and explosion, in particular the uncontrolled release of flammable or explosive substances.

Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998

11 There is an interface between the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER)9 and the wells provisions of DCR. DCR defines a well to include equipment for containing the pressure in it and some of this equipment may also be covered by PUWER (whose primary objective is to ensure the provision of safe work equipment and its safe use). Where PUWER applies to equipment on or in the well, no additional requirements are imposed by this regulation. A dutyholder may cite (and need not repeat) work carried out under the well examination scheme required by regulation 18 of DCR.

Regulation Regulation 1 Citation and commencement 1 These Regulations may be cited as the Offshore Installations and Wells (Design and Construction, etc) Regulations 1996 and shall come into force on 30 June 1996.

Regulation Regulation 2 Interpretation (1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires –

“the 2005 Regulations” means the Offshore Installations (Safety Case) Regulations 2005(a);

“the 1995 Order” means the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (Application outside Great Britain) Order 1995(b);

“the 1995 Regulations” means the Offshore Installations and Pipeline Works (Management and Administration) Regulations 1995(c);

“duty holder” in relation to an installation, means the person who is the duty holder as defined by regulation 2(1) of the 1995 Regulations in relation to that installation;

“environmental conditions” means –

(a) meteorological and oceanological conditions; and (b) properties and configuration of the seabed and subsoil;

“the Executive” means the Health and Safety Executive;

“fixed installation” means an installation other than a mobile installation;

“installation” means an offshore installation within the meaning of regulation 3, except sub-paragraphs (a) and (b), and paragraph (ii) of sub-paragraph (c) of paragraph (3), of the 1995 Regulations;

“integrity” means structural soundness and strength, stability and, in the case of a floating installation, buoyancy in so far as they are relevant to the health and safety of persons;

“licensee” means any person to whom a licence to search and bore for and get petroleum in respect of any area within relevant waters is granted pursuant to section 3 of the Petroleum Act 1998;

“management system” means the organisation and arrangements established by a person for managing his undertaking;

“mobile installation” means an installation which can be moved from place to place without major dismantling or modification, whether or not it has its own motive power;

(a) SI 2005/3117. (b) SI 1995/263. (c) SI 1995/738.

Regulation “safety case” means a document described in regulation 2(2) of the 2005 Regulations which is required to be prepared pursuant to a provision of those Regulations;

“traffic route” means a route for pedestrians, vehicles or both and includes any stairs, staircase, fixed ladder, doorway, gateway, loading bay or ramp;

“well” means –

(a) a well made by drilling; and (b) a borehole drilled with a view to the extraction of minerals through it or another well, 2 and shall be deemed to include any device on it for containing the pressure in it;

Guidance Definition of a well

12 This definition applies to all wells in the offshore sector, whether they are connected to a fixed installation, mobile installation, ship or stand-alone well on the seabed. It also applies to certain wells on land in Great Britain drilled for the extraction, or in connection with the extraction, of oil and gas. The guidance on regulation 3 (Application) makes clear the scope of the coverage of the Regulations to both sectors.

13 Sub-paragraph (b) of the definition includes injection and monitoring wells. The definition does not cover boreholes that are drilled solely for the purpose of exploring for minerals, which are then to be extracted by another method, eg searching for aggregates on the seabed which are then exploited by dredging, or land boreholes drilled to search for coal reserves which are then exploited by a different method.

14 The well is defined in terms of its pressure containment boundary. Any equipment that is vital to controlling the pressure within the well is therefore covered. This would include downhole pressure-containing equipment and the pressure-containing equipment on top of the well such as blowout preventers or Christmas trees, but excludes well control equipment downstream that can be isolated from the well by valves. Examples of where the well ends are:

(a) above the top blowout preventer (BOP) in the BOP stack and outside the choke and kill valves; 2 (b) downstream of the swab and production wing valves of a Christmas tree; (c) at the top of the stuffing box of a wireline BOP.

Regulation 2 “well intervention operation” means an operation in which a well is re-entered for a purpose other than to continue drilling or to maintain or repair it;

Guidance 2 15 A well intervention operation is an operation which involves entering the pressure boundary of the well.

Regulation “well-operator”, in relation to a well, means the person appointed by the licensee for a well to execute the function of organising and supervising all operations to be 2 carried out by means of such well or, where no such person has been appointed, the licensee;

Guidance Definition of a well-operator

16 This regulation defines a well-operator as the person appointed by the licensee to organise and supervise operations associated with the well. The licensee is usually a consortium of oil companies, granted a licence by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), and they usually appoint from amongst themselves the well-operator to operate the licence and exploit the field. They may also choose to appoint an outside contractor. This is the person with sufficient knowledge of the reservoir and well structure to achieve the safe design, construction, maintenance, operation and eventual abandonment of the well. In either case, the well-operator will have all control of the organisation and supervision of well operations. A contractor would have to be provided with all the information necessary to discharge the duty of well-operator.

17 The well-operator will normally be the same person as the operator identified under the appropriate current model clause of the applicable Petroleum (Production) Regulations (eg Model Clause 24 of the Petroleum (Production) 2 (Seaward Areas) Regulations 1988 or Model Clause 15 of Schedule 6 of the Petroleum (Production) (Landward Areas) Regulations 1991).

Regulation “workover operation” means an operation in which a well is re-entered for the purpose of maintaining or repairing it; and

“workplace” means any workroom or other place on an installation used mainly for the performance of work, and does not include a traffic route.

(2) Any reference in these Regulations to operating an installation is a reference to using it for any of the purposes described in regulation 3(1) of the 1995 Regulations.

(3) Where a duty holder in relation to an installation, or a well-operator, is succeeded by a new duty holder or well-operator, anything done in compliance with these Regulations by the former duty holder or operator in relation to the 2 installation or the well shall, for the purpose of these Regulations, be treated as having been done by his successor.

Guidance 18 In relation to wells, this paragraph allows credit to be taken by the current well-operator for work done by a previous well-operator in compliance with the requirements of the Regulations. Such work does not have to be done again. However, the new well-operator must satisfy himself with the arrangements in place and confirm they fulfil the regulatory requirements. The regulation is not intended to 2 imply the new well-operator would bear responsibility for any failure of the previous well-operator to meet these Regulations.

Regulation (4) Unless the context otherwise requires –

(a) any reference in these Regulations (apart from Schedule 2) to –

(i) a numbered regulation or Schedule is a reference to the regulation or Schedule in these Regulations so numbered; and (ii) a numbered paragraph is a reference to the paragraph so numbered in the regulation or Schedule in which the reference appears; and

(b) any reference in Schedule 2 to a numbered regulation or Schedule is 2 a reference to the regulation or Schedule in the 2005 Regulations so numbered.

Regulation Regulation 3 Application (1) Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3), these Regulations shall apply –

(a) in Great Britain; and (b) to and in relation to installations, wells and activities outside Great Britain to which sections 1 to 59 and 80 to 82 of the 1974 Act apply by virtue of articles 4(1) and (2)(b) and 5 of the 1995 Order.

(2) These Regulations shall apply to a well in Great Britain, and activities in relation to it, only if –

(a) it is drilled from an installation; or (b) it is drilled with a view to the extraction of petroleum.

(3) In paragraph (2) “petroleum” means any mineral oil or relative hydrocarbon and natural gas existing in its natural condition in strata, but does not 3 include coal or bituminous shales or other stratified deposits from which oil can be extracted by destructive distillation.

Guidance 19 This regulation applies to the requirements on wells in DCR to oil and gas