Deirdre Michie: Trade Association Chief

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I WAS in London working as a graduate trainee for Shell’s downstream business when the appalling news broke about Piper Alpha.

My then boyfriend, now husband, was about to go offshore for the first time in his role as a reservoir engineer and, like everyone else, I was utterly horrified at what was unfolding in the North Sea.

The magnitude of what was being reported on TV was overwhelming.

But as news coverage continued and more details emerged from colleagues and friends – including those living under the Dyce flightpath who could hear the many helicopters bringing back those who tragically lost their lives – the stark reality of what had happened began to sink in.

Three decades on and there is a new generation of offshore workers who were not even born at the time of Piper Alpha and yet their working lives today continue to be guided by what happened that terrible night.

Three decades on and there is a new generation of offshore workers who were not even born at the time of Piper Alpha and yet their working lives today continue to be guided by what happened that terrible night.

Following an exhaustive public inquiry led by Lord Cullen, sweeping change was made to the management of major hazards with the introduction of robust goal-setting legislation.

We were honoured that the man who shaped the world-class safety regime we have today opened our Safety 30 conference that took place last month and which we organised in association with the International Regulators’ Forum.

What made it even more significant was that the words of Lord Cullen were also heard by industry’s next generation.

Having people just starting out on their oil and gas careers attending and participating in our conference was vital, because we must keep learning from the past and the present to ensure we keep the focus on safe operations for the future.

Piper Alpha survivor Steve Rae led an extremely powerful session which closed Safety 30 symbolically by sharing the baton with industry’s next generation – represented by 2017 Apprentice of the Year Samuel Ash and last year’s Graduate of the Year Joanna Reynolds who were both very inspirational.

In fact, it was Sam who summed up so well why we must never forget.

Sam said that there are less than 167 people on the platform he works on, and that he struggles to come to terms with the fact that on one single night the equivalent of everyone on his platform died.

Keeping people safe as they work to ensure assets operate effectively and produce oil and gas is fundamental to the way this industry works.

Safe operations are not just a top priority but a core value underpinning how we do business in the UK offshore sector.

Piper Alpha was a watershed moment for our industry and we must never stop learning from it. We owe it to the fathers, sons, brothers, husbands, partners, friends and colleagues who never made it home as a result of that tragic night.

We have added fresh perspectives each day in the run up to the 30^th anniversary of the Piper Alpha tragedy. Read the rest of the series here.