American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2019 - 32

API Analysis

Report Touts Oil, Gas Industry Safety
WASHINGTON-Occupational injuries
and illness within the oil and natural gas
industry occur at a substantially lower
rate than in the U.S. private sector at
large and are continuing to decline, according to a comprehensive Workplace
Safety Report released in January by the
American Petroleum Institute.
"Safety always has been paramount
to the oil and natural gas industry. As
this report demonstrates, the industry's
leading workplace safety record reflects
our commitment to safe and healthy working environments," says Debra Phillips,
vice president of API Global Industry
Services. "With strong industry leadership,
we continue to enhance our approach to
training, prevention and continuous improvement-incorporating advanced technologies, materials and practices as we
strive toward our industrywide goal of
zero incidents."
Phillips says the oil and gas industry's
safety initiatives are recognized by the chief
authorities on safety, including the U.S.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which has incorporated a number
of API's recommended practices for workplace safety into its own standards.
The Workplace Safety Report compares

the safety rates of job-related, nonfatal
injuries and illnesses of the U.S. oil and
natural gas industry with comparable
U.S. industries as well as select noncomparable industries. Information in the
report is drawn from the U.S. Bureau of
Labor Statistics' Survey of Occupational
Injuries and Illnesses, the Bureau of
Safety and Environmental Enforcement,
and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration.
The report notes that for the oil and
natural gas industry as a whole, job-related, nonfatal injuries and illnesses declined from 2.9 per 100 full-time workers
in 2008 to only 1.7 in 2017 (Table 1).
Natural gas distribution led the way
with a 56 percent decline, dropping
from 4.3 nonfatal injuries and illnesses
per 100 full-time workers to 1.9. The
exploration, drilling and production sector was second, going from 1.9 to 1.1
nonfatal injuries and illnesses per 100
full-time workers.

1.7 incidents per 100 full-time workers
versus 2.8 incidents for the total U.S.
private sector.
· The industry's incidence rate has
decreased 41 percent since 2008. The
private sector's rate has decreased 28
percent since 2008.
· The 2017 incidence rate for exploration, drilling and production was
1.1 (offshore was 0.6) per 100 full-time
workers compared with 1.5 for the U.S.
mining sector.
· The 2017 incidence rate for petroleum refineries was 0.7 per 100 full-time
workers compared with 3.5 for the U.S.
manufacturing sector.
· Pipeline infrastructure is an extremely safe way to transport natural gas
and oil products. The rate of job-related
nonfatal injuries and illnesses among U.S.
oil and natural gas pipeline transportation
personnel was 0.0 per 100 full-time workers
compared with 4.6 for the U.S. transportation and warehousing sector.
The Workplace Safety Report also contains comparisons for select noncomparable industries. It says the rate of nonfatal
injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time
workers in 2017 was 2.8 in the logging
industry, 4.5 for the agriculture and

Report Highlights
Other data from the Workplace Safety
Report include:
· The 2017 industry rate of jobrelated nonfatal injuries and illnesses was

TABLE 1
U.S. Oil and Natural Gas Industry Job-Related Nonfatal Injuries and Illnesses
2008-2017 (per 100 full-time workers)

Year

Exploration,
Drilling and
Production

Reﬁning

Retail Marketing

Wholesale
Marketing

Pipeline
Transportation

Natural Gas
Distribution

Oil and Natural
Gas Industry

2008

1.9

1.1

3.4

2.8

0.0

4.3

2.9

2009

1.8

1.0

3.4

3.2

0.0

4.2

2.9

2010

1.9

0.9

2.9

2.0

0.0

3.7

2.5

2011

1.9

1.1

2.7

2.6

0.0

4.0

2.4

2012

1.8

0.9

2.2

3.7

0.0

2.9

2.1

2013

1.8

0.9

2.4

2.8

0.0

3.0

2.1

2014

1.8

0.7

2.3

3.1

0.0

2.6

2.1

2015

1.0

0.6

2.8

0.0

2.4

1.9

2016

1.1

0.6

2.8

2.3

0.1

2.8

2.0

2017

1.1

0.7

2.2

2.6

0.0

1.9

1.7

% Change*
2016-2017

17%

-21%

13%

-100%

-32%

-15%

2008-2017

-42%

-36%

-35%

-7%

-56%

-41%

* % change may not be exact as a result of rounding

32 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2019

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