Information from reporting programs operated by individual companies is generally not shared across the industry. Safety information collected by industry groups is often limited to the group's members and is limited in scope.

The goal of SafeOCS is to gather, aggregate, analyze and publish a broad scope of safety and equipment reliability data from all segments of OCS operations, for use by industry, government, and the public. SafeOCS will complement other safety and equipment reliability efforts and add to the combined knowledge to make the OCS a safer place to work and operate.

To facilitate the submission of information to SafeOCS, BTS has worked closely with the industry to ensure that BTS systems closely mirror industry data reporting processes.

The reports and information submitted to SafeOCS are collected by BTS staff and confidential information is secured. The information goes through a detailed quality evaluation and statistical analysis. It is then aggregated so that industry-wide patterns and results can be discerned. This aggregated information is then shared in a report with all stakeholders. The information can be used to improve safety and equipment reliability on the OCS.

BTS operates SafeOCS under the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act (CIPSEA) (44 U.S.C. § 3501 note). Under CIPSEA, it is a felony, punishable by up to $250,000 in fines and up to 5 years in jail, for BTS or its agents to release identifiable data confidentially submitted in reports by individuals, companies or other entities. BTS has very strict protocols in place for collecting and protecting such data. CIPSEA protections include, but are not limited to:

• •    protection from subpoenas and Freedom of Information Act disclosure
• •    protection from release to the public, BSEE, or any other government agency
• •    protection from uses other than statistical purposes

More information about BTS and CIPSEA confidentiality protection can be found here.