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SafeOCS was established to close a gap in safety data and information sharing among industry groups. Almost all oil and gas companies operating on the OCS have internal safety data reporting programs. However, due to legal and commercial concerns, these data are not being shared widely among stakeholders. SafeOCS provides a solution to these concerns by offering operators a confidential method to share important equipment failure and safety data. The aggregated data can be used to reduce the risk of major events, including loss of life or property and environmental harm.
Information collected through the SafeOCS program will help identify current safety issues and emerging trends. Other industries, such as aviation, have shared information through similar industry-wide programs that have led to increased operational safety and protection of the environment.
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:
BSEE's safety and environmental management system (SEMS) rules require facility management to investigate events that have the potential for serious safety or environmental consequences, but the results of these investigations are typically not required to be reported to BSEE or otherwise shared (at 30 C.F.R. Part 250 Subpart S). Note that the investigation results are required to be documented for use in the next hazard analysis or audit. SafeOCS will complement the SEMS requirements by covering a broader scope of equipment failure, near miss, and other safety-related events from an OCS-wide perspective; sharing the results with stakeholders and the public; and adding to the body of information that will make the OCS a safer place to work and operate.
BSEE requires all oil and gas operators on the OCS to report failures of well control equipment (WCE) under 30 CFR § 250.730(c) of BSEE's Well Control Rule. Under the rule, operators must submit WCE failure reports directly to BTS as BSEE's designee under regulations for collecting WCE failure data and reports.
Operators must also follow the failure reporting procedures contained in API Standard 53 (incorporated by reference in 30 CFR § 250.198).
All failures of well control equipment and SPPE must be reported. An equipment failure is any condition that prevents the equipment from meeting the functional specification or purpose.
A written notice of equipment failure must be provided within 30 days after discovering and identifying the failure. An investigation and a failure analysis must also be performed within 120 days of the failure to determine the cause of the failure.
Please follow the link below to submit a report:
You will need to submit information on the event, equipment, lease/company, and other pertinent information. Submit all reports and follow-up investigations to BTS.
BTS operates the SafeOCS reporting system. All reports submitted to BTS for inclusion in SafeOCS are accessible only by BTS authorized personnel and BTS-designated agents under CIPSEA. BSEE does not have access to reports you submit to BTS.
As an independent federal statistical agency, BTS has the authority and obligation under CIPSEA and the agency's authorizing statute to protect the confidentiality of your data, including but not limited to company information, personally identifiable information, and sensitive or proprietary information. By submitting to BTS, your data are protected from release to the public, BSEE, and other non-CIPSEA federal agencies. Data are also protected from subpoenas and Freedom of Information Act requests.
In contrast, equipment failure reports submitted directly to BSEE do not receive CIPSEA protections and could be subject to release under the FOIA or other authority.
When you submit a notice of equipment failure to SafeOCS, BTS sends an automated email to BSEE with only the following information: date, company name, company ID (if available), and event reference number. Click here for an example email notification to BSEE.
BTS shares this information with BSEE to demonstrate that operators are complying with the regulation without sharing the details of the reports, which are CIPSEA-protected.
Following detailed quality evaluation and statistical analysis, de-identified aggregated equipment failure information is shared with all stakeholders, including BSEE, via published annual reports and public data dashboards.
The International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC) and the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (IOGP) established the BOP Reliability JIP in early 2016 to improve the safety and reliability of subsea BOPs and to standardize BOP failure reporting. The WCE Failure reporting component of SafeOCS captures data required by BSEE regulations and is consistent with what is captured by the JIP. The objective of SafeOCS is to capture and analyze data from all companies, not just those who are participants in the JIP.
SafeOCS revised the program area title from Well Control Rule (WCR) to Well Control Equipment (WCE) failure reporting to more accurately reflect the scope of the data collection, which includes failures of well control equipment systems under 30 C.F.R. § 250.730(c) of the rule.
The full Well Control Rule encompasses various provisions for well control and blowout preventer systems in addition to equipment failure reporting.
Most references to the program area on the SafeOCS website have been revised to WCE; however, some previously published documents and existing images may retain the WCR title.
Per 30 CFR § 250.801, BSEE considers the following equipment to be types of SPPE:
BSEE requires all oil and gas operators on the OCS to report failures of safety and pollution prevention equipment (SPPE) under 30 CFR § 250.803 of BSEE's Production Safety Systems Rule. Under the rule, operators must submit SPPE failure reports directly to BTS as BSEE’s designee under the regulations for collecting SPPE failure data and reports.
Operators must also follow the failure reporting requirements contained in the following ANSI/API Standards (all incorporated by reference in 30 CFR § 250.198):
All failures of safety and pollution prevention equipment (SPPE) must be reported. An equipment failure is any condition that prevents the equipment from meeting the functional specification or purpose.
A written notice of equipment failure must be provided within 30 days after discovering and identifying the failure. An investigation and a failure analysis must also be performed within 120 days of the failure to determine the cause of the failure.
Please follow the link below to log in and submit a report:
All reports and follow-up investigations should be submitted to BTS using this link.
BTS operates the SafeOCS reporting system. All reports submitted to BTS for inclusion in SafeOCS are accessible only by BTS authorized personnel and BTS-designated agents under CIPSEA. BSEE does not have access to reports you submit to BTS.
As an independent federal statistical agency, BTS has the authority and obligation under CIPSEA and the agency's authorizing statute to protect the confidentiality of your data, including but not limited to company information, personally identifiable information, and sensitive or proprietary information. By submitting to BTS, your data are protected from release to the public, BSEE, and other non-CIPSEA federal agencies. Data are also protected from subpoenas and Freedom of Information Act requests.
In contrast, equipment failure reports submitted directly to BSEE do not receive CIPSEA protections and could be subject to release under the FOIA or other authority.
When you submit a notice of equipment failure to SafeOCS, BTS sends an automated email to BSEE with only the following information: date, company name, company ID (if available), and event reference number. Click here for an example email notification to BSEE.
BTS shares this information with BSEE to demonstrate that operators are complying with the regulation without sharing the details of the reports, which are CIPSEA-protected.
Following detailed quality evaluation and statistical analysis, de-identified aggregated equipment failure information is shared with all stakeholders, including BSEE, via published annual reports and public data dashboards.
The rule clarified that gas lift shut down valves (GLSDVs) are considered safety and pollution prevention equipment (SPPE). The rule also clarified failure reporting requirements, including allowing BSEE to direct operators to submit failure reports to a third party, acting on behalf of BSEE. BSEE subsequently designated the Bureau of Transportation Statistics for collection of equipment failure information allowing it to be protected from release under the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act (CIPSEA).
The overarching objective of the SafeOCS ISD program is to establish a comprehensive source of near miss and safety event reports from the offshore energy industry.
Once a company decides to voluntarily submit its safety data to BTS, the first step is for that company to meet with BTS to discuss the elements of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA). You can find a draft template here. The MOA, which is specific to each company, details the scope of the engagement between the company and BTS, including the following:
The SafeOCS ISD program was initiated to address concerns raised in various industry reports regarding the capture and sharing of key learnings from significant events, including near misses and stop work events. The ISD conceptual framework was developed collaboratively with the industry and aims to overcome information-sharing obstacles for a broad range of data to aid the industry in improving safety performance. You can find more information about this collaboration and a joint value proposition here.
By participating in the ISD program, you contribute to the combined knowledge for making the OCS a safer place to work and operate. In addition, participants can incorporate the learnings from shared incident and event data into their continuous improvement efforts. This is particularly important for major hazards and associated prevention/mitigation barriers.
Key benefits of this effort include the following:
In addition to analysis of industry-wide patterns, BTS is available to conduct separate analyses on data specific to your company.
While there is certainly value in further analyzing the regulatory-required incident and spill event data currently submitted to BSEE under 30 C.F.R. § 250.188 and 254.46, the opportunities for deriving learnings from these data are limited to the data fields mandated by BSEE. In addition, when you consider the historic safety triangle, familiar to so many in the industry, the largest number of safety events, including potentially significant near misses, safety observations, and stop work events, are not required by regulation to be reported. Therefore, the industry must gain a better understanding of those non-reportable safety events.
The ISD program includes both voluntarily submitted safety event data and data required to be reported to BSEE. The regulatory-required data is provided to SafeOCS by participating companies and by BSEE.
All operators, drilling companies, and service provider companies working on the OCS are invited to join the SafeOCS ISD program.
Participating companies may submit reports individually through a block transfer of multiple reports or a database transfer. Your company will work with BTS to determine a method for transfer to allow for data submission. Your company's MOA with BTS will describe how you will provide ISD reports.
SafeOCS developed the SafeOCS ISD User Guide to assist in the data submission process.
You can find the link for submitting ISD reports here.
Participating companies are expected to submit data on a monthly or quarterly basis. In addition to submitting data, companies participating in ISD may nominate representatives for ad hoc work groups, described above.
No. Companies are free to send safety data about other regions to SafeOCS. While the current focus is primarily on the Gulf of Mexico, we hope to expand the scope beyond this region so that the industry can better generate and leverage safety learnings from all regions.
As an independent federal statistical agency, BTS has the authority and obligation under CIPSEA and the agency's authorizing statute to protect the confidentiality of your data, including but not limited to company information, personally identifiable information, and sensitive or proprietary information. By submitting to BTS, your data are protected from release to the public and other non-CIPSEA federal agencies. Data are also protected from subpoenas and Freedom of Information Act requests.
1-844-OCS-FRST (1-844-627-3778)