Applying the resilience concept in practice: A case study from the oil and gas industry

This paper demonstrates how the resilience concept (Hollnagel et al., 2006) call be used as a perspective for reducing occupational injuries. The empirical background for the paper is a case study oil an oil and gas installation in the North Sea that had a negative trend in LTI (Lost Time Injury) rates. The HSE (Health, Safety, Environment) administration initiated a broad process that included the crew oil the installation, the onshore administration and a group of researchers to improve the situation. Instead of focusing the analysis oil incident reports, we applied a proactive view. Thus, we adapted a model for resilience that was used in a development process. In the context of occupational accidents, we focused on the following factors: sufficient time, knowledge and competence, resources and including working environment. These factors have been identified as important for complexity and necessary for the organization to be able to anticipate, perceive and respond to different constellation of conditions. This paper illustrates to what extent the concept of resilience was fruitful analytically and as a reflection tool in the development of new HSE measures that are now being implemented. The links between the resulting HSE measures and the qualities of the resilience concept are discussed.