Piper Alpha survivor Steve Rae features in a video published by the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (IOGP) to announce the update of IOGP Process Safety Fundamentals (PSFs).  Steve’s powerful message is “Let’s make process safety fundamental again.”  Safer Together has recently endorsed the IOGP PSFs.

On July 6 1988, the Piper Alpha oil production facility in the North Sea was destroyed by a series of catastrophic explosions and fires.  167 lives were lost.  Only 61 of the 226 men on board survived.  Steve Rae was one of them.  His message in the video to announce to update of the IOGP PSFs is important for everybody who works in our Industry.

Global IOGP data for 2025 reveals a case for action regarding process safety:

  • fatalities related to Process Safety were lower in 2025 compared to 2024, however the number of Tier 1 Process Safety Events was the same, and could have resulted in a higher number of fatalities.
  • the most significant incident in 2025 was a Process Safety event involving a fire during maintenance work that resulted in 4 fatalities and 4 permanent impairments.
  • there were 6 other Process Safety line-of-fire single fatality incidents.
  • the frequency of Tier 2 Process Safety events increased against 2024.

Here in Australia, data for the first half of 2026 reveals a similar case for action:

  • There were 7 Process Safety Events (3 x Tier 1; 4 x Tier 2).  This trend appears to be increasing. 

The newly updated Process Safety Fundamentals (PSFs) are a set of basic principles for front-line workers, supervisors, and managers that emphasise existing good practices to prevent fatalities from Process Safety Events.  

Process Safety will always be a critical part of our Industry. The aftermath of a catastrophic process safety event causes so much far-reaching harm - beyond the immediate fatalities and permanent impairments.  We have a fundamental duty to our frontline workforce to work tirelessly to deeply understand our major accident hazards, to consistently apply effective controls and barriers, to build resilient systems (human and hardware) to fail safe (not just lucky) and to maintain a hunger to learn and improve.

We encourage all members to make best use of the IOGP PSFs and the new IOGP Process Safety web page.

Click this link  to access Safer Together Process Safety Working Group products, programs and resources – including Process Safety Awareness materials.

If you are interested in joining our Process Safety Working Group, go to this page to Nominate.