Unite’s Back Home Safe Campaign
The next item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S4M-08985, in the name of Richard Baker, on Unite’s back home safe campaign. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.
Before we begin the debate, I say to members that a fatal accident inquiry is taking place in relation to the 2009 Super Puma crash, and the sheriff’s determination has yet to be issued. Members should therefore make no reference to the substance of the on-going inquiry, as it is sub judice. Members should also avoid saying anything that could be seen as making a recommendation to the inquiry and therefore pre-empting its findings.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament welcomes the launch by Unite the Union of the campaign, Back Home Safe, which calls for immediate improvements to the safety of offshore flight; understands that, following the tragic fatal North Sea helicopter crash in August 2013, the union carried out an extensive consultation with its members in Aberdeen and across Scotland, and with others in the offshore workforce, the outcome of which suggested that over half of the workers are not confident in offshore helicopter flight safety; believes that workers on North Sea installations are taking an active role in supporting the campaign, which calls for improvements to be made in a number of areas, including increased investment to create a larger offshore fleet, changes to the internal seat configuration of the helicopters and the compulsory fitting of internal emergency lighting, and notes both the calls for the industry and Scottish Government to engage fully with the union to help ensure that these measures are implemented and for an independent commission to be set up to examine the issue of helicopter safety.
12:33
Thank you, Presiding Officer. I am confident that the substance of my speech and the matters to which I refer will comply with your guidance.
I hope so. Thank you.
I thank members of all parties who signed the motion in support of Unite’s back home safe campaign. I also declare an interest: I am a member of Unite the union. I am pleased that a number of my fellow union members, who are offshore reps, have joined us from Aberdeen for the debate. Their commitment to the campaign is reflected in the fact that they bring to the Parliament a petition that has more than 3,000 signatures, which backs the measures that the union is promoting to restore the confidence of the workforce in helicopter safety.
Workforce confidence was shattered after the tragic crash off Sumburgh, in which four people lost their lives—the fifth ditching of a Super Puma helicopter in just four years. Of course, the first of those events was the tragedy that took place in 2009, which all of us remember all too well, when 16 people lost their lives.
In that context, it can be no surprise that in a Unite survey of its offshore members, more than 53 per cent of workers said that they did not have confidence in offshore helicopter safety and 77 per cent said that their confidence in helicopter safety had decreased in the past 12 months.
Helicopter transport is vital to our oil and gas industry, which we all know is of great importance to the Scottish economy. The key goal for all of us—ministers, parliamentarians, trade unions, regulators and of course the industry—must be to restore confidence in helicopter safety and ensure that the safety record is greatly improved.
That has driven the important and successful campaign by Unite, which has produced clear proposals for action to improve safety. Those include increased investment to create a larger offshore fleet, changes to the internal seat configuration on offshore helicopters, changes to the design of helicopters that are used for passenger transfer and improved survival equipment and training for workers.
Last week, the Civil Aviation Authority published the report of its review following the crash in August. Although it is far from a final word on the issue, it has been welcomed as a step forward, and it is a mark of the success that Unite has had in making its case for safety improvements. The review, in identifying the need for new prohibitions on flying conditions, changes to onboard seating configurations and the improvement of emergency breathing equipment for workers, proposes measures that Unite has called for as part of the back home safe campaign. The review points the way to a change of culture, from competition to collaboration, which is to be welcomed.
That is not to say that there has been no collaboration up to now. The helicopter safety steering group, which includes in its membership John Taylor of Unite and Jake Molloy of RMT, has been an important forum. It is also true that the industry’s Step Change in Safety organisation, which is focused on improving safety, has done a huge amount of work. However, further measures and more joint working are clearly needed, and the review recommends that operators adopt a set of best practice standard procedures. It also found:
“All the helicopter operators reported that customer influence in operational matters was too extensive. The perception that contracts are offered at too short a timescale and awarded on lowest cost is also prevalent.”
The industry must respond to that finding, because the priority has to be safety, rather than getting the lowest-cost contract.
The review is therefore welcome, but it does not diminish the requirement for a full independent commission of inquiry into helicopter safety. The call for such an inquiry has been led at Westminster by my colleague Frank Doran MP. That call is backed by the unions and, in the members’ business debate that I led on the issue last year, the case for such an inquiry was most persuasively made by Tavish Scott.
The CAA review does not answer all the fundamental questions that the series of accidents has posed. In particular, there is not enough scrutiny of the work of regulators, who over the years have been reactive rather than proactive. Indeed, to be fair to the CAA, chapter 7 of the report that it published last week identifies problems in the review process. I therefore hope that ministers will agree that there is a need for an independent inquiry and will support the proposal.
The final point that I want to raise is on an issue that is clearly the responsibility of the Scottish ministers. It relates not to the substance of any particular fatal accident inquiry but to the timing of inquiries. If our fatal accident inquiry process as a whole worked properly, we might be having a very different debate today, but it does not. It took five years for the inquiry into the 2009 crash to be held. I do not believe that anyone in the chamber wants those who lost loved ones last year to face such a long wait. That is why I again urge ministers to support Patricia Ferguson’s proposal for a member’s bill to speed up the FAI process.
The Unite Scottish secretary, Pat Rafferty, has said:
“Five ditchings and 20 deaths since 2009 is an unacceptable failing of health and safety and collectively we have an obligation to ensure we tackle this serious problem, taking every step possible to help offshore workers get back home safe in the future.”
Those words get to the heart of the debate. Today, the prosperity of our country is founded on the labours of our offshore workers, who have to carry out their jobs in harsh environments. We owe it to them and to their families to ensure that they get back home safe, which is why I hope that members will support this important campaign.
12:39
I congratulate Richard Baker on securing this debate and I welcome the union representatives who have joined us.
As my constituency contains both the heliport and the helicopter operators, I have a keen interest in the issue. Beyond that, many of my constituents and indeed many of my friends and family are either offshore workers or family and friends of such workers, so they obviously have an interest in the issue as well.
I have not been personally contacted in respect of the campaign before today’s debate, but I have been aware of it both through the coverage that it has generated and in looking into the issue in advance of the debate. I take the Presiding Officer’s guidance and I hope that the broader comments that I will make will fall within the ambit that he set out.
Nobody in the chamber or in the industry would want to see a system that was anything other than safe. At the end of the day, we all have an interest in ensuring the safety of those who work offshore. Where there have been issues, it is important that recommendations that have been arrived at are acted upon swiftly. In the past, the oil and gas industry has been able to learn its lessons and apply them quickly. I have spoken to a number of people who are involved in health and safety offshore and they say that the industry takes the health and safety requirements extremely seriously. However, nobody would detract from the need to look carefully at the situation given the accidents in recent times and the numbers over a fairly short period.
I am a member of the cross-party group on oil and gas, and at our last meeting there was a discussion on the matter that involved Malcolm Webb of Oil & Gas UK and union representatives. We were told that constructive dialogue continues between the industry and union representatives, and that was reflected in the contributions from both sides. It appears that the work that is being done through the helicopter safety steering group and the helicopter task group, which has been re-established to provide a smaller and more focused executive oversight given the large membership of the helicopter safety steering group, is being welcomed on all sides of the discussions.
As I have said before, I do not want to pre-judge any outcomes, so I am not going to take a fixed position on the issues that have been raised both in the campaign and by Richard Baker and some of his colleagues. As somebody who has outlined the personal impact that the accident had not just on me but on many of my friends and family, I want to wait and see the outcome of the inquiry. I accept Richard Baker’s point that it would perhaps have been far better had we had that inquiry prior to now, but we are where we are on that, and we need to await the outcome of the FAI.
My primary focus will always be the safety of my constituents who work in the offshore sector, because we want to ensure that offshore workers come home safely. I will await the outcomes of the various inquiries that are continuing but, at the end of the day, we should back whatever can be done to bring our offshore workers home safely.
12:43
This is a welcome opportunity to raise a number of issues that have been raised previously in the Parliament. It is timely that we are having this debate on Richard Baker’s motion, and I congratulate him on bringing the matter back to the chamber.
There is perhaps not a great deal to say about the elements of the issue that has not been said before, and it has been made clear to us that there are areas into which we cannot go. However, on the back home safe campaign, I believe that it is vital that everyone who is involved in travelling to the North Sea installations by helicopter has the opportunity to input to the process, and in that respect I welcome the actions that the trade union Unite has taken to consult those who are regular travellers.
In the history of the industry in the North Sea, union activity has not always been welcome, but the constructive dialogue that has taken place between the trade unions and the industry in recent times is a good example of how positive relationships can be developed. Of course there is already a structure in place to ensure that there is consultation with trade unions. I commend that structure and I believe that it should continue. The back home safe campaign highlights grass-roots opinion and concern and we should all have significant respect for it. I am glad to hear that the industry and the trade unions are engaged in a constructive on-going dialogue.
Given the limitations on what we can say today, I simply take the opportunity to welcome the campaign and the views that have been expressed in conjunction with it. I also support Mark McDonald’s view that we should await the outcome of the inquiries and ensure that, when they are published, swift action based on their recommendations is taken. We should maintain the on-going constructive engagement for as long as we possibly can.
12:45
I thank Richard Baker for his consistency in bringing this matter back to Parliament this afternoon. I also thank the minister, Fergus Ewing, who wound up the previous debate on this issue in the late part of last year, because, in fairness to him, he has shown consistency on the issue, too.
I assure Richard Baker that I have not changed my thoughts about the process that we are going through. When we last spoke about this, it seemed to me that too many discrete inquiries were going on. My concern about the CAA inquiry was that the CAA, as the regulator, is advising on policy. In fairness to it, I think that the report that it produced earlier this week is authoritative and, as Richard Baker, Mark McDonald and Alex Johnstone have said, many of its recommendations are extremely important, although there are questions about how quickly they will be implemented. I noted the point that the CAA made about the Offshore Petroleum Industry Training Organisation improving survival training for offshore workers, which, along with the measures that Richard Baker mentioned, seems pretty important.
On Mark McDonald’s contribution, I also noted Oil and Gas UK’s remarks about moving these things forward as quickly as possible, particularly the proposed offshore operations safety forum, to achieve the shared goal of improving offshore safety.
I do not think that any of that takes away from the point that Richard Baker and Unite rightly make about the need for a public inquiry. Given the point that Alex Johnstone and Mark McDonald made about all the separate inquiries that are going on, there seems to be some sense in pulling them together to ensure that safety is absolutely the number 1 priority, as well as to illuminate the financial issues around the contracts to which men and women who fly offshore are party and on which they depend. That very reasonable observation has been made by many people who work in the industry—both those who work at more senior levels and those who simply get on helicopters day in, day out.
Three men and a woman died in the Super Puma helicopter crash last August at Garths Ness off Sumburgh. I cannot conceive of the circumstances for the families of those three men and a woman if they have to wait five years for a fatal accident inquiry to conclude, as was the case with the FAI that is taking place into the Peterhead crash of 2009. That cannot be right; we all share that view. I suspect that we would all support Mr Ewing very strongly if he were able to offer even a glimmer of hope that the process could be taken forward along the lines identified in Patricia Ferguson’s member’s bill or in another legislative way. I am open-minded about that, but I think that the minister and members of all parties would agree on the need to bring matters to a head much more quickly than has been the case in the past. As Mark McDonald rightly said, one cannot imagine how difficult it would be to go through all those years of not quite knowing what happened and to find out only after five years.
12:49
I, too, congratulate Richard Baker on bringing this important issue for debate once again. As a member of Unite the union, I am also delighted at the initiative that the union has taken in launching the back home safe campaign.
The death of an offshore worker today reminds us that oil rigs and platforms remain inherently dangerous places to work, despite the many improvements that have been made since Piper Alpha. However, deaths on the journey to work are the focus of concern now.
Every day in Aberdeen and the north-east, my constituents read, hear and talk about the risks of helicopter journeys. We cannot, of course, comment on the substance of the fatal accident inquiry into the catastrophic helicopter ditching in 2009, which has just finished taking evidence in Aberdeen. As the Presiding Officer said, a verdict is awaited. However, we can say that the relatives of those who died have had to wait far too long for that inquiry to be heard.
We have seen the conclusions of the Civil Aviation Authority’s review of helicopter operations, which was published last week. Its recommendations are very welcome, although the implications for the future employment of some offshore workers will need to be carefully considered.
John Taylor of Unite, who is here today, has met MSPs at the cross-party group on oil and gas on a number of occasions to discuss these issues. He has pointed out that many of the recommendations in the report cannot be enforced by the CAA. It is clear that the changes will not happen unless they are agreed and can then be enforced across the sector. Other unions, such as the British Airline Pilots Association and the RMT, have also taken a close interest in the practical issues involved. The provision of safety equipment such as helicopter floats and rebreathing systems will take time as well as increased investment, and the training of North Sea workers in the use of new systems will take time and money.
As Richard Baker mentioned, my Westminster colleague Frank Doran is another long-standing campaigner for better safety in the North Sea. He has called for the United Kingdom transport minister to convene a full-scale public inquiry into offshore helicopter operations across the whole of the UK continental shelf and to take overall responsibility for helicopter safety offshore. That is the current approach in Norway. His and my view and the view of other members who have spoken is that offshore helicopter transport needs the same detailed inquiry and fundamental review now that offshore exploration and production had 25 years ago in the Cullen inquiry. That way, we can go beyond the scope of the CAA’s review and look at all aspects of safe travel offshore, not least the regulatory role of the CAA itself, which Tavish Scott mentioned.
As Richard Baker said, it has taken far too long for the 2009 helicopter crash to be investigated in a fatal accident inquiry. If responsibility for a comprehensive, overall review of offshore transport for the UK as a whole lies with the Department for Transport, responsibility for the operation of fatal accident inquiries lies with the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government. I hope that the minister can give us some assurance that those bereaved or affected by more recent helicopter crashes will not have to wait so long for their cases to be heard.
I acknowledge the efforts that are made by many who are involved in the design, manufacture and operation of our offshore helicopter fleet to reduce the risks of future such disasters, and accept that the oil and gas industry in general is a much more safety-focused industry than it was a generation ago. However, we need a proactive approach to helicopter safety, not a reactive response to helicopter disasters. That is why we need not just urgent action on the CAA’s recommendations and the findings of fatal accident inquiries but a wide-ranging public inquiry to ensure that all those who go to work offshore in future will indeed come back home safe.
12:53
As the First Minister reflected, our thoughts go out to the family, friends and colleagues of the man who died earlier this morning in an incident at Taqa’s Harding platform. Obviously, we do not yet know the full circumstances of the situation, which Police Scotland is working with Taqa and other partners to determine. However, the incident is a reminder—if one were needed—of the hostile conditions in which our oil and gas staff work.
I congratulate Richard Baker on securing this debate following his earlier members’ business debate, which has been mentioned, and pay tribute to the men and women who work in difficult and inhospitable conditions to support our oil and gas industry. Flying over the North Sea—often at night and in low visibility—presents particular challenges that we should and must not underestimate.
There are currently 95 helicopters supporting our oil and gas industry that travel to 228 helidecks on fixed installations and to approximately 100 mobile installations. Annually, there are around 141,000 flights, 86,000 hours flown and approximately 1 million passenger journeys.
I accept the Presiding Officer’s admonition with regard to not mentioning matters of substance relating to the FAI—
It was guidance rather than an admonition.
Indeed, Presiding Officer, so I will not mention it. However, I will refer briefly to the incidents that have brought home the risks and challenges of operating in the North Sea.
On 18 February 2009, an EC225 Super Puma landed heavily on the sea while approaching a platform. Investigators concluded that the accident was caused by a combination of human factors, poor weather and technical problems. Eighteen people were on board and, fortunately, there were no fatalities. On 1 April 2009, an AS332 Super Puma crashed into the sea, and all 16 people on board died. In 2012, two EC225 helicopters made precautionary ditchings after indications that the main gearbox lubrication system had failed. Again, there were no fatalities. On 23 August last year, an AS332 crashed into the sea near Sumburgh and, of the 18 people on board, four sadly died.
The passengers and flight crew and their families must have confidence that everything possible is being done by regulators, aircraft operators and the oil and gas industry to minimise the risks that are associated with flying back and forth between platforms and heliports.
On a more general point, would the minister support changes in the law on corporate culpable homicide so that, if there is evidence of negligence at the highest level of the company, the individual executives or senior managers will be held to account for decisions that they may have taken that have contributed to the death of any employee?
Mr Findlay raises an extremely serious issue, but I note with respect that it is outwith the specific remit of the debate. I will pass the Official Report of this debate to the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and the Lord Advocate, and ask that the cabinet secretary addresses that important issue. With respect, however, it is a separate issue and I do not have time today to do justice to the complex matters that are associated with it. I would like to make some progress.
It is because of the risks that are involved and the recent record, which I have briefly summarised, that I very much welcome the CAA’s review of offshore helicopter operations that was published last week. I made it my business prior to the review’s publication to receive a briefing on the findings from senior CAA officials, and it was abundantly clear to me that an enormous amount of effort and expertise has gone into producing a set of recommendations that are designed with one objective, which is to save lives.
The work that was conducted by the CAA in partnership with the Norwegian Civil Aviation Authority and the European Aviation Safety Agency shows that between 1992 and 2012 there were 24 UK offshore accidents, which equates to one per year. The causes of accidents are evenly split between operational issues, which mainly involve pilot performance, and technical issues, which mainly involve rotor or transmission failure.
The CAA has made a number of recommendations that will, if they are taken as a package, lead to real improvements in safety and increase the likelihood of passengers surviving a ditching or a crash on water. Richard Baker rightly made that point in the motion that he lodged in bringing the previous debate on the subject to the chamber.
The recommendations include restricting the type of sea conditions in which helicopters can fly to increase the likelihood of rescue following a ditching, and requiring emergency breathing equipment for all passengers while, until such time as that is comprehensively available, limiting the number of passengers on board so that everyone is seated by an emergency exit window. There is also a recommendation on flotation aids to prevent helicopters capsizing and, as Tavish Scott alluded to, there are recommendations on better training for passengers. Better training is not a minor matter. I am advised that the training on evacuating in these circumstances is extremely exacting, and therefore enormously important.
The review also makes recommendations to EASA and aircraft manufacturers to address issues such as spurious warnings that require pilots to land immediately, which have led to unnecessary ditchings, and to promote improvements in helicopter vibration health monitoring systems that provide alerts of potential technical failures, which was a change that led to a significant reduction in crashes when it was first introduced in 1990.
The key point that we can take from the CAA’s review is the need to implement the recommendations without delay. The CAA has made it clear that it will implement changes under its control and engage directly with other organisations and bodies such as EASA to ensure that changes happen. We are also sure that the positive safety culture in the oil and gas industry will mean that the recommendations will be actions. A new offshore helicopter safety forum will be established by the CAA to drive forward the recommendations and the actions identified, and we look forward to seeing how that work can improve confidence in North Sea operations. In addition, I will shortly meet the helicopter safety steering group to reinforce the importance of industry progressing the actions as swiftly as possible.
I want to respond to a couple of points that were made in the debate about the timing of the FAI. I am aware that this matter was recently dealt with by my colleague the Cabinet Secretary for Justice. I am also aware of the extremely important nature of the matters being addressed. I am acutely aware, having met some of the bereaved families from the most recent tragedy in Sumburgh after attending a service in Aberdeen last year to remember those who died, that these are very sensitive and important issues. I will therefore convey to Kenny MacAskill, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice, the Official Report of this debate and ask that he communicate with each of the members taking part in the debate how he is taking these matters forward.
Will the minister take an intervention?
I am coming to a close and might be over my time.
You can take an intervention should you wish to. It is a matter for you.
In that case, I will.
I am grateful to both the Presiding Officer and the minister for allowing me the intervention.
We have alluded to the fact that FAIs can take what seems to be an unconscionable amount of time to be held. However, the other problem with FAIs is of course that their findings are not binding. Is that something else that the minister might like to relate to Mr MacAskill?
I am aware of the member’s close and sustained interest in that important matter. It is not one for which I have the responsibility to deal, but I absolutely agree that such matters must be considered extremely carefully, and they shall be so considered.
I conclude by indicating my support for the Unite campaign, my endorsement of many of the sentiments expressed in the debate and my continued willingness to meet, plainly, with members of Unite, BAPA, the RMT and other trade unions involved, as I have done over my period as a minister, in order to continue the vital discussion about how we improve safety in the North Sea. Without that safety, there can be no effective industry. The industry does have a positive attitude to safety. The report from the CAA lays a foundation on which we can act. I will be discussing how its recommendations can be implemented when I meet the helicopter safety steering group very shortly.
13:04
Meeting suspended.
14:30
On resuming—