This paper contributes to understanding health, safety and environmental (HSE) regulation and performance in the offshore oil and gas industry. The United Kingdom Continental Shelf (UKCS) is used to explain how both safety investments by oil companies and regulatory initiatives can collectively contribute to enhancing standards, thereby reducing total accident and incident costs. We apply theoretical and analytical dimensions: firstly, by characterising an economic approach for evaluating HSE investments, and secondly, undertaking comparative statistical analysis of UKCS safety performance. Our findings indicate that the cost-benefit approach has been beneficial for evaluating HSE investment decisions to meet stricter regulatory compliance standards. Regarding the comparative analysis, we find that there has been a considerable improvement in safety in the UKCS over the past two decades, indicated by declining hydrocarbon releases (safety indicator) and declining injury rates (health indicator). Nonetheless, while produced water discharges (environment indicator) have also declined, the data also shows that the frequency of oil spill incidents have increased by 62% compared to 2002 baseline levels. This is partly explained by several recent unplanned shutdowns, especially between 2013 and 2016, and consequent reductions in production efficiency due to ageing infrastructure. Overall, the findings suggest that fair, effective, and participatory regulatory regimes can ensure a collective drive by all stakeholders towards improving industry safety performance and promote a better safety environment.

本文有助于了解海上石油和天然气行业的健康、安全和环境 (HSE) 法规和绩效。英国大陆架 (UKCS) 用于解释石油公司的安全投资和监管举措如何共同提高标准，从而降低事故和事故征候的总成本。我们应用理论和分析维度：首先，通过描述评估 HSE 投资的经济方法，其次，对 UKCS 安全绩效进行比较统计分析。我们的研究结果表明，成本效益方法有利于评估 HSE 投资决策，以满足更严格的监管合规标准。关于对比分析，我们发现，在过去的 20 年中，UKCS 的安全性有了相当大的改善，这表明碳氢化合物排放量下降（安全指标）和伤害率下降（健康指标）。尽管如此，虽然产出水排放量（环境指标）也有所下降，但数据还显示，与 2002 年基线水平相比，溢油事故的频率增加了 62%。部分原因是最近几次计划外停产，尤其是在 2013 年至 2016 年期间，以及随之而来的由于基础设施老化导致生产效率降低。总体而言，调查结果表明，公平、有效和参与性的监管制度可以确保所有利益相关者共同推动提高行业安全绩效并促进更好的安全环境。