North American Regulators Working Group on Safety Culture

1. What is the North American Regulators Working Group on Safety Culture?
2. What agencies are members of the North American Regulators Working Group on Safety Culture?
3. How does the North American Regulators Working Group on Safety Culture influence safety culture in the oil and gas industry?
4. What are the Working Group’s priorities for 2017?

1. What is the North American Regulators Working Group on Safety Culture?

The North American Regulators Working Group on Safety Culture is a group of oil and gas regulators (offshore, onshore, and pipeline transmission) that is interested in advancing safety culture as an essential aspect of oil and gas exploration, production and transportation activities, and as a catalyst to improved safety and environmental protection.

2. What agencies are members of the North American Regulators Working Group on Safety Culture?

The Working Group is currently comprised of the United States’ Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, the United States’ Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Agency, the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board, the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board, the Alberta Energy Regulator, the British Columbia Oil and Gas Commission, and Canada’s National Energy Board.

3. How does the North American Regulators Working Group on Safety Culture influence safety culture in the oil and gas industry?

The Working Group collectively focuses its efforts on:

• Building a shared understanding of the term safety culture among regulators and everyone engaged in oil and gas exploration, production and transportation;
• Articulating performance expectations of regulators as they relate to safety culture;
• Proposing tools for the recognition and measurement of organizational attributes associated with safety culture; and
• Collaborating on the development of reference and other resource material in order to provide clarity and consistency in terminology, and safety culture dimensions and attributes, where possible.

4. What are the Working Group’s priorities for 2017?

The Working Group has three priorities for 2017:

1. Developing tools for the identification of signals of cultural strength and weakness in organizations such as those undertaking oil and gas exploration, production and transportation activities;
2. Examining how a regulator can impact safety culture when using its oversight and enforcement authorities, and how the regulator’s stance and tone may impact safety and environmental performance; and
3. Developing training, coaching, and mentoring in order to build safety culture competency and capacity within the regulatory domain.

Date modified:

2019-08-28