Introduction

The International Regulators' Forum was formed in 1993 to provide international leadership on safety and safety-related regulatory matters for offshore oil and gas activities, continue to strengthen sharing of regulatory practice and experience, and provide a sounding board for key initiatives of members.

The IRF hosts an Offshore Safety Conference every two to three years that brings together regulators, industry, researchers, non-profits and others to examine issues related to risks offshore and increase safety and environmental performance.

Members Include

  • Australia - National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority

  • Brazil - National Agency of Oil, Gas and Biofuels

  • Canada

    • Canada - Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board
    • Canada - Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board
    • Canada Energy Regulator

  • Denmark - Danish Working Environment Authority

  • Ireland - Commission for Regulation of Utilities

  • Mexico - National Agency for Safety, Energy and Environment of Mexico

  • The Netherlands - State Supervision of Mines

  • New Zealand - WorkSafe New Zealand

  • Norway - Norwegian Ocean Industry Authority

  • United Kingdom – Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning (OPRED)

  • United States - Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement

Objectives

The objectives of the IRF are:

  • to promote best sustainable safety performance globally

  • to enable an exchange of information among regulators on:

    • offshore health and safety trends
    • industry health and safety performance
    • lessons from incidents
    • industry practices
    • regulatory practice
    • measuring the effectiveness of regulatory activities

  • to provide a network of offshore petroleum health and safety regulators for mutual support and advise when required

These are achieved through annual general meetings, continuous communication among members between annual meetings, and an IRF hosted conference every two to three years.

Working Groups

The IRF has four working groups

  • Asset Integrity - is to identify how companies are managing the maintenance of safety-critical equipment.

  • Culture - to find a management number of elements/indicators of culture that impact process safety performance within the IRF member countries to prevent major hazard incidents. The Culture working group's report from 2016/17 is available here.

  • Performance Measures - to better identify risks and thereby focus IRF engagement with industry.

  • Standards - identify priorities for the development and / or revision of global standards applicable to the offshore oil and gas industry.

IRF Management Committee

  • Chairman, Sue McCarrey, NOPSEMA, Australia

  • Chris Flint, HSE, UK

  • Stacey Noem, BSEE, USA

IRF Charter

The IRF Charter is available here.