Today the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NLOPB), in consultation with the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board (CNSOPB), have issued the update to its joint Incident Reporting and Investigation Guidelines.

This update to these guidelines includes the following:

• References were updated to reflect the Drilling and Production (D&P) Regulations and other guidance.
• Reorganized and updated to provide better guidance and clarity to offshore operators and other stakeholders based on feedback on the use of these guidelines.
• “Emergency Notification” changed to “Immediate Verbal Notification” and reporting category added for “Immediate Written Notification”.
• Additional guidance included on reporting to other authorities and conduct of investigations. In addition, expectations for causal factors, root causes and corrective actions are outlined.
• Minor revisions made to the incident classifications of Major Injury, MEDEVAC, Fire/Explosion, Unauthorized Discharge, Spill and Near Miss.
• New incident classifications added for Well Control Incident, Leak of Hazardous Substance, Implementation of Emergency Response Plans, Contact with Fishing Gear (moved from Geophysical Guidelines) and Helicopter Occurrences.
• Helicopter Occurrences includes three categories of reporting – incidents requiring immediate verbal notification, incidents requiring written notification within 24 hours and a category to capture other events. All incidents will require submission of an associated incident investigation report.
• Near misses with a potential for fatality must be reported via “Immediate Verbal Notification” to the on-call duty officer.

Any questions with respect to these guidelines can be directed to the Information Resources Centre, (709) 778-4253 or information@cnlopb.nl.ca