Monthly Reflections February 2026 – Handover of IOGP Safety Director
Dear Colleagues,
This is my last reflection as IOGP Safety Director. I have spent the last few weeks handing over the role to Tom Frost and Tom has added his first reflections to the end of this message. Times like this are an opportunity to reflect back on the 3 years I have spent in the role.
I would like to start by thanking and paying tribute to the hundreds of people who are supporting the work of the IOGP Safety Directorate. I believe my role has been to help you to be successful. To enable the right circumstances and environment for experts to come together, share learnings and create and publish Recommended Practices that will prevent future incidents.
The work to publish Recommended Practices is incredibly important for the industry but this is where the work starts rather than ends. I have tried to shift the mindset so we are more focused on the adoption of the Recommended Practices, since, it is the adoption of these practices that makes the difference. Whilst there is still more to do in this regard I believe we are on the right path where the practices are written so they are easier to adopt and there is an increasing recognition by organisations that the collective wisdom of the industry creates a better product than a single organisation can ever produce.
In my time as the Safety Director, I have had the privilege to speak and share my thoughts at many industry events. The data point I have shared more than any other is the progress made by the IOGP Members in reducing the Fatal Accident Rate. Since the mid-1980s, when IOGP first collected safety data, it has reduced by more than 90%. This is an amazing achievement and one the industry should be immensely proud of, and I believe working together to learn and share practices is a major contributor to this improvement. My final reflection is by working together you are making a difference so keep up the good work, continue to create and adopt IOGP Recommended Practices to help achieve the ambition to eliminate fatalities and permanent impairments.
Over to you Tom.
I am honoured and excited to be taking on the IOGP Safety Director role. Steve and I are very aligned on the values and drivers of the IOGP Safety Directorate work, the achievements to date and the current focus areas. I look forward to meeting many of you and working together to continue delivering positive impact to the industry and beyond. I would like to thank Steve for his work with IOGP over the last 3 years and wish him well for his return to Shell.
Kind regards,
Steve and Tom
