Monthly Reflections March 2026
by Tom Frost, IOGP Health, Safety, Security & Wells Director
Monthly Reflections March 2026
Dear Colleagues,
This is my first reflection as IOGP Health, Safety, Security & Wells Director. I am delighted to have been selected for the role and to have the opportunity to play my part in influencing the health, safety and security of so many people around the world. I cannot think of many jobs with a stronger purpose – to eliminate fatalities, permanent impairments and catastrophic process safety events. I would like to share my perspectives of my first month in the role.
Learning & Capturing Best Practice
I now appreciate just how much effort goes into the work of IOGP with more than 130 work groups and almost 3,000 subject matter experts from around 100 member organisations pooling their collective knowledge and expertise with so much passion and commitment of time. It is learning and capturing best practice at scale, from deep below ground with well control to high in the skies with aviation and everything in between where people are exposed to risk that can and must be mitigated through learning. It is truly impressive and I would like to thank all of you who are contributing.
Data & Incident Analysis
Data capture is a key part of IOGP’s work and I am impressed not only at the data collected since 1985 but also the detailed review of every fatality, permanent impairment, Tier 1 process safety event, well control event, high-potential event and health indicator reported to IOGP to understand the circumstances of each one to deepen understanding and to direct our work to have the highest impact.
IOGP Publications & Access
The reach of the IOGP publications (around 50 new/updates per year from the Safety Directorate alone) is wide with 75% of downloads by non-IOGP member organisations, supported by being free to use. I find it very positive to know that so many people are accessing the IOGP documentation which is the mechanism for the extensive learning and knowledge to become part of company processes & procedures and people’s positive health & safety habits. Industry standardisation contributes to improved health & safety performance. I encourage you to use the IOGP Publications Library as the first place to check if the resources you need are there. I must also mention the health & safety webinar (18th March) covering mental wellbeing and human performance which received very positive feedback. The recording can be accessed here.
Final Reflection
I am still forming my view on where best to focus the work of IOGP in the coming years and will share more in future on that. For now, I have one final reflection to share.
While we have made great progress as an industry with many successes to share, our ambition to eliminate all fatalities, permanent impairments and catastrophic process safety events remains very challenging with hundreds of high potential incidents each year each of which could result in a fatality or permanent impairment but did not through failing safely or failing lucky. I am pleased to see the level of commitment shown and know that it will continue to take a huge collective effort to progress towards our ambition.
Best wishes,
Tom
