Monthly Reflections May 2026

Monthly Reflections May 2026

Dear Colleagues,

I had the pleasure of attending the IOGP Regional Summit in Kuala Lumpur this month, engaging with a wide range of people and being reminded of the breadth of our industry and the different regional lenses on the energy trilemma: security, affordability & sustainability. Amongst the differences there are also many commonalities, not least our ambition to eliminate fatalities, permanent impairments and catastrophic process safety events. In this set of reflections I would like to focus on metrics to support our ambition.

Focus on Fatalities and Permanent Impairments (FPI)

The industry is shifting focus onto measuring and eliminating FPIs rather than on total recordable incident rate (TRIR) recognising that the TRIR is not a good predictor of FPIs. While lower severity injuries are not desirable they do mend whereas fatalities and permanent impairments are non-recoverable by definition so require the greater attention. The IOGP definitions of FPI can be found here: LINK and are worth reviewing for the definitions of permanent impairment which replaced the term serious injury several years ago. Definition alignment is critical for consistent reporting and data collection and considerable work has gone into the IOGP guidance on FPI definitions.

Use of Leading Indicators

A key tool receiving renewed and well-deserved attention is the use of leading indicators (metrics aimed at the prevention and control of future events or results) to supplement lagging indicators (metrics of historical performance). Lagging indicators continue to have their place and provide valuable insights but are not sufficient alone to eliminate FPIs and catastrophic process safety events. Suitable selection of meaningful leading indicators can enable us to intervene and take action before the failure of a barrier, control or safeguard results in harm to people. IOGP Report 815 ‘Preventing fatalities and permanent impairment injuries: developing meaningful leading indicators’ (LINK) was published this month covering this important topic. It includes information on typical leading indicators, examples and ‘V&V’: verification (is the control in place?) and validation (is the control effective?) with focus on the Life-Saving Rules (LSR) and related Start-Work Checks (SWC) (LINK). We know that the Life-Saving Rules and associated guidance saves lives and reduces permanent impairments. We also know that 85% of the fatal incidents reported to IOGP for 2025 involved the breach of at least one life-saving rule, so the work on leading indicators and consistent application across the industry will make a positive difference.

The first of the usual IOGP data reports for 2025 is also now published: 2025h ‘Health Leading Performance Indicators’ (LINK) documenting maturity and coverage of health leading indicators across the reporting IOGP member companies.

Hierarchy of Controls

Application of the hierarchy of controls is useful to determine actions to improve the effectiveness of FPI controls and works hand in hand with the use of leading indicators. The hierarchy identifies controls that reduce risk in order of effectiveness (greatest to lowest):

• Elimination (of hazard or task)
• Substitution (with less hazardous material or process)
• Engineering controls
• Administrative controls (such as control of work procedures, signs etc.)
• Personal protective clothing and equipment

IOGP working groups are currently developing publications on Process Safety in Design and Health in Design to use the extensive learnings from our members to move up the hierarchy of controls through the design process. As soon as these important publications are published I will let you know.

Final Reflection

To close, I would like to recognise all who are impacted by the ongoing events in the Middle East. I met with some impacted IOGP Member company staff this month and was able to discuss the events and challenges in greater depth. I was reminded of the importance of scenario, emergency and crisis response planning and practice, all of which was tested to the limit in the last three months. While it is very difficult to predict events it is in our control to assess risks, develop scenarios and train and test our response capabilities. The discipline to do this well applies equally to the lower-level risks as it does to the global level we are currently experiencing and is essential to our ambition to eliminate fatalities, permanent impairments and catastrophic process safety events.

Best wishes,

Tom