Washington (Platts)--19Dec2012/521 pm EST/2221 GMT

The US' top offshore safety regulator, who runs an agency historically focused on enforcing rules and regulations, is now seeking ways to influence not only how companies behave, but how they think about safety.

James Watson, director of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, published a draft "safety culture policy statement" on Wednesday and wants public comments on how to encourage companies operating on the Outer Continental Shelf to infuse safety into every part of their business.

"The Safety Culture Policy Statement is at the core of BSEE's guiding principle of safety at all levels, at all times, because every offshore operation -- no matter when or where it is performed -- carries with it some degree of risk," Watson said in a statement. "From the boardroom to the control room, this policy pushes us all to a safer offshore environment."

The policy is based on a similar effort the Nuclear Regulatory Commission made in the wake of the 1979 near meltdown at the Three Mile Island power plant in Pennsylvania.

The NRC worked with the industry to develop a formal policy on the "NRC's expectations for a strong and effective safety culture," BSEE said.

"The BSEE has reviewed the NRC's safety culture policy and believes it provides a strong foundation for a similar approach for oil and gas operations on the OCS, with the ultimate goal of facilitating the continued development of a robust safety culture for all persons working on the OCS," the BSEE draft states.

BSEE is defining safety culture as "the core values and behaviors resulting from a collective commitment by leaders and individuals to emphasize safety over competing goals to ensure protection of people and the environment."

The draft policy, if adopted, would apply to all offshore lease holders, operators and contractors who work on offshore oil and gas rigs.

But unlike regulations that specify how companies should drill wells or avoid slips and falls, the new culture policy is not intended to become a checklist on the clipboard of inspectors who regularly visit rigs and platforms.

"It should be noted that these traits were not developed to be used for inspection purposes," the draft policy states.

The draft policy lists nine characteristics said to be present in a "positive safety culture."

The characteristics are defined as a "pattern of thinking, feeling and behaving that emphasizes safety, particularly in goal conflict situations," such as when a safety-related decision either increases the cost of drilling or puts a company behind its production schedule.

Some of the characteristics BSEE has proposed including in its policy include encouraging a safety-conscious work environment where personnel can raise safety concerns without fear of retaliation.

The traits also encourage a culture where every employee takes personal responsibility for safety and where issues impacting safety are "promptly identified, fully evaluated, and promptly addressed and corrected commensurate with their significance."

Watson cited recommendations from several investigations of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon accident and spill in the Gulf of Mexico that emphasized evaluating safety concerns to the highest levels in offshore operations.

In June, a report from the National Research Council, done at the request of the Department of the Interior, specifically recommended ways to move from a "culture of relying on punishment only" in enforcing offshore regulations, to "a culture of continuous improvement."

The policy will be open for comment for 90 days.

--Gary Gentile, gary_gentile@platts.com --Edited by Keiron Greenhalgh, keiron_greenhalgh@platts.com