The influence of interorganizational factors on offshore incidents in the Norwegian petroleum industry: Challenges and future directions

In the petroleum industry, incident investigations are an important means to understand and learn from undesired events. Whereas investigations in the petroleum industry typically focus on technical, human and organizational factors, there is a growing tendency towards outsourcing and more complex forms of organizations. Processes occurring at the interfaces between companies represent important influences that should be considered when investigating incidents. The current study aimed to gain a better understanding of the influence of interorganizational factors on offshore incidents on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Twenty-two investigation reports were analysed to identify interorganizational factors that contribute to incidents. Factors at the interorganizational level contribute to both occupational incidents and major near accidents. Four themes were identified: Ambiguities in roles and responsibilities between personnel from different companies, inadequate processes to ensure sufficient competence across interfaces, inadequate quality control routines across organizational interfaces and communication breakdowns between companies. The identified factors reflect underlying systemic deficiencies at the interorganizational level that contribute to obscure operational processes and at the same time reduce the effectiveness of existing safety barriers. Broadening the scope and incorporating factors at the interorganizational level when investigating undesired events is important in order to sufficiently learn from incidents.