The offshore industry has been warned that its safety record is not good enough following the release of the latest official accident statistics.

The UK offshore oil and gas industry has been warned about its safety record as new statistics show both increases in major injuries and unplanned hydrocarbon releases.

Figures released by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) show that there were 50 major injuries reported in 2009 to 2010 − up 20 on the previous year and higher than the average of 42 over the previous five years.

The combined fatal and major injury rate affecting the offshore industry almost doubled to 192 per 100,000 workers in 2009 to 2010 compared with 106 in the previous year and a total of 156 in 2007.

A marked rise was also recorded over the last 12 months in the combined number of major and significant hydrocarbon releases, regarded as a potential precursor to a major incident, with a provisional total of 85 such incidents released by the accident watchdog.

There were significantly fewer the previous year – 61 − the lowest since HSE began regulating the industry, so there is great cause for concern that injury prevention is going backwards.

Better news though was that there were no workers killed during such UK activities regulated by the HSE for the third year running.

Steve Walker, head of the HSE offshore division:

“I am pleased to see no fatalities for a third consecutive year in the areas we regulate but the fact that 17 workers tragically died in other offshore related travel incidents in the year is a stark reminder that hazards are ever present offshore.

“Although the overall numbers of injury and dangerous occurrences are comparatively low, considering a workforce of almost 27,000 and the numbers of rigs and the continuous operations undertaken, this does not excuse the fact that the fatal and major injury rate has almost doubled.

“This year’s overall health and safety picture is simply not good enough. The industry has shown it can do better and it must do in future.

“I am particularly disappointed, and concerned, that major and significant hydrocarbon releases are up by more than a third on last year. This is a key indicator of how well the offshore industry is managing its major accident potential, and it really must up its game to identify and rectify the root causes of such events.”

In 2009 to 2010 there was a significant reduction in the minor over-three-day injury rate, maintaining a downward trend – 414 workers per 100,000 reported an injury, compared with 496 in the previous year.

443 dangerous occurrences were reported, 34 fewer than in 2008 to 2009. The main types of issues reported were hydrocarbon releases (42 per cent), failure of equipment offshore (23 per cent) well-related incidents (6 per cent) and failures relating to lifting operations (9 per cent).

“We will continue to take a tough line on companies who put their workers at risk, said Mr Walker.

“The challenge to improve safety will be ever greater as more offshore installations exceed their original design life. Our new inspection initiative will check safety management plans to ensure ageing is being taken into account, but the responsibility for getting safety right in the first place rests where it always has: with the duty holders.”

The Offshore Safety Statistics Bulletin is designed to show provisional headline figures before a more detailed statistical analysis is published later in the year.

It records fatalities, reportable injuries, occurrence of ill health and dangerous occurrences reported to HSE between 1 April 2009 and 31 March 2010 under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR).

Though related to the offshore oil and gas industry, incidents occurring in marine and transport activities are not regulated by HSE. Therefore, the loss of two crew and 14 offshore workers on a helicopter flight returning from the Miller platform to Aberdeen on 1 April 2009 and the death of one worker killed in a lifting related incident on a diving support vessel when in transit, though noted by HSE will not appear in the organisation’s statistics.

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A woman has received a multi-million pound personal injury compensation settlement, after she suffered severe whiplash injuries when her vehicle collided with a dead horse.

The $2.7 million injury compensation settlement is thought to be the highest linked to an animal compensation claim.

The woman suffered permanent full-body whiplash injuries in the crash, and still requires strong pain relief and treatment for her injuries.

It is thought to be one of the biggest personal injury settlements, resulting from an accident involving a horse or some form of livestock.

The horse had been previously hit by another driver who left the scene who then failed to attempt to make the area safe, leading to a claim for compensation from the driver who came along and struck the horse.

The woman was severely injured when she hit the dead horse on a roadway in Jefferson County, USA while driving home from work.

A court heard she was driving under the speed limit when she hit the dead black horse that was lying in the road. No one else was injured.

A Jefferson County jury awarded the woman from Chimacum a personal injury compensation settlement of $2.7 million (£1.71 million) for the permanent injuries she received.

The horse had strayed onto the road and was initially struck by a telephone company employee who then left the scene, allegedly to seek assistance.

It was later reported that the driver was driving a truck which was equipped with safety cones and other safety warning systems that could have been used to warn other drivers of the possible danger.

Bill McGonagle, the lawyer who handled the claim for the injured lady, said:

“This injury could have been easily prevented if the Sprint truck driver would have just stopped to protect the scene.

“She has suffered for nine years and doctors have determined that she will endure pain for the rest of her life,” said Mr McGonagle.

Injuries included full body whiplash which pulled her spine, nerves and muscles so severely that the only treatment to alleviate the pain was an implanted medical device that secretes pain medication.

The case was argued before a jury that the accident could have been prevented had the other driver acted more quickly and made use of accident prevention equipment.

The other driver argued in the court that he did not stop straight away because he felt it was dangerous to do that.

The accident occurred in December 2001 early evening on a dark and overcast night on an unlit road.

According to an eye witness the car driven by the woman struck the horse and became airborne finally resting 200 feet down the road.

Accidents involving animals on roads are fairly routine and can lead to severe injuries and fatalities; especially involving big animals such as livestock.

Every year in the UK there are also road accidents caused by animals that have ended up on the roads.

Laws vary depending on the animal and nature of the accident but in the UK individuals who own livestock have a responsibility to ensure animals are secured and cannot stray onto roads.

In the event of an accident if the owner of the livestock has failed to keep the animal within a safe area, then a compensation claim could be made, as long as negligence can be proved.

In the UK if a driver is involved in an accident where an animal has been killed or injured then the driver should remain at the scene of the accident for a reasonable time and must report the accident.

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The Met Police have apologised to two brother students and agreed to pay £25,000 in personal injury compensation.

Ashley and Russell Inglis were involved in protests at the Israeli Embassy in London on 3 January 2009 when the assaults took place.

The Metropolitan Police have apologised and paid £12,500 each to the twin brothers for the unprovoked assaults which took place by police officers in the course of the protests outside the Israeli Embassy in London.

Ashley Inglis initially wanted an apology from the police and complained to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) and the Met.

The Met ruled that there was nothing to answer as officers could not be identified and the incident had not been filmed by the police.

So a civil injury compensation claim against the police was brought and the Met eventually conceded and sent a letter apologising for the injury. A CCTV camera at the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington had captured the incident.

Russell Inglis said: “We presented no threat whatsoever to the police. We were simply exercising our democratic right to peaceful protest.”

Michael Oswald of Bhatt Murphy solicitors, the solicitor for Ashley and Russell Inglis who handled the case, said:

“The apology and the sums paid to our clients in satisfaction of their claims go some way toward the vindication and accountability they have sought.

“However, it is significant and regrettable that their attempt to achieve those objectives through the statutory police complaints system in the first instance came to nothing, and that they were required to bring their civil claims to compel the Metropolitan Police Commissioner to recognise the wrong that had been done.”

Michael Oswald is an assistant solicitor in the police law team at Bhatt Murphy Solicitors, London and works with clients who have been subjected to misconduct at the hands of the state.

The focus of his work is to enable his clients to achieve the redress they seek for the misconduct they have been subjected to.

Ashley Inglis was one of 17 complaints during a month of pro-Palestinian demonstrations which were filed with the Independent Police Complaints Commission. All were referred to the Met DPS- Directorate of Professional Standards.

None resulted in any disciplinary action against an officer.

The brothers claimed they were attacked without reason and suffered blows to the head. They proved they were presenting no threat at the time and were exercising a basic democratic right to protest. They claim the police who hit them tried to cover up the identifying numbers on their shoulders.

It was also reported at the time that the demonstration was not entirely peaceful on behalf of all protesters as video coverage showed. The Metropolitan Police suffered injuries to 55 of their officers that day.

76 people were arrested and charged with several offences, including violent disorder, during the series of Gaza demonstrations.

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An elderly Greek man has been awarded more than £110,000 in compensation after a Swedish dairy used his picture on a yoghurt pot.

The 77-year-old with his long greying moustache and red hat is a distinctive and colourful image depicting the Turkish recipe yoghurt pot.

However the man took exception having his image exploited for commercial reasons, and especially as the case involved a Greek man in traditional dress on a Turkish yoghurt pot, which can be understood against the backdrop of the rivalry and conflict between the two nations going back for centuries.

The man’s photo features on pots of Lindahl Turkish yoghurt, a popular yoghurt in Sweden.

A Greek friend of the man living in Stockholm told the man, Minas Karatzoglis, that his image was being widely distributed throughout Sweden on the pots.

The row has also brewed into a Greek vs. Turkish rivalry in the two countries’ media with the Greek man taking legal action.

The main legal point is that his photo was used without consent,

After discovering his photo had been used without consent, and in this case for commercial use, he was entitled to seek compensation.

The compensation transaction is reportedly between 1.5 million kronor – £110,000 – and 2 million kronor, which includes lawyer fees, the diary has revealed.

“We reached an agreement and everything has been signed by all parties. We can use his picture on all of our products, including on the Turkish yoghurt,” purchase manager for the Lindahl dairy, Tomas Axelsson, said.

The dairy, based in Joenkoeping, Sweden, said the compensation claim came as a shock. The company had bought the photograph in good faith from an image library.

The story shows the legal dangers of using images without permission. Image copyright comes into existence at the point of creation so under normal circumstances the photographer will own the copyright for his or her work.

While there is no general legal requirement to obtain someone’s right to take his or her photograph there are situations where photography can infringe on legal protections though, such as protection of children, national security, privacy laws, etc.

It is quite a complex legal area as many of these situations will have different laws in different countries, with different national laws and regulations. However, it is certainly unethical as well as illegal in many situations to exploit a person’s image without his or her consent. Not knowing you were not doing wrong is no defence.

Basically, ultimately a picture can be taken without permission in most cases, but what is done with it as in this case can lead to legal actions and compensation if the integrity of the image is not protected.

The man says he was not against his face adorning the pots although he was surprised to get a call from a friend informing him. It was more that the yoghurt pot was branding him as Turkish.

“For my client that was perhaps the biggest insult,” his lawyer said, a serious point which shows the sensitivity of national identity in such a case.

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Facebook is finally adopting a CEOP internet safety button on its websites, a long awaited panic button and information link offering online safety advice to young people.

The news follows a long-running debate between the UK’s national centre for protecting children, the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre, and Facebook; as well as other social networking sites.

The announcement has been made in the wake of ongoing concerns about child safety on Facebook and other internet sites which promote social interaction with strangers.

CEOP has long wanted all social network websites to adopt its one click button on their sites so children can get immediate police help and advice, in the event of any suspicious activity from other internet users.

There have been a number of high profile cases involving predators targeting children on networking websites.

Young Facebook users across the UK are now the focus of a new initiative by CEOP and Facebook.

Now for the first time all Facebook users in the UK, especially those aged 13 to 18, can have direct access to CEOP’s advice and reporting centre.

Youngsters will be able to ClickCEOP from their homepage, offering advice on online safety as well as a dedicated facility for reporting instances of inappropriate behaviour.

Chief Executive of CEOP Jim Gamble said:

“By adding this application, Facebook users will have direct access to all the services that sit behind our ClickCEOP button which should provide reassurance to every parent with teenagers on the site.

“We know from speaking to offenders that a visible deterrent could protect young people online. We urge all Facebook users to add the app and bookmark it so that others can see that they are in control online.”

Access to the ClickCEOP button will be provided via an application that users can add or bookmark so that it appears on their homepage as not only a constant source of help and reassurance for them but also as a strong visual signal to their friends, family and others that they are in control online.

Joanna Shields, Facebook’s Vice President for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) said:

“There is no single silver bullet to making the internet safer but by joining forces with CEOP we have developed a comprehensive solution which marries our expertise in technology with CEOP’s expertise in online safety.

“Nothing is more important than the safety of our users, which is why we have invested so much in making Facebook one of the safest places on the internet.

“It is only through the constant and concerted effort of the industry, police, parents and young people themselves that we can all keep safe online – whether on Facebook or elsewhere.”

The application is backed by a new CEOP page that will look to engage with young people to help raise the profile of online safety.

The initiative is being seen as a welcome collaboration between CEOP and Facebook that combines Facebook technology expertise connecting people and organisations and CEOP’s knowledge of internet safety and security; as well as CEOP’s role as the national centre for child protection.

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Facebook Adopts CEOP Panic Button To Protect Kids From Injury is a post from: Personal Injury Bureau