What went wrong Piper Alpha?

An explosion and resulting oil and gas fires destroyed Piper Alpha on 6 July 1988, killing 167 people, including two crewmen of a rescue vessel; 61 workers escaped and survived. Thirty bodies were never recovered. The total insured loss was about £1.7 billion, making it one of the costliest man-made catastrophes ever.

How many people died on Piper Alpha oil rig?

167
Piper Alpha/Total number of deaths

What could have prevented the Piper Alpha disaster?

Water alone would not have put the oil fires out (and with gas fires one should not even attempt to do so) but it might have cooled the structure and pipelines and have prevented — or at least significantly delayed — the gas line rupture which was the major escalating factor in the Piper Alpha disaster.

How did Piper Alpha affect the environment?

At around 9.55pm on 6 July 1988, gas leaking from a faulty condensate pump ignited and exploded. Three further explosions caused by ruptures in the pipelines connecting Piper Alpha to surrounding platforms and resulting fires in excess of 700°C decimated the 14,000t platform.

Who is blamed Piper Alpha?

Fateful chain of events Last year a civil action in Edinburgh blamed Bob Vernon, 51, and Terry Sutton, 28, for the chain of events which resulted in the explosion.

What caused Piper Alpha explosion?

What caused Piper Alpha disaster? The primary cause of the accident was ruled to be maintenance work simultaneously carried out on one of the high-pressure condensate pumps and a safety valve, which led to a leak in condensates.

Who put out the Piper Alpha fire?

Red Adair
Red Adair: The world-famous firefighter In 1977, he and his crew were involved in capping the North Sea’s biggest oil well blowout at the Ekofisk Bravo platform in the Norwegian sector. He returned in 1988 to help put out the fire on the Piper Alpha oil platform after the explosion claimed the lives of 167 men.

Where is the Ocean Ranger now?

The Ocean Ranger Memorial, sculpted by artist A. Stewart Montgomerie, is located on the Confederation Building grounds in St. John’s.

Who survived Piper Alpha?

Joe Meanen
Joe Meanen survived Piper Alpha by jumping 175ft from the burning platform.

What caused the Piper Alpha explosion?

What was the worst oil rig disaster?

Deepwater Horizon oil spill, also called Gulf of Mexico oil spill, largest marine oil spill in history, caused by an April 20, 2010, explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig—located in the Gulf of Mexico, approximately 41 miles (66 km) off the coast of Louisiana—and its subsequent sinking on April 22.

Do oil rigs explode?

Unfortunately, oil platforms have a high-risk of fire or explosion—even though water surrounds them. The most notorious oil rig explosion occurred in 2010 when the Deepwater Horizon rig, owned by Transocean, exploded off the coast of Louisiana.

What was the case for the Piper Alpha disaster?

National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA SAFETY CENTER SYSTEM FAILURE CASE STUDY M ay 2013 V olume 7 I ssue 4 The Case for Safety The North Sea Piper Alpha Disaster July 6, 1988, Piper Oilield, North Sea: As shifts changed and the night crew aboard Piper Alpha

Is the Piper Alpha accident an act of God?

It was shown previously that this “bad luck” type of case constitutes only a small part of the overall risk of platform failure~.(~,~) The Piper Alpha accident was one of the cases that can hardly be attributed to “an act of God”: it was mostly self-inflicted.

When did the Piper Alpha oil rig explosion happen?

Late in the evening of 06 July 1988, a series of explosions ripped through the Piper Alpha platform in the North Sea. Engulfed in fire, over the next few hours most of the oil rig topside modules collapsed into the sea. 167 men died and many more were injured and traumatised.

What was the safety culture of Piper Alpha?

7. Safety culture (complacency — everything’s fine). Piper Alpha was designed to produce and export oil. The requirement to export gas — with the associated separation of condensate — was an afterthought and involved extensive modification.