Stakeholders’ Perspectives on Generative Voluntary Safety Reporting Culture

To fill a gap in understanding of the Generative Voluntary Safety Reporting Culture (GVSRC) in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) Oil and Gas (O&G) sector, perspectives of stakeholders based on their experiences were explored using attributes of a proposed Offshore Safety Action Program (OSAP) modeled after the Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP). A phenomenological approach encompassing semi-structured interviews (n = 18) and five focus-group sessions (n = 18) was used to collect data from a cross-section of top management, supervisors, regulatory representatives, and subject-matter experts (SME). Four themes emerged from a Thematic Analysis: (1) Voluntary safety reporting culture, (2) Voluntary safety reporting bottlenecks, (3) Universality, and (4) Organizational review of safety events. Most respondents strongly supported the OSAP because it ensures a formalized adjudication of voluntary safety reports by an Event Review Committee (ERC) with representation from employees, management, and regulators. Most respondents supported the non-punitive and confidential attributes of the OSAP as a means to enhance GVSRC. However, there were varying perspectives on defining intentional disregard for safety under the OSAP. Due to the enumerated challenges of cost, respondents agreed that organizations use a scalable process commensurate with the complexity of their operations when adopting the OSAP. A veritable framework for data-driven corrective actions, organizational learning, and enhanced GVSRC in the offshore sector is a potential policy implication of adopting the OSAP.