How Health and Safety Policies Affect the UK Energy Industry (BP)

This dissertation investigates the influence of current health and safety policies on the energy industry (upstream) in the UK, with a specific focus on British Petroleum. The study examines the impact of these policies on upstream operations, exploring challenges faced before and after implementation. It utilizes an interpretivist philosophy with a thematic analysis approach, drawing on secondary data to identify key issues. The research aims to assess the effectiveness of existing policies, identify challenges, and offer recommendations for improvement, such as continuous review and modification of practices. The study highlights the importance of health and safety regulations, especially in offshore drilling, and recommends modifications to policies to benefit workers and enhance their participation in training programs. The dissertation provides a comprehensive overview of the research process, including the aims, objectives, research questions, and methodology employed, and concludes with recommendations for future research.

Running head: DISSERTATION
How does current health and policy affect energy industry (Upstream) in the UK;
Case study of British Petroleum
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Abstract
The study develops the ideas about the impact of the health and safety policies in energy sector
in UK with the special reference of the case study of British Petroleum. The literature study
discussed the effectiveness of the current health and safety policies on the oil and gas upstream
process in UK. The study also presents the understanding of the requirements of health and
safety regulations. It is noticed that the offshore drilling process in the energy sector require
more safety regulations since the numbers of the accidental hazards reached to the maximum
extent. However, the theme based analysis helped in identifying the exact issues faced by the
energy sector, more specifically by British Petroleum.
Interpretivism philosophy is quite significant in using the psychological interpretation by
gathering data from various secondary sources. Inductive approach provides the fruitful
assumptions that interpret the study in a more clarified way. The descriptive techniques are
utilized to understand clear idea about underlying variables and present the issues in a clarified
manner. Theme analysis process is quite helpful in gaining insights and enriched knowledge
from the collected information from the secondary data sources.
The study recommended that the modifications made in the policies would provide the
considerable benefits to the workers due to which they would participate in this training session
prior to start working in the upstream level. It is essential to continuous review, monitoring, and
modifying the practices to observe the progress and develop the better practices.

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Acknowledgement
I want to express my gratitude to my principal Mr./Mrs./Ms. ______________ for giving me the
opportunity to be a member of the _________________ university.
I would like to thank my mentor Mr./Mrs./Ms. ____________ for guiding me under his/her
supervision for the project How does current health and policy affect energy industry
(Upstream) in the UK: Case study of British Petroleum.
My classmates and loving friends are also hold a remarkable place in this journey and helped me
in obtaining necessary things for this project.
I have never been able to complete this project without the support and encouragement given by
my parents and thus I also want to thank them for believing in me.

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Table of Contents
Chapter 1..........................................................................................................................................6
Introduction......................................................................................................................................6
1.0 Introduction................................................................................................................................6
1.1 Research Background................................................................................................................6
1.2 Research Rationale....................................................................................................................7
1.3 Research Aim.............................................................................................................................8
1.4 Research Objectives...................................................................................................................8
1.5 Research Questions....................................................................................................................8
1.6 Research Hypothesis..................................................................................................................9
1.7 Research Structure.....................................................................................................................9
1.8 Summary....................................................................................................................................9
Chapter 2........................................................................................................................................11
Literature Review..........................................................................................................................11
2.0 Introduction..............................................................................................................................11
2.1 Concept of Upstream Process in Oil and Gas Industry...........................................................11
2.2 Challenges faced prior to health and safety policy implementation........................................12
2.3 Oil and Gas Safety policies imposed by UK Governments on energy sector.........................13
2.3.1 Offshore Licenses.................................................................................................................15
2.4 Health and Safety Policies on Energy Sector: Post Implementation Period...........................15
2.5 Impact of the oil and gas policies on the upstream process.....................................................16
2.5 Gap in the literature.................................................................................................................17
2.6 Linking the literature study with the research.........................................................................18

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2.7 Summary..................................................................................................................................18
Chapter 3........................................................................................................................................20
Research Methodology..................................................................................................................20
3.1 Research Philosophy................................................................................................................21
3.2 Research Approach..................................................................................................................21
3.3 Research Design......................................................................................................................22
3.4 Data Collection Method...........................................................................................................23
3.5 Data Analysis...........................................................................................................................23
3.6 Ethical Consideration...............................................................................................................24
3.7 Research Limitation.................................................................................................................24
3.8 Time scale................................................................................................................................25
3.9 Summary..................................................................................................................................26
Chapter 4........................................................................................................................................27
Data Collection and Analysis........................................................................................................27
4.0 Introduction..............................................................................................................................27
4.1 Thematic analysis....................................................................................................................27
4.2 Discussion................................................................................................................................36
4.3 Summary..................................................................................................................................36
Chapter 5........................................................................................................................................38
Conclusion and Recommendation.................................................................................................38
5.0 Introduction..............................................................................................................................38
5.1 Linking Objectives with the secondary information and literature review.............................38
5.2 Recommendation.....................................................................................................................43

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5.3 Future Scope of the Study........................................................................................................45
Chapter 6........................................................................................................................................46
Reflective Log...............................................................................................................................46
References......................................................................................................................................48

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Chapter 1
Introduction
1.0 Introduction
The current advancements in the energy industry have introduced the innovative
technicalities to upgrade the upstream, midstream, and downstream process. The upstream
process in energy industry sometimes involves the activities that are often hazardous for the
health of associated workers (Werner et al. 2015). The workers often put their life at risks while
working in the energy sectors, especially, during the upstream process. The UK government
realised the necessity of imposing the new regulations within the energy industry (Shuen, Feiler
and Teece 2014). However, it has been recognised the policies are sometimes affecting the
upstream operations due to which the oil and gas company face the difficulties much
considerably. The chapter would provide the brief ideas about the entire research process. The
aim, objectives, and research questions would provide the better ideas about the data collection
process required for developing an informative research solution.
1.1 Research Background
The regulation in the oil and gas industry has been an extensive research area for decades
(Hammond and O’Grady 2017). The oil and gas operations usually divided into three major
activities, upstream process, midstream process, and downstream process. The upstream process
deals with the drilling and production activities in which most of the workers are associated to
extract the natural gas and crude oil (Watterson and Dinan 2016). The high level of health and

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safety is to be maintained for minimising the risk factors associated with such drilling and
extraction natural oil and gas operational process.
British Petroleum is the most renowned oil and gas company that has been adopting the
frequent changes in keeping pace with the rapidly changing scenario. The mix energy that
provides light, heat and mobility for a billion of people is concentrating on shifting towards the
carbon sources (Watterson and Dinan 2016). The advanced technologies are driving such carbon
sources due to the growing concerns of the climate change issues. BP maintains the high level of
health and safety parameter for the workers that are on the top of their priority list (Werner et al.
2015). The sudden oil spill caused loss of numerous lives including the sea animals and injured
people as well. Therefore, the company is now looking forward to develop more safety
parameter to prevent such issues.
1.2 Research Rationale
The upstream process in oil and gas industry consists of some of the complex work
process. It usually deals with the drilling and production process. The workers often face the
accidental hazards during such drilling process (Wright and Boué 2018). Apart from the
chemical reactions and biological injuries, it has been observed that the long working hours and
stress create the psychological hazards among the workers associated with the upstream
operations (Shuen, Feiler and Teece 2014). However, the research study focuses on the issues
that were emerged due to the application of the health and safety policies. The government
understands the concerns and provided the fruitful implications by imposing the regulations on
the drilling process. The workers associated with the upstream process in BP are facing the
prevention in accessing the natural gas and crude oil due to regulatory factors (Watterson and

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Dinan 2016). The research study would thus focus widely on the issues related to the
implementation of the health and safety regulations that affects the upstream process.
1.3 Research Aim
The aim of the study is to measure the effects of the oil and gas policies on the upstream
operations in British Petroleum. The study also attempts to identify the necessities of imposing
the oil and gas policies for enhancing the health and safety parameter of the associated workers.
1.4 Research Objectives
 To explore the health and safety issues associated with the upstream operations in British
Petroleum before the health and safety policies were imposed
 To identify the challenges faced by British Petroleum prior to the implementation of the
health and safety policies
 To critically analyze the impact of the health and safety policies imposed on the upstream
operations in BP, UK
 To present some of the preferable recommendation to overcome these challenges
1.5 Research Questions
 How the upstream operations become a risk factor for the health and safety purpose in oil
and gas industry in UK
 What are the health and safety policies imposed by the UK government to reduce the
risks at the upstream operating sites of BP?
 What are the major obstacles faced by BP during their upstream process due to such
regulations?

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 How the challenges can be mitigated to develop a high health and safety parameter?
1.6 Research Hypothesis
H0: The health and safety policies do not affect the oil and gas upstream operations in UK
H1: The health and safety policies affect the oil and gas upstream operations in UK
1.7 Research Structure
Figure 1: Research Structure
(Source: Created by the Author)
1.8 Summary
The chapter provides the outline of the research study. The identification of the aims and
objectives would help the further study to analyse the core research subject. With the help of the

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information obtained from this chapter, the further research study would be developed. The
introductory chapter even provides the idea about the methodology suitable for conducting this
research study.

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Chapter 2
Literature Review
2.0 Introduction
The health and safety is the highly prioritized issue in UK offshore Oil and Gas industry.
It is evident that exploiting the offshore hydrocarbon resource turns out to be much hazardous for
the associated employees Klein et al. (2017). However, it is observed that the people associated
with the upstream process are focused on accomplishing the higher quality health and safety
performance. The health and safety regulations imposed by the government are widely focusing
on the reduction of risk level during the upstream process (Carrington 2018). The literature study
would thus explore the effectiveness of the current health and safety policies on the oil and gas
upstream process in UK. The study would develop the understanding of the requirements of
health and safety regulations. Furthermore, the practices would be analyzed to measure the
effectiveness (Bergh et al. 2014). The discussion of both the advantages and disadvantages of
these regulations would develop the greater level of understanding in this subject area.
2.1 Concept of Upstream Process in Oil and Gas Industry
The petroleum industry maintains the systematic work function to exploit the oil and gas
resources. Lanke, Ghodrati and Lundberg (2016) explained that the massive petroleum industry
is divided into three divergent sectors, such as upstream, midstream, and downstream. Each of
these areas concentrates on some of the absolute key aspects, such as exploration, drilling,
production, and sales. Upstream process is the initial stage in which the oil and gas is located in a