§ Mr. Menzies CampbellTo ask the Secretary of State for Energy, pursuant to his statement of 7 July,Official Report, columns 1191–98, whether the public inquiry he announced on the Piper Alpha platform disaster will review safety procedures for work in the North sea generally; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. ParkinsonSince my statement to the House on 7 July, I have had the opportunity to consult the Attorney-General and the Lord Advocate on the form of the public inquiry.
The public inquiry will take place under the Offshore Installations (Public Inquiries) Regulations 1974. These regulations were made under the Mineral Workings (Offshore Installations) Act 1971 and were expressly designed to provide for public inquiries into casualties and accidents involving offshore installations. They provide full powers for appointing assessors, summoning witnesses, collecting evidence and making recommendations.
I have appointed Lord Cullen, a senator of the College of Justice in Scotland as the chairman of the public inquiry. The Government intend that the public inquiry will be as full and far reaching as necessary. I have arranged for copies of the instrument directing that a public inquiry be held to be placed in the Libraries of both Houses and in the Vote Office. It provides that the inquiry be held to establish the circumstances of the accident and its cause. It also appoints Lord Cullen to hold the inquiry and to report to me on the circumstances of the accident and its cause together with any observations and recommendations which he thinks fit to make with a view to the preservation of life and the avoidance of similar accidents in the future.
The inquiry will be held in Aberdeen. The Lord Advocate has indicated that the Scottish Law Officers will represent the public interest in the inquiry.
I am also very anxious that if there are any early lessons that can be learnt from the disaster we should extract them and issue immediate guidance to operators of North sea installations. The Health and Safety Commission and I have therefore agreed that a speedy and thorough technical investigation will be held under section 14(2)(a) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and under regulations made under the Mineral Workings (Offshore Installations) Act 1971 to establish the cause of the accident.
The person appointed by the Health and Safety Commission and myself under these provisions is Mr. J. R. Petrie, the director of safety in the petroleum engineering division of my Department who is working in close consultation with the staff of the Health and Safety Executive and with the procurator fiscal. He will make a report to both the commission and myself as quickly as possible and we will then consider whether and, if so, what guidance should be issued. The report of this investigation will be available as evidence to the public inquiry which will be free to question or supplement it as it wishes.
§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will now make public the inquiry report into the explosion on the Piper Alpha platform in 1984.
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§ Mr. Peter MorrisonI shall make the report of the investigation of the 1984 explosion available to the forthcoming public inquiry into the Piper Alpha accident.
§ Mr. HardyTo ask the Secretary of State for Energy when an inspector from his Department last inspected modules on the Piper Alpha platform for the fire test; and what action was said to be necessary in order that the appropriate safety standard would be reached.
§ Mr. Peter MorrisonThe inspection of modules on the platform for structural fire safety is a matter for the certifying authority. The second annual survey within the five-year cycle of the current certificate of fitness from the certifying authority took place between January and April of this year. The fire-fighting equipment in place on the platform is examined every two years by the Department of Transport to ensure its effectiveness. The last Department of Transport survey was completed in February of this year. A satisfactory survey report was issued shortly thereafter.
§ Mr. CryerTo ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will supply copies of his Department's report into the fire and explosion on the Piper Alpha oil rig in 1984(a) to the chair of the public inquiry into the explosion and (b) to the Library; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Peter MorrisonAs my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has already announced, I shall make available to the public inquiry all the relevant information held by my Department, including the results of the investigation into the 1984 explosion on Piper Alpha. It will then be for the public inquiry to decide whether and how to publish this information.