ABOUT ON OFFSHORE SAFETY PERMIT (OSP)
Offshore Safety Permit (OSP) is a Personnel Accountability System (PAS) designed by the Department of Petroleum Resources in Nigeria for the tracking of personnel working in Onshore and Offshore locations, managing installations owned and/or operated by Oil and Gas operators and contractors in Nigeria.
The fundamental purpose of OSP is to account for and save the lives of the oil and gas workers through effective training in compliance with Minerals Oils (Safety) Regulations and International Codes, Standards and Best Practices. OSP is a necessary safety precursor for every person operating in onshore and offshore locations in Nigeria as it helps to achieve the following:
- Ensure the right skills/competency mix of employees is deployed.
- Ensure that basic safety/survival training is obtained prior to deployment.
- Enhance the dossier of oil and gas personnel details for the provision of Emergency Response functionality.
- Provides real-time information on personnel movement to and from worksites.
- Ensure that personnel at worksites have the required medicals.
- Create a platform for managing immigration activities.
- Effective decision/policy making tool for the Nigerian oil and gas Industry.
It also enables operators to manage personnel in case of mustering requirement during emergencies. The OSP is equally a latent instrument that strengthens the intent of the Nigerian content bill by providing platform for managing activities in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry.
There are quite a number of Laws of the federation upon which the OSP is based and one of such is the Petroleum Acts CAP 350 which emphasizes achieving Operational Excellence in Oil and Gas activities in Nigeria. Another provision of the law enabling the implementation of the Mineral Oils (Safety) Regulations, 1997 are sections 5, 6, 8, 9, 18 and 20 which makes it mandatory for workers to be accounted for and to be trained. Also, Section 44 of the Petroleum (Drilling & Production) Regulations 1969 makes it mandatory for operators to comply with any directives for achieving health and safety of workers.
The Department is responsible for the issuance, and establishment/management of OSP in the National Data Repository (NDR), while the carrier provides the required infrastructure for the implementation.
The official fee for the OSP is $680 one off payment for every offshore worker and is renewable on a yearly basis at a fee of $135.