A three-day conference, Piper 25, was held in Aberdeen last week to mark the 25th anniversary of the Piper Alpha oil rig disaster. Chaired by Oil & Gas UK chief executive, Malcolm Webb, it aimed to bring together people from across the oil and gas industry to ‘reflect on the lessons learnt from Piper Alpha, review how far offshore safety has evolved since, and reinforce industry commitment to continuous improvement’.

The conference also set out to explore broader safety issues and featured high profile international speakers from a diverse range of backgrounds. Keynote speaker was Lord Cullen, whose report into the tragedy led to major safety changes.

Patrick Phelan, Managing Director of Aquaterra Energy, said: “The Piper Alpha disaster led to 106 industry wide changes in safety practices but this anniversary is a reminder to the industry that we must never be complacent.  Safety must be at the heart of all our businesses.

“At Aquaterra Energy we’re proud to have an outstanding record in health and safety across our offshore and workplace operations and no Lost Time Incidents (LTIs) in the company’s history.”

Simultaneously, a new documentary about the Piper Alpha disaster, Fire in the Night, premiered at the Edinburgh Film Festival.  The film features testimonials from some of the Piper Alpha survivors.