Topic: Other Fora

Arctic Offshore Regulators Forum

The AORF is a cooperative forum comprising the safety agencies of the USA, Canada, Russia, Iceland, Greenland, Finland, Sweden and Norway.

The purpose of the AORF is to discuss and evaluate safety-related threats and opportunities, in order to promote a high level of safety in petroleum activities in the Arctic.

The forum had its official kick-off meeting in April/May 2015 in Washington D.C., USA. The first ordinary meeting took place during the Arctic Safety Summit in Tromsø, Norway in October 2015, and further meetings will be held twice a year.

Norway has been a driving force behind the cooperation, notably through an initiative taken in connection with the Arctic Safety conference in Stavanger in October 2013.

• Terms of Reference (PDF)
• AORF Fall 2016 summary (PDF)
• Related content:

AORF Fall meeting 2019 in Oslo Published: 31 October 2019

The International Regulators Forum

The IRF formed in 1993 to provide international leadership on safety and safety-related regulatory matters for offshore oil and gas activities, continue to strengthen sharing of regulatory practice and experience, and provide a sounding board for key initiatives of members.

The IRF hosts an Offshore Safety Conference every two to three years that brings together regulators, industry, researchers, non-profits and others to examine issues related to risks offshore and increase safety and environmental performance.

Members include:

• Australia – National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority
• Brazil– National Agency of Oil, Gas and Biofuels
• Canada–
  • Canada - Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board
  • Canada - Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board
  • National Energy Board
• Denmark – Danish Working Environment Authority
• Ireland- Commission for Regulation of Utilities
• Mexico– National Agency for Safety, Energy and Environment of Mexico
• The Netherlands– State Supervision of Mines
• New Zealand – WorkSafe New Zealand
• Norway – The Petroleum Safety Authority
• United Kingdom – Health and Safety Executive and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS)
• United States – Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement

The objectives of the IRF are:

• To promote best sustainable safety performance globally.
• To enable an exchange of information among regulators on:
  • ­ Offshore health and safety trends;
  • ­ Industry health and safety performance;
  • ­ Lessons from incidents;
  • ­ Industry practices;
  • ­ Regulatory practice; and
  • ­ Measuring the effectiveness of regulatory activities.
• To provide a network of offshore petroleum health and safety regulators for mutual support and advise when required.

These objectives are achieved through annual general meetings, continuous communication among members between annual meetings, and an IRF hosted conference every two to three years.

Working Groups
The IRF has four working groups:

• Asset Integrity – The purpose is to identify how companies are managing the maintenance of safety-critical equipment.
• Culture – The purpose is to find a management number of elements/indicators of culture that impact process safety performance within the IRF member countries to prevent major hazard incidents.
• Performance Measures – The purpose is to better identify risks and thereby focus IRF engagement with industry.
• Standards – The purpose is to identify priorities for the development and / or revision of global standards applicable to the offshore oil and gas industry.

IRF Charter
The IRF Charter is available here. https://irfoffshoresafety.com/