Analysis of incident data reveals critical process safety issues and opportunities for improvement in the Indonesian oil and gas industry

The present work examines the critical issue of process safety incidents in the Indonesian oil and gas sector, with the aim of improving process safety implementation and decreasing the occurrence of process safety incidents. Despite the implementation of process safety management systems, the industry remains plagued by major process safety incidents raising questions about the adequacy of existing protocols. Publicly accessible incident investigation reports were examined to identify the underlying causes of these incidents. Descriptive statistical methods were employed to pinpoint trends in process safety incident scenarios, their causes, and the correlations with different elements of process safety management systems. The findings indicate key problems associated with process safety management systems in Indonesia, notably the elements of hazard identification and risk analysis, asset integrity and reliability, and process safety culture. In addition, the discussion highlights opportunities for enhancing regulatory frameworks and their enforcement, and the need for a comprehensive approach to process safety management in Indonesia's oil and gas industry. Enhancements to process safety programs and amendments to process safety regulations are among the suggested recommendations. Addressing these problems would enable Indonesia's oil and gas industry to effectively manage the risks linked to process safety incidents.