OISD (Oil Industry Safety Directorate) is a technical directorate under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas that formulates and coordinates the implementation of a series of self regulatory measures aimed at enhancing the safety in the oil & gas industry in India.

FUNCTIONING OF OISD

A small group of technical experts on deputation from the industry, forms a core group as OISD.

OISD, headed by an Executive Director, gets its direction and guidance from the Safety Council, the apex body consisting of senior officials of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, chief executives of oil / gas companies and heads of concerned statutory and advisory bodies.

OISD coordinates with experts from the industry through various committees to carry out its major activities.

The Safety Council / Safety Directorate does not supplant or, in any way take away the present responsibilities of various statutory agencies like DGMS, CCE, Inspectorate of Boilers, Factories Inspectors etc. It also does not dilute the responsibilities of the Chief Executives of the oil industry, who are ultimately responsible for the safety measures in their organizations.

JURISDICTION OF OISD

The following activities of the Oil & Gas Industry with the Ministry of P&NG are under the jurisdiction of OISD :

Operations pertaining to Oil Exploration & Drilling, Crude Stabilization, gas processing & transportation.

All refinery operations & petrochemical manufacturing.

Pipeline operations regarding Storage, Transportation and Distribution of Crude Oil & Petroleum products.

Marketing of Crude Oil & Petroleum products.

To oversee the implementation of all the decisions of the Safety Council,

To keep abreast of the latest design and operating practices in the area of safety and fire fighting in the hydrocarbon processing industry in the developed countries, so as to develop standards and codes that would be suitable for the conditions in India;

To liase with the statutory organizations on current views and developments and help evolve a concerted effort for the industry;

To carry out periodic safety audits, review, suggest procedures for improvements and report on the implementation of the suggestions to Safety Council;

To collect the relevant information and exchange it with the members of the Oil Industry including information regarding accidents and disasters occurring in the oil industry, and also organize industry meetings for exchange of experience;

To carry out enquiries into accidents, whenever required, and provide support to Enquiry Committees set up by the Government;

To ensure implementation of all approved codes of practices for industrial hygiene;

To review practices in the storage and handling of dangerous chemicals and ensure compliance with latest standards;

To review disaster control procedures and company preparedness;

To review in plant training programmes with regard to safety;

To Specify critical drawings / layouts that need to be vetted by Safety Specialists at the design stage and carryout spot checks of design standards based on site audit findings to serve as feed-back for establishing new standards at the design stage, and

To review zoning regulations around installations.

Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Govt. of India entrusted the job of auditing offshore platforms operated by Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) and under Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) to OISD alongwith Director General of Hydrocarbons (DGH). To look after the functions of off-shore installation, preparation of new standards and amendment of existing standards with respect to off-shore facilities, E & P - offshore wing started functioning in OISD since February 2007.

In addition to the above, at specific requests from the Chief Executives & Government Departments, OISD liaises with Railway Safety Directorate, Ministry of Surface Transport, Port Authorities etc. regarding problem area in applying and enforcing respective regulations.

COMMUNICATION CHANNEL BETWEEN OISD AND OIL INDUSTRY

As it would be difficult for Chief Executives to spare time for close coordination between OISD and Organizations, PRINCIPAL PANELISTS are nominated by chief Executives of the Oil Companies to work as overall coordinators on behalf of their organizations/ divisions. All principal panelists are members of OISD's Steering Committee.

SUB-GROUPS OF OISD

For covering the entire spectrum of activities in Oil Industry, the following sub-group have been constituted in OISD :