The Health and Safety Executive has initiated a formal investigation following a significant structural failure on Shell’s Shearwater platform in the North Sea, marking the latest in a series of safety incidents to affect the UK’s offshore energy sector in 2025.
On July 12, 2025, a section of decking on the Shell-operated Shearwater platform collapsed onto a walkway below after a liquid nitrogen leak caused damage to the underside of the deck structure. Located 140 miles east of Aberdeen, the incident resulted in debris falling onto a personnel walkway, which regulators warned could have caused “fatal injury” to workers.
Shell UK responded quickly to contain the leak and immediately cordoned off the affected area, with the company confirming that no personnel were harmed during the incident. However, the Health and Safety Executive identified serious underlying safety management failures in the aftermath.
Regulatory Response
Following its investigation, the HSE served Shell UK with an improvement notice on August 4, 2025, citing six separate safety breaches. The regulatory action highlighted deficiencies in Shell’s “existing arrangements” for managing “loss of containment events” – incidents where hazardous substances escape from their intended systems.
The improvement notice requires Shell to demonstrate compliance by September 9, 2025, with the HSE investigation continuing to examine the root causes of the structural failure. This enforcement action represents a significant regulatory intervention, particularly given that improvement notices are relatively rare in the offshore oil and gas sector.
The Shearwater incident occurs against a backdrop of heightened scrutiny over North Sea safety standards. Recent HSE data reveals concerning trends across the UK Continental Shelf, with 1,083 non-compliance issues identified during offshore inspections in 2022, representing a 43% increase from 757 issues recorded in 2021.
The offshore industry has experienced several major safety incidents in 2025, including a £300,000 fine imposed on Ithaca Energy in June after three workers became partially submerged in a flooded lift shaft on the FPF-1 platform. That incident highlighted similar systemic failures in safety management and emergency procedures.
Shell’s safety record has come under particular scrutiny in recent years. The company faced regulatory criticism over a gas release at its Penguins FPSO facility in April 2025, where the HSE identified “unsuitable plant design” as the root cause of a 95.3kg gas leak. The regulator described the design as inappropriate for offshore facilities and expressed surprise that the flaw wasn’t identified during hazard analysis.
Industry Safety Challenges
The UK’s offshore sector continues to grapple with structural integrity challenges as aging infrastructure faces extreme environmental conditions. HSE research indicates that approximately 40% of North Sea platforms experience some level of topside inundation during 10,000-year return period weather events, with 20% facing more than two metres of water ingress.
Recent regulatory warnings have highlighted specific risks to offshore workers. In August 2025, the HSE issued an urgent safety notice regarding motion compensated gangways, warning that power failures and control errors can cause these structures to retract without warning, creating fatal fall risks.
The regulator has also emphasised the need for improved focus on human factors in safety-critical operations. A July 2025 major accident warning urged offshore firms to better address how human error could contribute to incidents, following enforcement action against Apache North Sea Limited..
Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce has called for greater government support for domestic oil and gas production, arguing that the current policy framework undermines safety investments while increasing reliance on imports with higher carbon footprints.
Shell has committed to implementing improvements and working with the HSE to address the identified failings. However, the incident adds to growing concerns about the long-term sustainability of safety standards as the North Sea industry navigates its transition toward renewable energy while continuing essential hydrocarbon production.
