An Aberdeen MP has hit out at “toothless” safety warnings in the oil and gas industry after a suspected gas leak on board a North Sea platform shut down production.
Callum McCaig has written to Energy Secretary Amber Rudd to raise concerns operators are not being properly held to account.
Production has yet to resume at the Brae Alpha platform, 155 miles off the Aberdeen coast, since it was stopped on Boxing Day.
US operator Marathon Oil has said it is carrying out a “comprehensive” assessment to establish when activity can start up again.
In his letter sent yesterday Mr McCaig, SNP Westminster energy spokesman, said: “It seems to me the previous improvement notice in this instance may not have instilled the severity of a potentially life-threatening risk present in an offshore work environment.
“Do you think it is acceptable for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to seem so toothless in their delivery of recommendation notices?
“I implore you to move as quickly as possible to establish substantial and effective powers for the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) as well as the HSE to issue credible sanctions to operators who put even the slightest inappropriate risk to the wellbeing and life of offshore workers.”
The OGA will be formally established by the Energy Bill, which is due to be debated in the Commons later this month.
It will not, however, have any remit for offshore safety, the regulator confirmed, which is covered by the HSE.
Labour north-east MSP Lewis Macdonald said the worry was some of the infrastructure would not remain fit for purpose during the predicted period of low prices.
He added: “Labour’s approach to this has always been safety should be paramount and should take precedence over production.”
Liberal Democrat Northern Isles MP Alistair Carmichael said any company found to have compromised safety offshore should expect the “most severe penalties”.
About 70 people are understood to still be on the platform, which Mr McCaig said had been issued an improvement notice in June after a corroded piece of equipment caused a gas leak.
An HSE spokesman said inspectors had been carrying out inquiries on Brae Alpha this week.
Speaking generally, he added the body would not hesitate to take enforcement action against any operator if standards slide.
He continued: “The price of oil and gas may vary, but workers’ lives do not lose value in a downturn and HSE does not allow the industry to forget that.”
A department for energy and climate change spokesman said safety should never be compromised and that it works “closely with the HSE to ensure the stringent regulations in place are adhered to.”