U.S. Department of the Interior Minerals Management Service Gulf of Mexico OCS Region

MMS Issues Proposed Rule for Training Offshore Workers

The Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service recently issued a proposed rule for training lessee and contractor employees working offshore in oil, natural gas, and sulfur operations on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). The proposed rule was published in the Federal Register on April 20, 1999.

The rule, the first true performance-based regulation, proposes to establish a training system that would lead to safer and cleaner OCS operations; allow the development of new and innovative training techniques; impose fewer prescriptive requirements on the oil and gas industry; and provide for increased training flexibility.

The MMS plans to use a series of performance measures to assess lessee and contractor performance related to their training programs. These measures may include audits, written tests, hands-on tests, and employee interviews.

To solicit ideas from constituency groups, the MMS will hold a workshop June 10, 1999, in Houston, Texas. The workshop will be from 8:30 - 12:30 at the Sheraton Crown Hotel, 15700 John F. Kennedy Boulevard. For directions please call the Sheraton at (281) 442-5100. For general workshop information contact Joseph Levine at (703) 787-1600 or FAX (703) 787-1093.

MMS is the Federal Agency that manages the Nation’s oil and gas and other mineral resources on the OCS and collects, accounts for, and last year disbursed about $6 billion in revenues from Federal offshore mineral leases and from onshore mineral leases on Federal and Indian lands.

-MMS-GOM-

MMS's Website Address: www.mms.gov
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