An Analysis of The Role of Meta-Regulations in Guaranteeing Health, Safety and Environmental Safety in the Oil and Gas Sector of Uganda

Abstract

Much as the income derived from oil can propel Uganda’s development, such development, should be sustainable, ensuring that the exploitation of oil doesn’t deprive current and future generations of a clean and safe environment. The Oil and Gas Industry is fraught with a lot of risks and hazards that have caused health and safety catastrophes that have at times led to fatalities. Parliament in line with its constitutional legislative mandate, made Laws and Regulations to regulate health, safety and environmental safety of the oil and gas aspects. This study was about the analysis of the role of Meta-Regulation in guaranteeing health, safety and environmental safety in oil and gas sector of Uganda. The study used the Doctrinal Research Method together with the Comparative Legal Analysis Research Method. Using these methods, the Meta-regulations of health, safety and environmental safety were analyzed and also compared to those Norway and Kenya. Although Uganda uses both Prescriptive and Meta- regulations, this study only focused on the latter. Some of the findings in the study regarding the Health and Safety aspects include; that many vital technical terms were not defined to provide guidance and context to the operators. Attention was only given to conditions that could result into loss of work time, disability and fatalities, neglecting conditions that have a cumulative effect and may not cause any of the three listed conditions although may adversely affect a worker’s health. There was also a failure to emphasize that employees should participate in the making of Safety Cases, weak financial penalties for operators who violate the regulations, no guidance was given as to how qualitative or semi qualitative or quantitative risk assessment should be done. The analysis of the environmental safety aspects of Meta– Regulations revealed that there is no guidance as to whether qualitative or quantitative method of risk analysis should be used during risk assessment, there is no provision for submission of the policy statements for approval by the regulator, mitigation hierarchy does not state that biodiversity offsets should be done in the same area of loss. Some of the recommendations include that compliant Operators should be given certificates of compliance, there should be a provision that employees participate in the making of safety cases, the regulator should be able to partly accept to partly reject a Safety Case, the regulations should require that a Safety Case includes a place for refugee in case of an emergency and the organizational emergency should coordinate with public emergency preparedness.