ABSTRACT
It is noted that difficult market conditions faced by the oil industry during last several years have been manifested in a negative safety performance. No direct relationship exists to explain this trend. Even though many stakeholders instinctively believe that extreme cost-efficiency drives seen within the industry are somehow responsible for this outcome, any clear-cut mechanisms or pathways have not yet been proposed. This paper presents the preliminary development of a schematic model basis intended to explain the impacts of economic pressure on safety performance of a profit oriented organization when faced by market challenges. Further development of this model basis is expected to provide a clearer picture of this interrelation between safety performance and economic performance.
