February 6, 2026 | Justin Clark

SafeOCS, False Root Causes, and Blowout Repeats

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) requires that offshore oil and gas companies report well control equipment (WCE) failures in an online database called SafeOCS. BSEE’s well control rule was implemented in July 2016, and Ken Reed reported on their initial findings in August 2016:

Is “Wear and Tear” an Acceptable Equipment Root Cause?

As of December 29, 2025, for WCE failures reported to SafeOCS from August 2024 to July 2025

In total, 81.9% of reported equipment failure precursor events were identified with a dedicated, scheduled look. Even predictive maintenance is shown to be useful, catching 4.4%! What we do after those failed tests, however, determines whether there are repeat incidents. Knowledge without action is useless.

Replacing a failed component without proper root cause failure analysis ensures it will happen again. Here is how the BSEE, a Federal Regulator, tracks root cause data for failed equipment. These are direct precursors to blowout incidents like the Deepwater Horizon incident.

First, we see the gross conceptual error of a single root cause: “The WCE notification form allows for only one root cause of an event.”

Second, do these “root causes” above even qualify? A proper definition of “Root Cause” states

What BSEE tracks are, in fact, very broad categories of equipment failures, not root causes.

Wear and Tear – 38% of all WCE failures are not just a “group”, but a serious mislabel that discourages preventive actions. Do you believe “wear and tear” is challenged with requirements to submit items like

Clear, systematic, technical analysis to prove the failure mode(s) caused by the “wear and tear?”
Corrective action plan to eliminate all root causes of adverse “wear and tear?”
Follow-up measurements to validate corrective actions were effective?
Review for unintended consequences?
Systems analysis to see where else similar “wear and tear” conditions exist?

I doubt it.

In terms of root cause analysis, the offshore oil and gas industry generally accepts teams being too lean to operate safely. And that’s the primary mission of formal operations.

Investigating Accidents with Fatigue as a Cause

Rather than having dedicated, trained engineers and human factors experts conduct a root cause analysis, the offshore oil and gas industry usually requires operational rig teams to conduct an RCA during their off-shift, typically 12 hours. Conflicts with sleep, eating, and everything else that off-shift time should protect, ensure this will not be a thorough analysis, but more like 40 minutes of asking “Why?”. To get done quickly, the investigator can just choose “wear and tear,” and nobody gets blamed.

Rather than meeting a deeply flawed regulatory reporting structure, let’s understand and prevent equipment failures.

TapRooT® RCA and Equifactor® Troubleshooting are systems developed over decades, drawing on accumulated human performance and equipment reliability best practices, giving your investigators the tools to get expert answers.

For a more in-depth look at equipment root cause failure analysis (RCFA), come to an Equifactor® Troubleshooting and TapRooT® Root Cause Analysis Course to learn How Equipment Troubleshooting and Root Cause Analysis work together and how to use Equifactor® Troubleshooting to improve equipment reliability.