Offshore pipe fall 'had potential to cause major accident' says HSE

Decommissioning work was taking place on the Brent Charlie

A 3.3-tonne (3,300kg) length of pipe falling on a North Sea platform had the potential to be a "major accident", the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has said.

The incident happened on Shell's Brent Charlie during well decommissioning work on 23 August.

The HSE has issued an improvement notice after the 36ft (11m) pipe fell about 50ft (15m).

No-one was injured, but Shell said the incident was a matter of concern.

The piece of equipment fell during a lifting operation on the installation.

'Learn any lessons'

The HSE said Shell failed to make a "suitable and sufficient assessment" of the risks to those on the platform.

It said the incident had "significant potential to cause a major accident".

Shell said in a statement: 'We received an HSE improvement notice. Although no-one was injured, the incident was concerning.

"Across our business the health and safety of our people remains our highest priority. We are currently working to address the improvement notice and to learn any important lessons from what happened."