We’re in the middle of it: Consultants' role in risk management in the Norwegian petroleum sector

Most risk management research focuses on owner/operators and regulators, and ignores other actors. Preventing major accidents in the offshore oil and gas sector is a key responsibility of the companies that own and operate the infrastructure. Regulatory oversight of their activities comes in the form of industry-specific goal-based regulation administered by a specialist regulatory agency. In this paper we focus on a third actor in the system – the consultants who provide specialist services regarding safety and risk. Our study draws on interviews with experienced consultants in the Norwegian oil and gas sector (n = 11, average experience 20+ years). Power’s concept of riskwork is used to examine how consultants interact with their clients and how they see their role in relation to risk management. The analysis shows that the role of experienced consultants goes well beyond metaphor of the fox guarding the hen house. Rather, consultants contribute to regulatory compliance on the part of their clients but, further, they try to positively influence decision makers beyond simple compliance in order to promote what they believe to be the best safety decision making. The paper argues that consultants’ role in the system is under examined and under theorized. Alongside earlier research, our study indicates that consultants play a big role in risk management, which should be both recognized and scrutinized.