The accident at Equinor's refinery at Mongstad in September, where a colleague lost his life during a lifting operation, has had a major impact on the company.
"This was a tragic accident which has greatly affected us. Everyone who works for Equinor deserves to be safe at work. Our job is to continue learning from serious incidents like this," says Camilla Salthe, executive vice president for safety, security & sustainability (SSU).
Reduction in the number of serious incidents
Equinor’s 2025 safety results show a generally positive trend at the end of the year.
In the fourth quarter of 2025, the serious incident frequency per million hours worked (SIF) was 0.21, down from 0.3 at the end of 2024. Serious personal injuries are also included in the serious incident statistics.
"We've achieved an improvement of more than 30 per cent in the frequency of serious incidents in a single year. This inspires us to keep working alongside partners and suppliers," Salthe says.
The frequency of personal injuries per million hours worked (TRIF) was 2.3 for 2025, the same level as 2024.
A total of six oil and gas leaks were recorded in 2025, which is a reduction from seven at the end of 2024. These leaks are classified according to the degree of severity in relation to the discharge rate.
There were no incidents with major accident potential in 2025.
Incident follow-up and preventive work
Equinor had a high activity level in 2025 with a considerable number of hours worked at Mongstad, the Hammerfest LNG process plant on Melkøya and the offshore wind project Empire Wind in the US.
"We've experienced individual incidents and orders from the Norwegian Ocean Industry Authority where we've implemented measures based on lessons learned and identified non-conformities. These are all followed up systematically," Salthe emphasises.
The strengthening of safety work in 2026 will build on experience and focused activities, including technical and organisational improvements, culture and working environment, risk management and cooperation with suppliers.
"Our partnership with suppliers is an important part of the safety work associated with our activities. Together, we're continuously seeking out improvements, for example in areas such as management in the field and training and onboarding of new employees," Salthe adds.
Preventive security work is also crucial for risk management in the company. As of 2025, security barriers are part of the framework for major accident prevention at Equinor. The implementation of the Security Act was also an integrated part of Equinor's safety work last year, and this helps build our culture of safety.
Through the "Always Safe" annual wheel, Equinor is working with other operating companies and suppliers to enhance the understanding of factors that prevent safe work. The focus area for the first quarter of 2026 is the prevention of major accidents and hydrocarbon leaks.
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* As of the first quarter of 2025, SIF is being reported with two decimals to better reflect minor changes in the frequency.
