The world's worst offshore disaster claimed the lives of 167 people when an explosion and fire occurred on the Piper Alpha platform in the North Sea in 1988. This incident resulted in 106 safety improvement recommendations that have been used around the world to improve safety, not only in the oil industry, but also in the nuclear, aviation, military and other sectors. There were a total of three explosions in which most of the men died, the fire broke out within 2 hours. had sent the platform to sea. Regular maintenance was carried out on the Piper Alpha platform. On July 6, two pumps designated pump A and B were removed for routine maintenance, the open pipes were temporarily covered with a disc cover (Evans). As work on the pumps was not completed, the engineer of the day left the cover open and filled out a permit stating that the pump could not be turned on. Once the day shift was over, the license was never seen again (Evans). If the permit had been issued in the necessary area, the explosion might not even have happened. A lack of communication between the day shift and night shift allowed this fire to occur. The night shift, thinking the pumps were repaired, turned them on. When a quantity of gas under high pressure began to escape from where the lid was. Before anyone could do anything, the gas ignited, causing an explosion. According to Evans, the platform was originally built for oil, so the firewalls were designed to withstand fire rather than explosions. The explosion shattered the walls and parts of the walls ruptured another pipe that was nearby, causing another fire to break out. The fire would have gone out if two other lines had not fed it from the tartan and claymore platforms. The fire on the Piper Alpha on the night of July 6...... middle of paper ..... ...only to collapse in the North Sea. The fire could have stopped with the combustion of the first explosion, since the platform was originally built for oil and not gas, the firewalls had no chance with the explosion . Even with that the fire would have burned out, but parts of flying shells collided with another pipe and started another fire, with the heat buildup the pipes started to melt causing another explosion, which led to another explosion for a total of three explosions. The fire continued to burn as it began to be fed by two other pipes. The rescue was difficult; because of wind, smoke, heat and fire. Most of the men died of asphyxiation, some from burns and others from the explosions. This accident led to huge changes in oil and gas production. Piper Alpha will be remembered as one of the worst accidents at sea to date. Last year, 2013 was the 25th anniversary.