WHAT IS A SIF?

A Serious Injury or Fatality (SIF) event is an incident or near miss that results in or has the potential to produce a fatal or life-altering injury or illness. Life-altering injuries or illnesses result in permanent or significant loss of a body part, organ function or otherwise permanently changes or disables that person’s normal life activity. 

Serious Injuries and Fatalities (SIF)

Incidents can be classified as actual or potential SIFs.  Identifying potential SIFs involves some subjectivity, but these incidents provide a key learning opportunity for the industry.  

The concept of a SIF event has evolved within the safety professional community over the last several decades and is not unique to the oil and gas industry.  Historically, focus has been placed on addressing total recordable injury rates (TRIR), as defined by OSHA, and progress has been made to successfully reduce these types of incidents.  Now, many companies are advancing in their journey towards safety excellence by moving beyond TRIRs and expanding their focus to the elimination of serious injuries and life altering events. These events may also be referred to as near misses, significant near misses, or high potential events. 

Identifying serious injury or fatality (SIF) events involves some subjectivity, but these incidents can provide a key learning opportunity for the industry.  Below are examples of types of incidents that may occur broken out by actual and potential SIF, IOGP life-saving rule category and incident type.   This list is not exhaustive, but it is provided to assist the OSA participant in understanding how incidents may be classified.    

SIF Examples


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Bypassing Safety Controls SIF Examples Confined Space SIF Examples Driving SIF Examples Energy Isolation SIF Examples Hot Work SIF Examples

Line of Fire SIF Examples Safe Mechanical Lifting SIF Examples Work Authorization SIF Examples Working at Height SIF Examples

Additional SIF Information

In 2016, H&P re-defined safety success and encouraged employees to not only report near miss incidents with serious, life-altering or fatal injury potential (SIFs) but also Actively C.A.R.E. by identifying and reporting serious injury exposures.

Helmerich & Payne

For companies interested in an in-depth history on SIF, take a look at Serious Injury and Fatality Prevention: Perspectives and Practices published by the Campbell Institute at the National Safety Council.

Campbell Institute

Energy Safety Canada, a Canadian oil and gas trade association, also recently published some guidance on Potentially Serious Incidents (PSI).

Energy Safety Canada