Best Safety Moment Finalist: Port of Aberdeen

Zero Harm

2025 was a remarkable year for the Port of Aberdeen, with zero Lost Time Incidents and no Recordable Incidents. This record is exceptional given that 2025 cemented the port’s reputation as a Port of Safe Refuge, handling two high-profile casualty vessels.

In addition, across four days in July it opened its gates to nearly half a million visitors when 49 Tall Ships with 2,500 crew sailed into town – with zero harm to anyone.

Already Scotland’s biggest and busiest port – with more than 7,600m of quayside and handling more than 6,100 vessels in the year across its 692-acre estate – Port of Aberdeen attributes this success to the Zero Harm initiative which it has been embedding across the entire site.

Zero Harm is designed to create a culture where the prevention of injuries and ill health to port employees and users is given the highest priority. It extends externally through a reinvigorated Port Safety Group, which collaborates with port users to exchange crucial safety knowledge and lessons learned.

The safety performance in 2025 shows the early signs of culture change, but this is a long-term project. An important first step is the accompanying 10% increase in reporting of unsafe acts and near misses. The “accident triangle” demonstrates that for every major injury, there are hundreds of lower-level incidents.

The more incidents captured, the more data and trends can be analysed to address hazards and prevent serious accidents before they happen.

Additional Information

The Zero Harm initiative is underpinned by the “seven seas” (7Cs): commitment, collaboration, communication, complacency, competence, The Zero Harm initiative is underpinned by the “seven seas” (7Cs): commitment, collaboration, communication, complacency, competence, control of work and change management.

The concept arose following the fatality of a contractor onboard a vessel in port during 2023, prompting leadership to radically rethink port safety.

In 2024, Piper Alpha survivor Steve Rae shared his experiences with the workforce on the critical importance of going beyond compliance and everyone participated in workshops to shape the Zero Harm culture and 7Cs framework.

Its practical effectiveness was demonstrated during two major incidents in 2025 when Aberdeen was designated as a Port of Safe Refuge: first for a cargo fire aboard the Lowlands Diamond in January, and again in March for the fire-damaged Solong.

• Commitment – When SOSREP called the port’s Harbour Master on a Saturday evening, the team sprang into action and prepared for Solong’s arrival with three days’ notice, ensuring risks were comprehensively considered to make sure all hazards are identified and risks mitigated. An absolute commitment to risk mitigation meant in the case of the Lowlands Diamond, the port safely managed 58 fire appliances over three days with zero incidents and most of the 7,000-tonne wood pulp cargo was saved.
• Collaboration – Every department in the port collaborated to safely handle Solong, such as H&S managing inductions, marine leading on pilotage and towage, and legal handling insurance queries. Externally, the port worked in step with stakeholders, combining good planning and communication to maintain a safe working environment.
• Communication – With this multi-agency approach, pre-task briefings, toolbox talks, HAZIDs, and site inductions ensured everyone was aware of the risks before work began. Regular progress review and situation report meetings with the relevant stakeholders gave regular updates and kept an ongoing dialogue.
• Complacency – Maintaining a Zero Harm culture means combating complacency every day on every project. Solong arrived shortly after Lowlands Diamond and everyone was reminded of the importance of stopping the job, discussing concerns and raising safety observations.
• Competence – Alongside regular training, the team got tailored toolbox talks and hazard identification sessions (HAZIDs) to make sure everyone was trained, competent and understood exactly how to do their job safely.
• Control of Work – Specialists spent weeks conducting complex remediation, so initial port inductions and familiarisations also included our HSE policy and procedures. A rigorous permit-to-work process was followed and the weeks of work carried alongside were completed without a single incident.
• Change Management – These were Port of Aberdeen’s first Port of Safe Refuge projects and a robust change process was implemented before any commitment was made.

The emerging effectiveness of the initiative is demonstrated through both safety outcomes and workforce engagement. The successful resolution of two major marine emergencies with zero incidents directly validates the Zero Harm and 7Cs framework. And the focus on overcoming complacency resulted in a 10% year-on-year increase in proactive incident reporting in 2025, rising from 400 to 440 reports. This shows that the Zero Harm initiative is starting to turn safety into a natural, everyday outcome across the organisation.