Quality and the safety of reservoirs

Arising from the Independent Reservoir Safety Review Report written by Professor David Balmforth and published in March 2021, work is being done to identify approaches to assess the quality and consistency of inspection reports and annual statements. This paper will take a step back to consider what ‘quality’ could mean in the context of reservoir safety legislation, the factors that influence the delivery of ‘quality’ in safety interventions and what actions could be taken to promote ‘quality’. This will be done by considering the various definitions of quality in the literature. The purpose of reservoir safety legislation will be reviewed and possible definitions of quality appropriate for reservoir safety activities discussed. The paper will move on to consider the factors that influence the quality of reservoir safety, and finally, suggested actions or interventions to deliver improvements will be proposed.