It is 25 YEARS since tragedy struck in the North Sea. One hundred and sixty seven people died in the Piper Alpha fire on 6 July 1988, making it the world's worst offshore oil disaster. The majority of the victims suffocated in toxic fumes that developed after a gas leak set off the blasts and sparked the fire. Lessons were taken on board, but are these lessons still at the heart of oil and gas management culture? Recent evidence would suggest that they aren't and that possibly companies still give too much credence to personal safety issues rather than looking at the bigger picture of process safety.