BSEE’s regulatory programs evaluate emerging technologies, safety improvements, offshore training, and the development and maintenance of up-to-date regulations, policies, standards and guidelines. Additionally, branches of the Office of Offshore Regulatory Programs (OORP)  manage compliance programs governing oil, gas, and mineral operations on the Outer Continental Shelf.

Incidents on the OCS involve everyday operations and duties. An unsafe act or condition may cause a worker to lose his or her life or be seriously injured. Unsafe acts or conditions may also result in spills or other incidents that have the potential to affect the environment. The Bureau uses the results of incident investigations and data analysis to identify incident causes and trends. Appropriate actions are then identified to prevent the recurrence of these incidents and to enhance safety and environmental protection on the OCS. These actions may include publishing Safety Alerts, initiating technical research, developing new/revised regulations or standards, changing inspection strategies, holding safety workshops, etc. Incident data is also used to calculate performance indicators.