Recent changes in the global construction industry coupled with rising challenges as a result of the dynamic nature of offshore operations have greatly underscored the need for stakeholders to evolve safety management systems that optimize safety during the execution of their construction project operations. As a result, the offshore industry has witnessed significant changes which currently place a greater premium on effective safety management, with organizations’ requiring to look across the whole project's life cycle. To optimize safety during operations, formulating effective safety management systems becomes a crucial challenge faced by industry stakeholders. Utilising evidence from semi- structured interviews, this paper examines senior managers’ role in safety leadership in Nigerian offshore oil and gas projects. It concluded that leadership style is critical for the implementation of any effective safety management system utilised during offshore construction projects. The findings also facilitate an in-depth understanding of lessons learnt from offshore construction projects and will be useful for improving the overall safety management strategy of organisations in line with important factors usually considered by the global offshore oil and gas industry
