Recruiting and Training

Johan Finnestad, from Dolphin, opened the conference.  Finnestad tells that the capacity in the rig market and available competence is a tremendous challenge, and that it is crucial that the industry solve its recruiting and training issues.  The way the situation is now, the various players steal personnel from each other, and there is not enough net growth of employees who can fill all the vacant positions.


 Photo: Johan Finnestad, Dolphin


Chemical Exposure

Jon Efskind, from The Norwegian Oil Industry Association (OLF), informed that the project group which had been examining chemical exposure in the oil industry has uncovered significant knowledge gaps, which require the industry to take action.


Photo: Jon Efskind, OLF

The goal of the project has been to:

- Establish a common framework for exposure analyses
- Identify and describe work processes / tasks / job categories / types of exposure / duration and frequency
- Evaluate current measurement methods
- Evaluate the quality of previous measurements
- Use new measurement technology
- Take advantage of new methods
- Start using biological exposure indicators
- Establish a common exposure database

OLF will be arranging more seminars to inform about the chemical project and Efskind will be one of the presenters at the HSE Conference for Offshore Contractors in Stavanger, May 27-28, 2008.

Lifeboat Project

The lifeboat project sprang from finds in 2005 that indicated weaknesses in the superstructure of the lifeboats.  International regulations have been inadequate, only requiring full-scale testing in still water.


 Photo: Per Otto Selnes, OLF

Per Otte Selnes, from OLF, tells that thorough studies have been made and the project has escalated to unexpected proportions.  So far, 140 lifeboats, spanning 11 different types, have been strengthened or replaced.

Ensuring Competence

Geir Sjøberg, from Aker Drilling, told how the company has built layer upon layer of the organisation.  The company started by recruiting management and key rolls.  Then, they focused on building their systems using their own resources. 


 Photo: Geir Sjøberg, Aker Drilling

Today, the company has 160 employees.  By June 2008, the company will be 230 strong, and by the end of the year will increase to 430 employees.  Throughout this process, it will be important to build a common company culture, and Sjøberg tells that Aker’s set of values will be valuable in this context.  It is a security, having Aker behind us, concludes Sjøberg.

Collaboration Increases Safety and Reduces Costs

Reports of unwanted incidents are often written by experts and read by experts.  The learning effect for the industry is often minimal.  This is the background for the project initiated by Working Together for Safety (SfS) and Mintra.  In 2007, Mintra visualised 10 real unwanted incidents which show, pedagogically:

- What happened?
- Why did it happen?
- What can we do to keep it from happening again?

The plan is to continue this work throughout 2008, with 10 new visualisations.

Mintra has previously worked on similar projects for companies including, PGS, ConocoPhillips, and StatoilHydro.  What is unique about this project is that the entire industry has now demonstrated their willingness to share their bad experiences, across company lines.  The visualisations are available, at no charge, on www.samarbeidforsikkerhet.no.

Mintra also informed about several other initiatives for industry collaboration.  On Trainingportal.no – The Oil Industry’s Competency Portal, a long list of courses, used by operator companies, contractors/rig companies, and the supplier industry, have now been launched. Examples of some of these cost-saving courses include:

- Best Practices for Downhole Mechanisms and Operations
- Norsok R-003 Safe Use of Offshore Cranes
- Norsok R-003 Rigging Refresher Course
- Norsok R-003 Slinger Refresher Course
- HSE Chemical Course
- HSE Waste Management
- HSE for Oil Industry Contractors
- The External Environment and Discharge Permits (under development)
- HSE for Roughnecks (under development)

More than 300 people complete courses on Trainingportal.no – The Oil Industry’s Competency Portal – every day, and the industry courses represent a significant contribution to increased quality and industry wide cost reductions.

Next Stop – The HSE Conference for Offshore Contractors

To succeed in HSE work, it is important to share experiences and learn from each other.  The Kristiansand conference has been a successful arrangement on all counts, with good presentations and more than 150 participants.

The next important gathering for the industry is the HSE Conference for Offshore Contractors.  This conference will be held May 27-28, in Stavanger, arranged by Mintra, Offshore Media Group, OLF and the Federation of Norwegian Industries.  You can take a look at the conference program and register yourself at www.offshore.no/hms.

Article by: Tallak Bakken, Mintra AS