PHOENIX FROM THE FLAMES:Twenty-nine years after the tragedy,Piper Alpha still influences Healthand Safety through innovation P5

SAFETY REP OF THE YEAR

OPERATIONAL INTEGRITYWhat is operational integrity andwhy is it important? P2

ghghghghgghghghghghg

An award-winner shares histhoughts on what makes a goodelected safety representativeP4

Issue ??, July 2017

Safety workers recognisedat Offshore Safety Awardsas finalists announced

Harness Damage Caught in Time

A work party technician noticed at the end ofhis shift that his harness was badly damaged.

It was reported on site to the client and a‘Time Out for Safety’ was called.

Is this something you need to check moreregularly?

SAFETYMOMENT

Find out more at:www.stepchangeinsafety.net/safer-conversations/safety-alerts

#playyourpart

– Page 3

Issue 14, July 2017

Issue 14 | July 20172 July 2017 | Issue 14 www.stepchangeinsafety.net/tsn www.stepchangeinsafety.net/tsn 3

Step up –prevent anaccident

The value of sharing and learning

“We’ve had an accident” are fourwords you never want to hear.The look on the face of my HSEManager tells me that this is notgood. My heart sinks. The imme-diate actions and response arequick, efficient and well-practiced.The event is controlled and inves-tigations started. Questions, somany questions. Why? How?Who? When? What if?

The short description of the in-cident is “a truck driver climbedup onto a trailer under a loadthat was being removed, the loadfell. Human suffering occurred”.

I could describe the incident indetail but no words offer the clar-ity and impact of the video onforklift safety that Step Change inSafety produced with our ap-proval and input.

Later the same year I am read-ing the news and to my horror Iread of a forklift fatality, unload-ing cargo that fell during forkliftoperations and took a life.

Could I have done something tostop that? The answer is yes!There are lots of legal complica-tions and lots of hurdles in shar-ing information when you havehad a serious incident, but thereare lots of very good reasons to

push through those and ensurethat our industry doesn’t have tolearn another painful lesson.

So what to do in this case? Asan industry we had to learn.

I shared the lessons with mypeers in Oil & Gas UK, as to me itwas clear that most oil and gasoperations use forklifts, andtherefore may need to learn thelessons we had to learn the hardway. The impact was powerfuland while sharing the incidentthe discussion turned to the re-sources at Step Change in Safety,also known as Joined-Up Think-ing Safety Packs.

The team at Step Change tookthe time to listen to my story, thatof the other company involvedand the easily available forklift ac-cident stats. The result of the ef-fort from the Joined-Up Thinkingworking group effort is the fan-tastic video made available to ev-

eryone free of charge, which de-scribes the issues seen duringboth incidents, ours and the fatal-ity, and helps clearly define howto ensure no one else is hurt.

I have two final points, if notrequests to make. As a company,we were prepared to share ourlesson. Do you think you andyour company can play your partto help prevent further injury?

• Don’t be shy. It doesn’t haveto be a major incident; it can beholding a hand rail, stopping theshort cut or taking the timeout.You have knowledge and experi-ence and can see potential risk.You have learned lessons – nowshare them.

• Have big ears. Listen to theweak signals and turn the volumeup. At Haliburton, we have a greatreporting culture and lots of data.Repeated small incidents can beclear indicators of things to come.

Finalists announced forOffshore Safety AwardsOil & Gas UK and Step Change inSafety have announced this year’soutstanding individuals and enter-prising companies who make upthe shortlist of finalists for theOffshore Safety Awards.

The awards – with Maersk Oil asprincipal sponsor – celebrate thosewho go beyond the call of duty tomake the UK Continental Shelf oneof the safest oil and gas basins towork in globally.

The finalists will attend an inter-active event and awards ceremonyat the Aberdeen Exhibition andConference Centre (AECC) onWednesday 23 August where theywill pitch their safety initiative di-

rectly to attendees, who get thechance to cast their vote.

Les Linklater, Executive Directorwith Step Change in Safety, said:“The beauty of this event is that itpresents a great opportunity toshowcase impressive examples ofinnovative work practices and newideas in action. As such it presentsa learning and sharing opportunitywhich we feel offers real value forthe industry.

“This year’s finalists were able todemonstrate their commitment toenhancing safety standards bothonshore and offshore and I lookforward to hearing their pitches atthe event later this summer.”

Mick Borwell, Health, Safety andEnvironment Policy Director withOil & Gas UK, added: “We receivedsome really strong entries and thejudges had a tough job whittling itdown to our finalists. We are look-ing forward to an informative andengaging event about the stepsbeing taken to make the UK off-shore industry as safe as it can be.”

Create safeculture byleadingfrom front

“Wereceivedsomereallystrongentries”

by Matt Betts,Haliburton

Operational Integrity is a phrasethat you are going to hear moreoften. What is it? Why is it impor-tant? In recent years there hasbeen a greater emphasis on assetintegrity which is about ensuringthat process equipment is suffi-ciently robust to prevent accidentssuch as hydrocarbon releases.

So, what is operational in-tegrity? It is ensuring that effec-tive procedural and managerialcontrols are in place to controlthe risk of hydrocarbon releases.

Improvements in asset integrityhave led to a great reduction inthe number of minor and signifi-cant hydrocarbon releases but,crucially, not in the number ofmajor releases which remain athistorical levels. A major hydro-carbon release is defined as morethan 300kg released, enough tofill a 3,000 metre cubed modulewith an explosive atmosphere.Clearly a major accident hazard.

Major hydrocarbon releases arealways fully investigated whichgives a detailed picture of the un-derlying root causes. Of the mostrecent nine major releases in theUKCS over the last three years,the principal underlying causewas attributed to a lack of opera-tional integrity in seven cases, theother two were attributed to assetintegrity.

Operational integrity is verymuch concerned with the humanintervention with the systems andequipment maintained by assetintegrity management systems.You need both to achieve thegoals set out in the installation’sSafety Case. This human interac-tion can be seen in very familiarprocesses – permit to work, taskrisk assessments, isolation andde-isolation procedures, safetycritical task analysis and proce-dures, application of inhibits andoverrides. This is supported byquality shift handovers and man-agement of change. It is enhancedby major accident awareness pro-

grammes leading to a greater under-standing of barrier management, es-pecially where those barriers areintangible and rely on competentpeople.

So what are ‘they’ doing about it?

Step Change is working to updatethe Hydrocarbon Release Reductiontoolkit to include a greater emphasison operational integrity to balancethe previous emphasis on equipmentfailure. Look out for the re-issue in

mid-year. The HSE’s Offshore SafetyDivision will be targeting operationalcontrol in their onshore and offshoreinspection visits this year, withteams of specialists in this area. Thiswill be targeted at checking the ef-fectiveness of operational barriers.

What can you do about it? To bor-row a mantra from LEAN quality as-surance techniques to prevent de-fects “don’t accept it, don’t make it,don’t send it” Don’t accept some-thing that is defective, sub-standard,incomplete, unclear or just copiedacross from some other job. You areempowered to stop the job. Remem-ber the prime objective is not to finddefects but prevent them from reoc-curring at all. If a safety critical taskor procedure is defective, unclear,

ambiguous or outdated, it needs tobe changed. And use your knowledgeand experience to demonstrate theoperational integrity mindset – don’tcreate defects (short-cuts) or passthem down the line. Remember the‘Swiss cheese’ model of how a majoraccident hazard can be realised - youare one of those barriers, a vital one.

To finish, a quote from the CullenInquiry, a time when minds wereconcentrated on preventing a majoraccident – “we’re too easily satisfiedthat the PTW [permit to work] sys-tem was being operated correctly, re-lying on the absence of any feedbackof problems as indicating that allwas well”. When was the last opera-tional integrity audit? Were the ob-servations and actions followed up?

Step Change in Safety, a safetyleadership body, has beenfounded on values of collabora-tion, community, leadership,learning and stewardship. Thesevalues have guided us throughthe challenges presented byevents and incidents. Prioritiesmay change but values don’t. So,here are our four safety leader-ship fundamentals:● Responsibility: We need toconsider distributed leadership.The CEO, VP of finance, HR,OIM, foreman or work partyleader have very different levelsof authority, but they have theirown ability to set a tone, influ-ence an outcome or create asafety culture. At an individuallevel, it comes down to askingone question: “What’s my contri-bution to safety?”● Awareness: As a leader, do youunderstand and manage yoursafety risk? If you just focus onLTIs, you run the risk of only re-ceiving good news. Leaders needto understand and see the risksin their business, and take re-sponsibility for managing them.This needs to go beyond opera-tional and safety roles.● Attitude: Leaders set the stan-dards for the team, and whateverthe standard is, the team follows.Leaders need to drive engage-ment with safety and be visible –not just onshore but offshore too.● Orientation: It too often takesan incident for individuals, or-ganisations or the entire industryto respond. A leader should begoing out of their way to fosteran intervention culture; correct-ing mistakes and dealing withthings that have gone wrong. Ifsomething has gone wrong, it isan opportunity to learn.

The Regulator’s ViewChris Flint

The HSE’sHelping GreatBritain WorkWell (HGBWW)Strategylaunched lastyear. Thecampaign wascreated to allow

everyone in the health and safetysystem the chance to deliver resultsin each of the six themes; ActingTogether, Tackling Ill Health,Manging Risk Well, SupportingSmall Employers, Keeping Pacewith Change and Sharing ourSuccess.

The one we are focusing on inthis edition of Tea Shack News isSharing Our Success. Following thelaunch we saw commitments todelivering the HGBWW strategycome from across the industry andstakeholders, and these have beenposted on the HSE website. StepChange in Safety (Step Change) hadmore commitments to the strategythan any other group, something allmembers involved with StepChange can be proud of.

As a committed contributor to thecampaign, Step Change was invitedto join the Partnership on Healthand Safety in Scotland (PHASS),alongside HSE, NHS, localauthorities, construction industry

and trade unionsto share itssuccess, inparticular, inworkforceengagement. This will be reflectedin the Scottish Plan for Action onSafety and Health (SPlASH)developed through collaborationand sharing the work of allmembers of PHASS in line with theintention of HGBWW.

The Offshore Safety Awardsprovides another great opportunityfor us to see and hear what theoffshore oil and gas industry isdoing well and to share our success.I look forward to hearing about thenominations and their contributionsto making the oil and gas industry asafer place to work.

HSE is keen to foster greatersharing of lessons throughout theindustry and is happy to play itspart in this. This is something weare talking about at Step Change.Lessons are shared by regulators atthe International Regulators Forum,which brings together regulatorsfrom across the world and closer tohome we do this at the North SeaOffshore Authorities Forum whichbrings together the UK, Ireland,Norway, Denmark, Netherlands andGermany.

Finalists: Top workers and firms battle it out in Offshore Safety Awards

EXCELLENT COMPANY: Some of those who took part in last year’s Offshore Safety Awards

■ Safety RepJames MacInnes – TaqaJon Aston – Amec Foster WheelerTommy Timms – Nexen

■ Safety LeadershipStephen Diplock – PetrofacDianna Houston – Maersk OilKevin Mitchell – ConocoPhillips

■ Workforce EngagementTeam DSV Bibby

Bilfinger’s CNRI TeamBuzzard Turnaround

■ Innovation in SafetyBird ControlBPPeterson

■ Sharing & LearningBarry Milne and Arron Baxtor – ShellBP North Sea Aviation TeamScanTech Offshore

■ Operational IntegrityDavid Jamieson and Jamie Jack –ShellBuchan Alpha Asset Managementand Crew – Repsol SinopecBob Taylor and the Asset IntegrityDROPS Team – Centrica

■ To book your place at the eventvisit: Offshore Safety Awards.

“Control the riskofhydrocarbonreleases”

Issue 14 | July 20172 July 2017 | Issue 14 www.stepchangeinsafety.net/tsn www.stepchangeinsafety.net/tsn 3

Step up –prevent anaccident

The value of sharing and learning

“We’ve had an accident” are fourwords you never want to hear.The look on the face of my HSEManager tells me that this is notgood. My heart sinks. The imme-diate actions and response arequick, efficient and well-practiced.The event is controlled and inves-tigations started. Questions, somany questions. Why? How?Who? When? What if?

The short description of the in-cident is “a truck driver climbedup onto a trailer under a loadthat was being removed, the loadfell. Human suffering occurred”.

I could describe the incident indetail but no words offer the clar-ity and impact of the video onforklift safety that Step Change inSafety produced with our ap-proval and input.

Later the same year I am read-ing the news and to my horror Iread of a forklift fatality, unload-ing cargo that fell during forkliftoperations and took a life.

Could I have done something tostop that? The answer is yes!There are lots of legal complica-tions and lots of hurdles in shar-ing information when you havehad a serious incident, but thereare lots of very good reasons to

push through those and ensurethat our industry doesn’t have tolearn another painful lesson.

So what to do in this case? Asan industry we had to learn.

I shared the lessons with mypeers in Oil & Gas UK, as to me itwas clear that most oil and gasoperations use forklifts, andtherefore may need to learn thelessons we had to learn the hardway. The impact was powerfuland while sharing the incidentthe discussion turned to the re-sources at Step Change in Safety,also known as Joined-Up Think-ing Safety Packs.

The team at Step Change tookthe time to listen to my story, thatof the other company involvedand the easily available forklift ac-cident stats. The result of the ef-fort from the Joined-Up Thinkingworking group effort is the fan-tastic video made available to ev-

eryone free of charge, which de-scribes the issues seen duringboth incidents, ours and the fatal-ity, and helps clearly define howto ensure no one else is hurt.

I have two final points, if notrequests to make. As a company,we were prepared to share ourlesson. Do you think you andyour company can play your partto help prevent further injury?

• Don’t be shy. It doesn’t haveto be a major incident; it can beholding a hand rail, stopping theshort cut or taking the timeout.You have knowledge and experi-ence and can see potential risk.You have learned lessons – nowshare them.

• Have big ears. Listen to theweak signals and turn the volumeup. At Haliburton, we have a greatreporting culture and lots of data.Repeated small incidents can beclear indicators of things to come.

Finalists announced forOffshore Safety AwardsOil & Gas UK and Step Change inSafety have announced this year’soutstanding individuals and enter-prising companies who make upthe shortlist of finalists for theOffshore Safety Awards.

The awards – with Maersk Oil asprincipal sponsor – celebrate thosewho go beyond the call of duty tomake the UK Continental Shelf oneof the safest oil and gas basins towork in globally.

The finalists will attend an inter-active event and awards ceremonyat the Aberdeen Exhibition andConference Centre (AECC) onWednesday 23 August where theywill pitch their safety initiative di-

rectly to attendees, who get thechance to cast their vote.

Les Linklater, Executive Directorwith Step Change in Safety, said:“The beauty of this event is that itpresents a great opportunity toshowcase impressive examples ofinnovative work practices and newideas in action. As such it presentsa learning and sharing opportunitywhich we feel offers real value forthe industry.

“This year’s finalists were able todemonstrate their commitment toenhancing safety standards bothonshore and offshore and I lookforward to hearing their pitches atthe event later this summer.”

Mick Borwell, Health, Safety andEnvironment Policy Director withOil & Gas UK, added: “We receivedsome really strong entries and thejudges had a tough job whittling itdown to our finalists. We are look-ing forward to an informative andengaging event about the stepsbeing taken to make the UK off-shore industry as safe as it can be.”

Create safeculture byleadingfrom front

“Wereceivedsomereallystrongentries”

by Matt Betts,Haliburton

Operational Integrity is a phrasethat you are going to hear moreoften. What is it? Why is it impor-tant? In recent years there hasbeen a greater emphasis on assetintegrity which is about ensuringthat process equipment is suffi-ciently robust to prevent accidentssuch as hydrocarbon releases.

So, what is operational in-tegrity? It is ensuring that effec-tive procedural and managerialcontrols are in place to controlthe risk of hydrocarbon releases.

Improvements in asset integrityhave led to a great reduction inthe number of minor and signifi-cant hydrocarbon releases but,crucially, not in the number ofmajor releases which remain athistorical levels. A major hydro-carbon release is defined as morethan 300kg released, enough tofill a 3,000 metre cubed modulewith an explosive atmosphere.Clearly a major accident hazard.

Major hydrocarbon releases arealways fully investigated whichgives a detailed picture of the un-derlying root causes. Of the mostrecent nine major releases in theUKCS over the last three years,the principal underlying causewas attributed to a lack of opera-tional integrity in seven cases, theother two were attributed to assetintegrity.

Operational integrity is verymuch concerned with the humanintervention with the systems andequipment maintained by assetintegrity management systems.You need both to achieve thegoals set out in the installation’sSafety Case. This human interac-tion can be seen in very familiarprocesses – permit to work, taskrisk assessments, isolation andde-isolation procedures, safetycritical task analysis and proce-dures, application of inhibits andoverrides. This is supported byquality shift handovers and man-agement of change. It is enhancedby major accident awareness pro-

grammes leading to a greater under-standing of barrier management, es-pecially where those barriers areintangible and rely on competentpeople.

So what are ‘they’ doing about it?

Step Change is working to updatethe Hydrocarbon Release Reductiontoolkit to include a greater emphasison operational integrity to balancethe previous emphasis on equipmentfailure. Look out for the re-issue in

mid-year. The HSE’s Offshore SafetyDivision will be targeting operationalcontrol in their onshore and offshoreinspection visits this year, withteams of specialists in this area. Thiswill be targeted at checking the ef-fectiveness of operational barriers.

What can you do about it? To bor-row a mantra from LEAN quality as-surance techniques to prevent de-fects “don’t accept it, don’t make it,don’t send it” Don’t accept some-thing that is defective, sub-standard,incomplete, unclear or just copiedacross from some other job. You areempowered to stop the job. Remem-ber the prime objective is not to finddefects but prevent them from reoc-curring at all. If a safety critical taskor procedure is defective, unclear,

ambiguous or outdated, it needs tobe changed. And use your knowledgeand experience to demonstrate theoperational integrity mindset – don’tcreate defects (short-cuts) or passthem down the line. Remember the‘Swiss cheese’ model of how a majoraccident hazard can be realised - youare one of those barriers, a vital one.

To finish, a quote from the CullenInquiry, a time when minds wereconcentrated on preventing a majoraccident – “we’re too easily satisfiedthat the PTW [permit to work] sys-tem was being operated correctly, re-lying on the absence of any feedbackof problems as indicating that allwas well”. When was the last opera-tional integrity audit? Were the ob-servations and actions followed up?

Step Change in Safety, a safetyleadership body, has beenfounded on values of collabora-tion, community, leadership,learning and stewardship. Thesevalues have guided us throughthe challenges presented byevents and incidents. Prioritiesmay change but values don’t. So,here are our four safety leader-ship fundamentals:● Responsibility: We need toconsider distributed leadership.The CEO, VP of finance, HR,OIM, foreman or work partyleader have very different levelsof authority, but they have theirown ability to set a tone, influ-ence an outcome or create asafety culture. At an individuallevel, it comes down to askingone question: “What’s my contri-bution to safety?”● Awareness: As a leader, do youunderstand and manage yoursafety risk? If you just focus onLTIs, you run the risk of only re-ceiving good news. Leaders needto understand and see the risksin their business, and take re-sponsibility for managing them.This needs to go beyond opera-tional and safety roles.● Attitude: Leaders set the stan-dards for the team, and whateverthe standard is, the team follows.Leaders need to drive engage-ment with safety and be visible –not just onshore but offshore too.● Orientation: It too often takesan incident for individuals, or-ganisations or the entire industryto respond. A leader should begoing out of their way to fosteran intervention culture; correct-ing mistakes and dealing withthings that have gone wrong. Ifsomething has gone wrong, it isan opportunity to learn.

The Regulator’s ViewChris Flint

The HSE’sHelping GreatBritain WorkWell (HGBWW)Strategylaunched lastyear. Thecampaign wascreated to allow

everyone in the health and safetysystem the chance to deliver resultsin each of the six themes; ActingTogether, Tackling Ill Health,Manging Risk Well, SupportingSmall Employers, Keeping Pacewith Change and Sharing ourSuccess.

The one we are focusing on inthis edition of Tea Shack News isSharing Our Success. Following thelaunch we saw commitments todelivering the HGBWW strategycome from across the industry andstakeholders, and these have beenposted on the HSE website. StepChange in Safety (Step Change) hadmore commitments to the strategythan any other group, something allmembers involved with StepChange can be proud of.

As a committed contributor to thecampaign, Step Change was invitedto join the Partnership on Healthand Safety in Scotland (PHASS),alongside HSE, NHS, localauthorities, construction industry

and trade unionsto share itssuccess, inparticular, inworkforceengagement. This will be reflectedin the Scottish Plan for Action onSafety and Health (SPlASH)developed through collaborationand sharing the work of allmembers of PHASS in line with theintention of HGBWW.

The Offshore Safety Awardsprovides another great opportunityfor us to see and hear what theoffshore oil and gas industry isdoing well and to share our success.I look forward to hearing about thenominations and their contributionsto making the oil and gas industry asafer place to work.

HSE is keen to foster greatersharing of lessons throughout theindustry and is happy to play itspart in this. This is something weare talking about at Step Change.Lessons are shared by regulators atthe International Regulators Forum,which brings together regulatorsfrom across the world and closer tohome we do this at the North SeaOffshore Authorities Forum whichbrings together the UK, Ireland,Norway, Denmark, Netherlands andGermany.

Finalists: Top workers and firms battle it out in Offshore Safety Awards

EXCELLENT COMPANY: Some of those who took part in last year’s Offshore Safety Awards

■ Safety RepJames MacInnes – TaqaJon Aston – Amec Foster WheelerTommy Timms – Nexen

■ Safety LeadershipStephen Diplock – PetrofacDianna Houston – Maersk OilKevin Mitchell – ConocoPhillips

■ Workforce EngagementTeam DSV Bibby

Bilfinger’s CNRI TeamBuzzard Turnaround

■ Innovation in SafetyBird ControlBPPeterson

■ Sharing & LearningBarry Milne and Arron Baxtor – ShellBP North Sea Aviation TeamScanTech Offshore

■ Operational IntegrityDavid Jamieson and Jamie Jack –ShellBuchan Alpha Asset Managementand Crew – Repsol SinopecBob Taylor and the Asset IntegrityDROPS Team – Centrica

■ To book your place at the eventvisit: Offshore Safety Awards.

“Control the riskofhydrocarbonreleases”

Issue 14 | July 20174 July 2017 | Issue 14 www.stepchangeinsafety.net/tsn www.stepchangeinsafety.net/tsn 5

Cunning plan to drive upstandards in our industry Jake Molloy,

RMT Union

Union Opinion

Do the right thing andraise your concerns

What makes a good safety rep?

In the early years ofthe North Sea, muchof industry's sharingand learning mighthave come from aposter on the wall orvia a flyer pinned upin the tea shack and

read out at a safety brief.Nowadays we have a multitude of ways we

can share what we have discovered so thatothers can learn from our good experiencesand avoid repeating our mistakes.

The UK oil and gas industry has safe op-erations at its heart and the sharing andlearning of experiences – whether they arepositive or negative – is key to that.

The value of gaining insights from othersshould not be underestimated. Health andSafety Executive (HSE) figures show thatsince 2005 the total number of hydrocarbonreleases has reduced substantially. Thelessons from the subsequent investigationhas been instrumental in that improvement.

While there are other factors – such as astrong organisational safety culture – neededto ensure on and offshore safety, sharing andlearning will always play a critical part.

Many companies do it very well. For exam-ple, Shell U.K. Ltd, came into our offices re-cently to share with industry how they are

managing Brent decommissioning whilemaintaining safe operations.

Other businesses use Oil & Gas UK work-groups and forums for sharing their ownknowledge and experiences with their peers.

In addition, our annual Health & SafetyReport provides industry with insight and in-formation about safety performance. The lat-est one is due out this month.

The HSE has also launched a new initia-tive. Companies logging incidents with theregulator can expect an email back asking ifthey might consider sharing within their or-ganisation, and more widely, details of what'staken place.

While much is happening, there is alwaysmuch more that can, and should be, done.

A great place for furthering insight and de-bate will be our Offshore Safety Awards tak-ing place in Aberdeen in August.

The men, women and companies going theextra mile for safety on the UK ContinentalShelf will be recognised at the event, organ-ised by Step Change in Safety and ourselves.

Those attending can hear what's earned fi-nalists a place in the categories of sharingand learning, workforce engagement, innova-tions in safety, operational integrity, safetyleadership and safety rep of the year. We lookforward to learning from those who are re-ally making a difference in offshore safety.

Share and learn safety lessons

“The biggestpositive of theoil and gas industryis the workforce”

by Vic ‘n’ Bob

the best reward we can receive is to knowwe did the right thing, at the right timeand that others would do the same for us.

The oil and gas industry may have itsproblems but it also has its positives. Thebiggest positive of them all is the work-force. Each day individuals do the rightthing by just looking out for their mates.We should feel safe to stand up and raiseconcerns, maybe even ruffle a few feathersalong the way, and we know we may notwin anything or even be thanked but wedo know we are doing the right thing.

Every year at the Offshore SafetyAwards we celebrate the hard work,dedication and safety drive shownby one individual safety representa-tive.

Last year Dave Thomson, whoworks for CAN Offshore, was pre-sented with the accolade. ShaneGorman, our workforce engage-ment co-ordinator, who has manyyears of experience as a dedicatedsafety rep, sat down to discusswhat a good safety representativelooks like and how each individ-ual offshore can be confident andempowered to make a real differ-ence.

Here, Shane explains the keypoints the pair discussed duringtheir conversation:

“So, Dave and I were discussingwhat makes a good Elected SafetyRepresentative (ESR) at a recentpresentation we were giving whichlooked at the good, bad and ugly ofSI971, the legislation that regulatesESRs and safety committees. Ithought I’d write down some of ourthoughts on what makes a goodsafety rep and perhaps lead the wayin opening discussions in the TeaShack offshore.

“To my mind the first quality anESR should demonstrate is a pas-sion for the safety of others. Passionis caring, and that’s what we needto do for each other. Looking afternumber one doesn’t work offshoreand safety reps are the glue thatholds everyone together when look-ing at safety.

“From there they should have arealistic mind set with the ability tobuild trusting, open and profes-sional relationships with people

from various social standings. Hav-ing a chat over a cuppa, talkingabout what’s been going on withthe football all leads to a more openrelationship. Not engaging withconstituents will only distance anESR from his or her member. It isincredibly important to be able tocommunicate openly and honestlywith the entire workforce, thismeans everyone who has any kindof influence over safety from theboardroom all the way to the deck.

“As we know, dinosaurs stillroam; a good ESR can manage thisunfortunate remnant from our pastand use them as a ‘what not to do’

example, while influencing thoseout-of-touch individuals to leave thepast where it belongs and encour-age them to use their experienceand knowledge to better assist theeffort to improve.

“When a concern is brought to agood ESR they will always look forsolutions, and will encourage con-stituents to do the same beforebringing issues to committee meet-ings for discussion and action.

“Another key element is to inter-act with other departments outsidetheir own constituency to ensurethey are recognised and their pro-file on the rig is high. Meeting withthe constituency on a regular basis

to discuss issues and concerns isimperative and providing feedbackon ongoing work is also equally im-portant.

“Another aspect of being a goodESR is keeping up-to-date with pa-per work. Having a good under-standing of meeting preparation isincredibly important. Having struc-tured agendas so matters can beraised and recorded in the minutesis essential to the delivery of effi-cient and effective work.

“Tracking any actions raisedthrough findings, incidents or alertscan ensure that anything that re-quires to be addressed is open andtransparent. Full accountability asto who is responsible for what ac-tion and a visible timeline ofprogress can help safety reps getany issues resolved and give con-stituents confidence that their con-cerns or suggestions are beingmanaged.

“A good ESR should have a solidunderstanding of the safety case,how incidents are investigated andshould be involved in those investi-gations should they arise.

“They should be engaged in ini-tiatives on safety and feel empow-ered to take issues to the Health &Safety Executive (HSE) if appropri-ate, but the constituency shouldalso understand the correct meth-ods of reporting and raising con-cerns, which a good ESR will havemade clear.

“It should always be rememberedthat the attributes that make agood ESR require both continuouslearning carried out in the class-room and offshore experience.”● Do you need more supportin your role as ESR?

Shane will happily come to yourplatform, rig or asset to help youengage and work with theworkforce. Contactinfo@stepchangeinsafety.net

Shane Gormanand Dave Thomsondiscuss . . .

As we write this, as co-chairs of WorkforceEngagement Support Team, we are aston-ished to have witnessed the tragic eventswhich have taken place at home (Manch-ester and London) and abroad.

They may have nothing to do with thesafety of working offshore or onshore inthe oil and gas industry, but they do havean impact on everyone. We feel we cannotignore these events, which have moved usand affected us beyond our work.

The theme for this edition of your TeaShack News is about celebrating the peo-ple and organisations which have goneover and above the call of duty, and havebeen nominated for their efforts in im-proving safety for themselves and others.

What we have seen in Manchester andLondon is the worst of humanity. We havealso seen the best of humanity. When itcomes down to caring, it’s nothing to dowith money, jobs or safety – it’s about do-ing the right thing and just caring.

Every day we look out for each otherand we don’t win anything, or even getthanked for it, but without getting sloppy,

“The firstqualityanESRshoulddemonstrateisapassionfor thesafetyofothers.Passion iscaring”

It's “awards” time again and come August wor-thy winners will be recognised for their out-standing contributions to the promotion ofhealth and safety in our sector, and rightly so.But recognised by whom and for what?

I know that probably sounds a bit cynical tosome readers and I can hear the collective“sharp intake of breath” in the OGUK offices;keep calm and I'll try to explain. First up letme be clear; I fully support the idea of recog-nising contributions which drive improve-ments in health and safety, 100% it is the rightthing to do. I am a great believer in supportingand acknowledging those people who to mymind “make a difference” by helping to ensureworkers stay safe and moreover go home inone piece to their families.

However, for a while now I’ve been thinkingthe contribution made by these award winnersisn't “recognised” widely enough and I believewe could do more. Mind you I was probablyinfluenced by the fact that, for a few years run-ning, the “Safety Rep of the year" very quickly

found themselves as a candidate for redun-dancy. But that aside, think about the awardsprocess for a minute; for years it was a smallgroup of judges assessing the contributionsand deciding the winner, then a brief accountof the contribution to the audience on the dayand some congratulations. Recently thischanged and the audience on the day now dothe live judging and that's great, there's a widerrecognition and understanding of the contribu-tion. But I think we’re still just scratching thesurface and we could do more. We could domore in terms of sharing what is recognised as“best practice” and we could do more in recog-nising the individuals involved.

From a workforce perspective the most rele-vant contributions are the “ESR of the year”and the “Workforce Engagement” awards. It’slong been my view that if you get these aspectsright, the rest falls into place. On this basis Ibelieve we should properly recognise these cat-egories and to do that I have a “cunning plan”.The award winners should be seconded from

their current jobs on a Step Change in Safety(SCiS) “sabbatical”. They should become SCiSchampions for one year and visit as many off-shore and onshore sites as possible to promotethe activities which brought them recognition.They should be afforded the opportunity to un-dertake ESR developmental training, attend allSCiS workgroups and Leadership meetings, doonshore seminars, industry forums, the wholenine yards.

Who recognises them? The wider industryand, most importantly, their peers.

For what? For making a worthwhile contri-bution which includes engaging with the widerindustry.

Best practice is shared, opportunities to learnare gained, SCiS is promoted, a greater degreeof engagement is achieved. A year later thewinners return to their jobs. They gain per-sonal development, the employer/duty holderare recognised for their commitment and gaina more confident, competent and knowledge-able employee. Then we do it again.Jake Molloy: recognising contributions

by Mick Borwell, Health, Safety &Environment Policy Director, Oil & Gas UK

Phoenix from the flamesTwenty-nine years on, the tragedy ofPiper Alpha still influences Healthand Safety through innovation

At 9.55pm on July 6, 1988, gas leakingfrom a faulty condensate pump ig-nited and exploded on the Piper Al-pha platform. One hundred and sixty-seven offshore workers were tragicallykilled and just 61 survived. Today itremains the worst disaster, in termsof lives lost, in the history of the oiland gas industry and this July we willremember that loss.

A report by the inquiry into the in-cident, chaired by Lord Cullen, made106 recommendations. So, how havethese recommendations been appliedand with what innovation?

First up – Safety Cases Legislation:the safety case must give full detailsof the arrangements for managinghealth and safety, and controlling ma-jor accident hazards on the installa-tion. It requires the operator todemonstrate they have consulted withthe workforce when preparing thesafety case and to make copies of thefinal document available.

Having a goal-setting approach tosafety legislation differs from the pre-scriptive style in that, rather than be-ing given a fixed checklist of thingsthat must be done to meet a statutoryrequirement, companies can choosethe best methods or equipment avail-able at the time.

The Offshore Installations (SafetyRepresentatives and Safety Commit-tees) Regulations came into force in1989. Elected Safety Representatives(ESR’s) have made and continue tomake a valuable contribution. ESRs

from installations across the UKCSare engaged with the Step Change inSafety (SCiS) organisation, via theESR network (G18) set up to improvethe exchange of information andshare best practice.

A single regulator, the Health andSafety Executive's Offshore Safety Di-vision, now employs a team of inspec-tors responsible for enforcing off-shore specific regulations.

Other, now well imbedded, practicesand innovations include: revision ofpermits to work system; review pro-cess controls; mandatory incident re-porting; hydrocarbon inventory; fireand gas detection and emergencyshutdown, fire and explosion protec-tion; emergency centres and system;pipeline emergency procedures; evac-uation, escape and rescue plans andequipment; standby vessels; com-mand in emergencies; regular drills;and regular emergency training.

The launch of SCiS in 1997 was de-signed to continue post-Piper Alphaimprovements and drive improve-ment and workforce participation.With engagement across the industry,SCiS continues to improve safety andeffect change through collaboration.

Younger members of the workforcewould be forgiven for thinking theseinnovations have always been with us.Significant improvements have beenmade since Piper Alpha. Through in-novation and dedication, the cultureof safety has improved so much it isalmost unrecognisable.

Shane Gorman, workforce engagement co-ordinator

4

Issue 14 | July 20174 July 2017 | Issue 14 www.stepchangeinsafety.net/tsn www.stepchangeinsafety.net/tsn 5

Cunning plan to drive upstandards in our industry Jake Molloy,

RMT Union

Union Opinion

Do the right thing andraise your concerns

What makes a good safety rep?

In the early years ofthe North Sea, muchof industry's sharingand learning mighthave come from aposter on the wall orvia a flyer pinned upin the tea shack and

read out at a safety brief.Nowadays we have a multitude of ways we

can share what we have discovered so thatothers can learn from our good experiencesand avoid repeating our mistakes.

The UK oil and gas industry has safe op-erations at its heart and the sharing andlearning of experiences – whether they arepositive or negative – is key to that.

The value of gaining insights from othersshould not be underestimated. Health andSafety Executive (HSE) figures show thatsince 2005 the total number of hydrocarbonreleases has reduced substantially. Thelessons from the subsequent investigationhas been instrumental in that improvement.

While there are other factors – such as astrong organisational safety culture – neededto ensure on and offshore safety, sharing andlearning will always play a critical part.

Many companies do it very well. For exam-ple, Shell U.K. Ltd, came into our offices re-cently to share with industry how they are

managing Brent decommissioning whilemaintaining safe operations.

Other businesses use Oil & Gas UK work-groups and forums for sharing their ownknowledge and experiences with their peers.

In addition, our annual Health & SafetyReport provides industry with insight and in-formation about safety performance. The lat-est one is due out this month.

The HSE has also launched a new initia-tive. Companies logging incidents with theregulator can expect an email back asking ifthey might consider sharing within their or-ganisation, and more widely, details of what'staken place.

While much is happening, there is alwaysmuch more that can, and should be, done.

A great place for furthering insight and de-bate will be our Offshore Safety Awards tak-ing place in Aberdeen in August.

The men, women and companies going theextra mile for safety on the UK ContinentalShelf will be recognised at the event, organ-ised by Step Change in Safety and ourselves.

Those attending can hear what's earned fi-nalists a place in the categories of sharingand learning, workforce engagement, innova-tions in safety, operational integrity, safetyleadership and safety rep of the year. We lookforward to learning from those who are re-ally making a difference in offshore safety.

Share and learn safety lessons

“The biggestpositive of theoil and gas industryis the workforce”

by Vic ‘n’ Bob

the best reward we can receive is to knowwe did the right thing, at the right timeand that others would do the same for us.

The oil and gas industry may have itsproblems but it also has its positives. Thebiggest positive of them all is the work-force. Each day individuals do the rightthing by just looking out for their mates.We should feel safe to stand up and raiseconcerns, maybe even ruffle a few feathersalong the way, and we know we may notwin anything or even be thanked but wedo know we are doing the right thing.

Every year at the Offshore SafetyAwards we celebrate the hard work,dedication and safety drive shownby one individual safety representa-tive.

Last year Dave Thomson, whoworks for CAN Offshore, was pre-sented with the accolade. ShaneGorman, our workforce engage-ment co-ordinator, who has manyyears of experience as a dedicatedsafety rep, sat down to discusswhat a good safety representativelooks like and how each individ-ual offshore can be confident andempowered to make a real differ-ence.

Here, Shane explains the keypoints the pair discussed duringtheir conversation:

“So, Dave and I were discussingwhat makes a good Elected SafetyRepresentative (ESR) at a recentpresentation we were giving whichlooked at the good, bad and ugly ofSI971, the legislation that regulatesESRs and safety committees. Ithought I’d write down some of ourthoughts on what makes a goodsafety rep and perhaps lead the wayin opening discussions in the TeaShack offshore.

“To my mind the first quality anESR should demonstrate is a pas-sion for the safety of others. Passionis caring, and that’s what we needto do for each other. Looking afternumber one doesn’t work offshoreand safety reps are the glue thatholds everyone together when look-ing at safety.

“From there they should have arealistic mind set with the ability tobuild trusting, open and profes-sional relationships with people

from various social standings. Hav-ing a chat over a cuppa, talkingabout what’s been going on withthe football all leads to a more openrelationship. Not engaging withconstituents will only distance anESR from his or her member. It isincredibly important to be able tocommunicate openly and honestlywith the entire workforce, thismeans everyone who has any kindof influence over safety from theboardroom all the way to the deck.

“As we know, dinosaurs stillroam; a good ESR can manage thisunfortunate remnant from our pastand use them as a ‘what not to do’

example, while influencing thoseout-of-touch individuals to leave thepast where it belongs and encour-age them to use their experienceand knowledge to better assist theeffort to improve.

“When a concern is brought to agood ESR they will always look forsolutions, and will encourage con-stituents to do the same beforebringing issues to committee meet-ings for discussion and action.

“Another key element is to inter-act with other departments outsidetheir own constituency to ensurethey are recognised and their pro-file on the rig is high. Meeting withthe constituency on a regular basis

to discuss issues and concerns isimperative and providing feedbackon ongoing work is also equally im-portant.

“Another aspect of being a goodESR is keeping up-to-date with pa-per work. Having a good under-standing of meeting preparation isincredibly important. Having struc-tured agendas so matters can beraised and recorded in the minutesis essential to the delivery of effi-cient and effective work.

“Tracking any actions raisedthrough findings, incidents or alertscan ensure that anything that re-quires to be addressed is open andtransparent. Full accountability asto who is responsible for what ac-tion and a visible timeline ofprogress can help safety reps getany issues resolved and give con-stituents confidence that their con-cerns or suggestions are beingmanaged.

“A good ESR should have a solidunderstanding of the safety case,how incidents are investigated andshould be involved in those investi-gations should they arise.

“They should be engaged in ini-tiatives on safety and feel empow-ered to take issues to the Health &Safety Executive (HSE) if appropri-ate, but the constituency shouldalso understand the correct meth-ods of reporting and raising con-cerns, which a good ESR will havemade clear.

“It should always be rememberedthat the attributes that make agood ESR require both continuouslearning carried out in the class-room and offshore experience.”● Do you need more supportin your role as ESR?

Shane will happily come to yourplatform, rig or asset to help youengage and work with theworkforce. Contactinfo@stepchangeinsafety.net

Shane Gormanand Dave Thomsondiscuss . . .

As we write this, as co-chairs of WorkforceEngagement Support Team, we are aston-ished to have witnessed the tragic eventswhich have taken place at home (Manch-ester and London) and abroad.

They may have nothing to do with thesafety of working offshore or onshore inthe oil and gas industry, but they do havean impact on everyone. We feel we cannotignore these events, which have moved usand affected us beyond our work.

The theme for this edition of your TeaShack News is about celebrating the peo-ple and organisations which have goneover and above the call of duty, and havebeen nominated for their efforts in im-proving safety for themselves and others.

What we have seen in Manchester andLondon is the worst of humanity. We havealso seen the best of humanity. When itcomes down to caring, it’s nothing to dowith money, jobs or safety – it’s about do-ing the right thing and just caring.

Every day we look out for each otherand we don’t win anything, or even getthanked for it, but without getting sloppy,

“The firstqualityanESRshoulddemonstrateisapassionfor thesafetyofothers.Passion iscaring”

It's “awards” time again and come August wor-thy winners will be recognised for their out-standing contributions to the promotion ofhealth and safety in our sector, and rightly so.But recognised by whom and for what?

I know that probably sounds a bit cynical tosome readers and I can hear the collective“sharp intake of breath” in the OGUK offices;keep calm and I'll try to explain. First up letme be clear; I fully support the idea of recog-nising contributions which drive improve-ments in health and safety, 100% it is the rightthing to do. I am a great believer in supportingand acknowledging those people who to mymind “make a difference” by helping to ensureworkers stay safe and moreover go home inone piece to their families.

However, for a while now I’ve been thinkingthe contribution made by these award winnersisn't “recognised” widely enough and I believewe could do more. Mind you I was probablyinfluenced by the fact that, for a few years run-ning, the “Safety Rep of the year" very quickly

found themselves as a candidate for redun-dancy. But that aside, think about the awardsprocess for a minute; for years it was a smallgroup of judges assessing the contributionsand deciding the winner, then a brief accountof the contribution to the audience on the dayand some congratulations. Recently thischanged and the audience on the day now dothe live judging and that's great, there's a widerrecognition and understanding of the contribu-tion. But I think we’re still just scratching thesurface and we could do more. We could domore in terms of sharing what is recognised as“best practice” and we could do more in recog-nising the individuals involved.

From a workforce perspective the most rele-vant contributions are the “ESR of the year”and the “Workforce Engagement” awards. It’slong been my view that if you get these aspectsright, the rest falls into place. On this basis Ibelieve we should properly recognise these cat-egories and to do that I have a “cunning plan”.The award winners should be seconded from

their current jobs on a Step Change in Safety(SCiS) “sabbatical”. They should become SCiSchampions for one year and visit as many off-shore and onshore sites as possible to promotethe activities which brought them recognition.They should be afforded the opportunity to un-dertake ESR developmental training, attend allSCiS workgroups and Leadership meetings, doonshore seminars, industry forums, the wholenine yards.

Who recognises them? The wider industryand, most importantly, their peers.

For what? For making a worthwhile contri-bution which includes engaging with the widerindustry.

Best practice is shared, opportunities to learnare gained, SCiS is promoted, a greater degreeof engagement is achieved. A year later thewinners return to their jobs. They gain per-sonal development, the employer/duty holderare recognised for their commitment and gaina more confident, competent and knowledge-able employee. Then we do it again.Jake Molloy: recognising contributions

by Mick Borwell, Health, Safety &Environment Policy Director, Oil & Gas UK

Phoenix from the flamesTwenty-nine years on, the tragedy ofPiper Alpha still influences Healthand Safety through innovation

At 9.55pm on July 6, 1988, gas leakingfrom a faulty condensate pump ig-nited and exploded on the Piper Al-pha platform. One hundred and sixty-seven offshore workers were tragicallykilled and just 61 survived. Today itremains the worst disaster, in termsof lives lost, in the history of the oiland gas industry and this July we willremember that loss.

A report by the inquiry into the in-cident, chaired by Lord Cullen, made106 recommendations. So, how havethese recommendations been appliedand with what innovation?

First up – Safety Cases Legislation:the safety case must give full detailsof the arrangements for managinghealth and safety, and controlling ma-jor accident hazards on the installa-tion. It requires the operator todemonstrate they have consulted withthe workforce when preparing thesafety case and to make copies of thefinal document available.

Having a goal-setting approach tosafety legislation differs from the pre-scriptive style in that, rather than be-ing given a fixed checklist of thingsthat must be done to meet a statutoryrequirement, companies can choosethe best methods or equipment avail-able at the time.

The Offshore Installations (SafetyRepresentatives and Safety Commit-tees) Regulations came into force in1989. Elected Safety Representatives(ESR’s) have made and continue tomake a valuable contribution. ESRs

from installations across the UKCSare engaged with the Step Change inSafety (SCiS) organisation, via theESR network (G18) set up to improvethe exchange of information andshare best practice.

A single regulator, the Health andSafety Executive's Offshore Safety Di-vision, now employs a team of inspec-tors responsible for enforcing off-shore specific regulations.

Other, now well imbedded, practicesand innovations include: revision ofpermits to work system; review pro-cess controls; mandatory incident re-porting; hydrocarbon inventory; fireand gas detection and emergencyshutdown, fire and explosion protec-tion; emergency centres and system;pipeline emergency procedures; evac-uation, escape and rescue plans andequipment; standby vessels; com-mand in emergencies; regular drills;and regular emergency training.

The launch of SCiS in 1997 was de-signed to continue post-Piper Alphaimprovements and drive improve-ment and workforce participation.With engagement across the industry,SCiS continues to improve safety andeffect change through collaboration.

Younger members of the workforcewould be forgiven for thinking theseinnovations have always been with us.Significant improvements have beenmade since Piper Alpha. Through in-novation and dedication, the cultureof safety has improved so much it isalmost unrecognisable.

Shane Gorman, workforce engagement co-ordinator

4

Issue 14 | July 20176 July 2017 | Issue 14 www.stepchangeinsafety.net/tsn www.stepchangeinsafety.net/tsn 7

The platform walkabout was use-ful and the Green Hat meeting withthe OIM in the evening was excel-lent and, for me, the highlight ofthe entire induction process. Hav-ing attended many different ver-sions of these over the years, thiswas by far the best. He set out clearsafety expectations on us and stat-ing clearly his and ConocoPhillipscommitments to providing a safeplace to work. The approach wasprofessional and thoughtful. I wasparticularly pleased to see the useof the Step Change in Safety “safetytriangle” and how it was being usedto set expectations. One highlightof the OIM induction was theoverview of MAH and helicoptersafety. Ian, the OIM, articulated the

clear commitment to safe heli-copter transport from Cono-coPhillips which I think could, andshould, be highlighted to othercompanies.

Sadly, the departure helicopterbriefing, which was first-class, cametoo soon and I wish my visit couldhave been longer. One potentialarea of improvement would be toconsider doing the visits over aweekend so the review team couldparticipate in the safety meeting.That said, the practice of every sitehaving management visits over asingle period I felt was very effec-tive and one that should be com-mended. The feedback session from

Playing My Part – Peter HepburnPeter achieved his degree in Process andChemical Engineering at the University ofStrathclyde in Glasgow, and developed hispassion for safety in his third and fourthyears, when he was on a summer placementin Fawlie Refinery in Southampton.

Peter joined Maersk Oil in January 2007working offshore as a Management SystemsAdvisor where he made significant changesin improving safety offshore.

In 2010 he became OIM Assessment Sys-tems Production Assessment Development,which he did for one year before being pro-moted to OIM. Peter moved to Aberdeenthree years later to work onshore as theHSSEQ director. This is when he startedworking with Step Change in Safety, as hefelt that he wanted to make a real difference.

Peter sees Step Change as the centre of allorganisations and feels it is an honour to beinvolved in the member-led organisation.

Now Director, HSSEQ Operations, Peter isa great believer that the safety department isthere to help the guys offshore make a realdifference and make safety work.

He lives in Aberdeen with his wifeAmanda, daughter Caitlin (23) and son Kyle(17) – with their three dogs, Ramsay, Tillyand Guy.

He has a passion for the martial arts,which he has been participating in sincehigh school. When he achieved his blue beltin TKD Peter became competitive, whichled to him being given the title of BritishSparring Champion. He is passionateabout outdoor sports and for his 40thbirthday he went away with his best mateand did bungee jumping, clay pigeon shoot-ing, white water rafting and canyoning inPerthshire.

What are your hobbies?Cycling, running, walking the dogs. I also dothe Insanity workouts and I am currently do-ing one called Core du Fore, which is basedon MMA.

What kind of films do you like?I love all sci-fi films – I am a massive geekwhen it comes to sc-fi.

“Sitting onshore inan office there is apotential to losethat ability to seewhat we are doing”

Experience can blindus to opportunities

Like most of us, I can get blindedby my own experience and currentreality. The hardest thing about allof this is that it’s almost impossibleto see. We create our worldviewthrough our past experiences andhardwire our brains to assume thatfuture events will mirror the past.Truly understanding issues andchallenges or connecting with peo-ple requires us to step outside ofour world and into someone else’s.

So, when given the chance totravel offshore for the first time inyears to the Britannia platform byConocoPhillips, I jumped at it. Iwas to be part of a four-personteam visiting the installation aspart of their annual managementsafety review. During the period,management teams from across thebusiness, and some of their con-tractors visit every asset operatingin the UK. The organisation of theovernight visit was superb and thefocus for 2017 couldn’t have beenbetter as far as I was concerned.

Major Accident Hazards, Control ofWork and Workforce Engagement

The “culture of care” was palpable,from the heli-lounge, through theinductions, to the way in which theplatform personnel interacted withthe team. There was a feeling ofopenness on the installation whichcame through in the discussions.The elected safety representativeswere open, obviously engaged andcommitted to their role.

all the sites on return was hum-bling to be part of, and the commit-ment from the onshore and off-shore teams to get the maximumvalue, based on my experience, isnoteworthy.

From a personal perspective, Ibelieve both myself and StepChange in Safety, can add muchmore value if we get more offshorevisits like this. In fact, I’d go as farto say that it’s essential as there is areal richness to be found in justgetting out there and engaging.

Sitting onshore in an office thereis a potential to lose that ability tosee so clearly what we are doingand go into a sort of mental autopi-lot. Acting like a beginner meansnot throwing your experiencesaway and being naive, but ratherlooking at them as tools you canuse when it’s to your advantage.

I feel more energised because ofthe visit and thankful to Cono-coPhillips for giving me the oppor-tunity to see the endless (and oftenbetter) opportunities just out ofsight, where we, at an industrylevel, could make a difference.

It would be naive of me to as-sume all installations are as good asthis one and that this installationdidn’t have room for improvementbut what is important is that whatthey’re doing, how they maintain aculture of care, is worth celebratingparticularly at times like this.

If there’s one lesson I will takefrom this, it’s that past experiencescan colour how we see the presentand the future and blind us fromthe multitude of opportunities outthere. Break the cycle. Step backand give yourself a chance to lookat things objectively without bias,preconception or judgement.

by Les Linklater,Step Change in Safetyexecutive director

by Paul Tanner,at Tyco, businessdevelopment director,oil, gas & energy

Tyco: helping protect assetsand staff in oil and gas sector

The industry is making positivesteps to improve safety procedures,which was reflected in Oil and GasUK’s 2016 health and safety reportwhich indicated a 30 per cent de-crease in dangerous occurrencesacross process safety performanceover the last two years. In addition,the injury rate declined 20 per centfor personal safety performance,showing injury rate to be at its low-est since 1995-6.

However, despite changes in reg-ulations and pledges, such as StepChange in Safety, many older rigsstill have carbon steel pipeworkand encounter widespread issueswith blockages caused by corrosionof the deluge system. Yet it seemsthat even relatively new systems re-furbished with exotic pipework ma-

terials still regularly encounterblockages caused by other salt wa-ter by-products such as marinegrowth and salt crystallisation.There is still a way to go.

While the oil and gas industryfaces challenging economic condi-tions, the need to reduce costs car-ries with it further safety risks forthe sector, especially as shortcutson essential procedures can resultin a serious disaster.

Considering this, it’s clear thatthe upkeep of safety managementon platforms should be a priority,particularly given that over 50 percent of North Sea oil and gas assetsare running beyond their safe lifeexpectancy, with some at least 40years old and many older than 30.Unfortunately, effective protectionagainst fire and explosions on olderoil and gas assets is a large and ex-pensive task, often requiring plat-form-wide remodelling. As a result,companies across the industry arehaving to look closely at their pro-cesses in an attempt to maintain es-

sential fire and safety standardswhile reducing costs.

One key challenge in marine as-sets comes as a result of the envi-ronment itself. Essential fire protec-tion structures on offshore oil andgas installations face particularlyhazardous conditions as a result ofsalt water’s corrosive qualities, thepresence of clogging marine debrisand damaging rough weather con-ditions, on top of the industry-widedanger of hydrocarbons and toxicgases on board.

Nozzle blockages within delugesystems are a common occurrence,due to corrosion, marine growth,salt crystallisation and other by-products of seawater. These block-ages have a serious impact on thefunctionality of the system andgreatly increase the risk of a firerunning out of control. Many havelooked to solve this problem bychanging out the material of thepipework within their deluge sys-tem to various elastomers, CuNiFerand even titanium. However, a

Health and Safety Executive (HSE)report on the impact of blockagesconcluded that nozzle blockageswill still occur within the pipework.

Operators must consider innova-tive approaches, alternative serviceapproaches and installation of anti-blocking devices such as Tyco’s Om-niPass adaptor to improve reliabilityand resilience, as well as dry testingof deluge systems, which can enablecost optimisation while maintainingcompliance, without causing run-of-the-mill damage which contributesto platform life-end.

Resilience can be significantlyimproved by installing innovativesolutions like OmniPass to protectdeluge discharge nozzles, to ensureall nozzles remain operational evenif there is debris within thepipework. Coupled with environ-ment-specific technology, this typeof innovative service deliverymethod can save operators over 21per cent per year over the remain-ing life of the asset, while ensuringessential system resilience.

Peter Hepburn

● Come meet the Tyco team atOffshore Europe (stand X10)on 5-8 September and find outhow they can help improvefire safety on oil rigs.In September 2016 we com-pleted a merger with JohnsonControls, combining the bestof Johnson Controls and Tycoto create the world leader inintegrated building technol-ogy and energy storage.● Website: https://www.ty-coifs.co.uk/● Video: https://www.ty-coifs.co.uk/how-we-can-help/protect-your-busi-ness/fire-suppression-systems-industrial-petrochemical-oil-gas/deluge-resilience-offshore/● Phone: 0800 389 3195

Issue 14 | July 20176 July 2017 | Issue 14 www.stepchangeinsafety.net/tsn www.stepchangeinsafety.net/tsn 7

The platform walkabout was use-ful and the Green Hat meeting withthe OIM in the evening was excel-lent and, for me, the highlight ofthe entire induction process. Hav-ing attended many different ver-sions of these over the years, thiswas by far the best. He set out clearsafety expectations on us and stat-ing clearly his and ConocoPhillipscommitments to providing a safeplace to work. The approach wasprofessional and thoughtful. I wasparticularly pleased to see the useof the Step Change in Safety “safetytriangle” and how it was being usedto set expectations. One highlightof the OIM induction was theoverview of MAH and helicoptersafety. Ian, the OIM, articulated the

clear commitment to safe heli-copter transport from Cono-coPhillips which I think could, andshould, be highlighted to othercompanies.

Sadly, the departure helicopterbriefing, which was first-class, cametoo soon and I wish my visit couldhave been longer. One potentialarea of improvement would be toconsider doing the visits over aweekend so the review team couldparticipate in the safety meeting.That said, the practice of every sitehaving management visits over asingle period I felt was very effec-tive and one that should be com-mended. The feedback session from

Playing My Part – Peter HepburnPeter achieved his degree in Process andChemical Engineering at the University ofStrathclyde in Glasgow, and developed hispassion for safety in his third and fourthyears, when he was on a summer placementin Fawlie Refinery in Southampton.

Peter joined Maersk Oil in January 2007working offshore as a Management SystemsAdvisor where he made significant changesin improving safety offshore.

In 2010 he became OIM Assessment Sys-tems Production Assessment Development,which he did for one year before being pro-moted to OIM. Peter moved to Aberdeenthree years later to work onshore as theHSSEQ director. This is when he startedworking with Step Change in Safety, as hefelt that he wanted to make a real difference.

Peter sees Step Change as the centre of allorganisations and feels it is an honour to beinvolved in the member-led organisation.

Now Director, HSSEQ Operations, Peter isa great believer that the safety department isthere to help the guys offshore make a realdifference and make safety work.

He lives in Aberdeen with his wifeAmanda, daughter Caitlin (23) and son Kyle(17) – with their three dogs, Ramsay, Tillyand Guy.

He has a passion for the martial arts,which he has been participating in sincehigh school. When he achieved his blue beltin TKD Peter became competitive, whichled to him being given the title of BritishSparring Champion. He is passionateabout outdoor sports and for his 40thbirthday he went away with his best mateand did bungee jumping, clay pigeon shoot-ing, white water rafting and canyoning inPerthshire.

What are your hobbies?Cycling, running, walking the dogs. I also dothe Insanity workouts and I am currently do-ing one called Core du Fore, which is basedon MMA.

What kind of films do you like?I love all sci-fi films – I am a massive geekwhen it comes to sc-fi.

“Sitting onshore inan office there is apotential to losethat ability to seewhat we are doing”

Experience can blindus to opportunities

Like most of us, I can get blindedby my own experience and currentreality. The hardest thing about allof this is that it’s almost impossibleto see. We create our worldviewthrough our past experiences andhardwire our brains to assume thatfuture events will mirror the past.Truly understanding issues andchallenges or connecting with peo-ple requires us to step outside ofour world and into someone else’s.

So, when given the chance totravel offshore for the first time inyears to the Britannia platform byConocoPhillips, I jumped at it. Iwas to be part of a four-personteam visiting the installation aspart of their annual managementsafety review. During the period,management teams from across thebusiness, and some of their con-tractors visit every asset operatingin the UK. The organisation of theovernight visit was superb and thefocus for 2017 couldn’t have beenbetter as far as I was concerned.

Major Accident Hazards, Control ofWork and Workforce Engagement

The “culture of care” was palpable,from the heli-lounge, through theinductions, to the way in which theplatform personnel interacted withthe team. There was a feeling ofopenness on the installation whichcame through in the discussions.The elected safety representativeswere open, obviously engaged andcommitted to their role.

all the sites on return was hum-bling to be part of, and the commit-ment from the onshore and off-shore teams to get the maximumvalue, based on my experience, isnoteworthy.

From a personal perspective, Ibelieve both myself and StepChange in Safety, can add muchmore value if we get more offshorevisits like this. In fact, I’d go as farto say that it’s essential as there is areal richness to be found in justgetting out there and engaging.

Sitting onshore in an office thereis a potential to lose that ability tosee so clearly what we are doingand go into a sort of mental autopi-lot. Acting like a beginner meansnot throwing your experiencesaway and being naive, but ratherlooking at them as tools you canuse when it’s to your advantage.

I feel more energised because ofthe visit and thankful to Cono-coPhillips for giving me the oppor-tunity to see the endless (and oftenbetter) opportunities just out ofsight, where we, at an industrylevel, could make a difference.

It would be naive of me to as-sume all installations are as good asthis one and that this installationdidn’t have room for improvementbut what is important is that whatthey’re doing, how they maintain aculture of care, is worth celebratingparticularly at times like this.

If there’s one lesson I will takefrom this, it’s that past experiencescan colour how we see the presentand the future and blind us fromthe multitude of opportunities outthere. Break the cycle. Step backand give yourself a chance to lookat things objectively without bias,preconception or judgement.

by Les Linklater,Step Change in Safetyexecutive director

by Paul Tanner,at Tyco, businessdevelopment director,oil, gas & energy

Tyco: helping protect assetsand staff in oil and gas sector

The industry is making positivesteps to improve safety procedures,which was reflected in Oil and GasUK’s 2016 health and safety reportwhich indicated a 30 per cent de-crease in dangerous occurrencesacross process safety performanceover the last two years. In addition,the injury rate declined 20 per centfor personal safety performance,showing injury rate to be at its low-est since 1995-6.

However, despite changes in reg-ulations and pledges, such as StepChange in Safety, many older rigsstill have carbon steel pipeworkand encounter widespread issueswith blockages caused by corrosionof the deluge system. Yet it seemsthat even relatively new systems re-furbished with exotic pipework ma-

terials still regularly encounterblockages caused by other salt wa-ter by-products such as marinegrowth and salt crystallisation.There is still a way to go.

While the oil and gas industryfaces challenging economic condi-tions, the need to reduce costs car-ries with it further safety risks forthe sector, especially as shortcutson essential procedures can resultin a serious disaster.

Considering this, it’s clear thatthe upkeep of safety managementon platforms should be a priority,particularly given that over 50 percent of North Sea oil and gas assetsare running beyond their safe lifeexpectancy, with some at least 40years old and many older than 30.Unfortunately, effective protectionagainst fire and explosions on olderoil and gas assets is a large and ex-pensive task, often requiring plat-form-wide remodelling. As a result,companies across the industry arehaving to look closely at their pro-cesses in an attempt to maintain es-

sential fire and safety standardswhile reducing costs.

One key challenge in marine as-sets comes as a result of the envi-ronment itself. Essential fire protec-tion structures on offshore oil andgas installations face particularlyhazardous conditions as a result ofsalt water’s corrosive qualities, thepresence of clogging marine debrisand damaging rough weather con-ditions, on top of the industry-widedanger of hydrocarbons and toxicgases on board.

Nozzle blockages within delugesystems are a common occurrence,due to corrosion, marine growth,salt crystallisation and other by-products of seawater. These block-ages have a serious impact on thefunctionality of the system andgreatly increase the risk of a firerunning out of control. Many havelooked to solve this problem bychanging out the material of thepipework within their deluge sys-tem to various elastomers, CuNiFerand even titanium. However, a

Health and Safety Executive (HSE)report on the impact of blockagesconcluded that nozzle blockageswill still occur within the pipework.

Operators must consider innova-tive approaches, alternative serviceapproaches and installation of anti-blocking devices such as Tyco’s Om-niPass adaptor to improve reliabilityand resilience, as well as dry testingof deluge systems, which can enablecost optimisation while maintainingcompliance, without causing run-of-the-mill damage which contributesto platform life-end.

Resilience can be significantlyimproved by installing innovativesolutions like OmniPass to protectdeluge discharge nozzles, to ensureall nozzles remain operational evenif there is debris within thepipework. Coupled with environ-ment-specific technology, this typeof innovative service deliverymethod can save operators over 21per cent per year over the remain-ing life of the asset, while ensuringessential system resilience.

Peter Hepburn

● Come meet the Tyco team atOffshore Europe (stand X10)on 5-8 September and find outhow they can help improvefire safety on oil rigs.In September 2016 we com-pleted a merger with JohnsonControls, combining the bestof Johnson Controls and Tycoto create the world leader inintegrated building technol-ogy and energy storage.● Website: https://www.ty-coifs.co.uk/● Video: https://www.ty-coifs.co.uk/how-we-can-help/protect-your-busi-ness/fire-suppression-systems-industrial-petrochemical-oil-gas/deluge-resilience-offshore/● Phone: 0800 389 3195

8 July 2017 | Issue 14 www.stepchangeinsafety.net/tsn

Tea Shack News wants to hear your opinions on safety-related issues at yourworkplace. Send your comments and letters to editor@teashacknews.com

Elected to make a difference

Tea break Lunch break Delayed flight

8 9 2 7

4 1

1 3 6 7 8

4 5

6 2

9 2 4 5 7

3 6 1 5 4

3 8

2 7 9

9 5 8 1 4

9

7 6

2 4 7 9

6 8

8 3 4 6

1 7 3 2 6 5

8

4 1

7 4 3

1

3

7 6 8

8 1 4 6

9 3 5

4 9 5

8 6 7

3 7 6 4

Tales fromthe Shack– CheckYour NutsOne of the lads was headingoffshore. He jumped in thehelicopter and for the first20 minutes of the flight hesat leaning forward andreading a magazine.As he leaned backwards henoticed his seat wasmoving more than usual,the further back he leanedthe more unstable his seatbecame. As he looked downhe realised one of the frontseat fixings wasn’t boltedinto the fixing points on thefloor. He thought he’dbetter tell the pilots so gotout of his wonky seat andwalked up and tapped theco-pilot on the shoulder.After the co-pilot got backin his skin he turned aroundand saw 15 wide-eyed andvery concerned peoplestaring at him wonderingwhat was going on. Hedecided to take a spareseat behind his original oneand bent down to take acloser look. Turns one ofthe back fixings was alsoloose. Pilot suggested itcould be down to vibrationor getting kicked but thisworker suggests you allhave a quick check of yournuts before you take-off.

Dave Russell has been a safety rep fornine years. He currently works for Bil-finger Salamis. Here he talks aboutwhy he became a safety rep and theimportance of the role: “The companyat Bacton I worked for at the time(Bilfinger Salamis UK) didn’t have anElected Safety Representative (ESR),and nobody was interested, so Ithought I’d give it a go. At the time, Iwasn’t sure what the expectation was,as ESRs didn’t, really, have a profileback then but thankfully that haschanged due to a succession of greatplant managers who have encouragedthe training, development and in-volvement of all the ESRs.

“We have level one, two, three andfour meetings, which all involvehealthy and open debate, which Ithink is incredibly important, and weshare learnings and discuss any SafetyAlerts, which are produced by StepChange in Safety, with the con-stituents.

I get involved in incident investiga-tion, which, thankfully, doesn’thappen too often, and deliver presen-tations on various safety-relatedtopics at away days. Personnel willalso often approach me with some-thing that needs attention and pro-gression, which we will take up themantle for.

“The workers now, in my opinion,truly believe they have a voice throughESRs. Where there may have beenan issue approaching managementor supervision with a concern, anESR will act on their behalf and incomplete confidence. I’m passionateabout safety and really enjoy what Ido.” Dave Russell relishes his role as a safety rep, giving workers a voice when it comes to dealing with issues