bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
From a Multi-National to a Generative Safety Culture - A Road Map
Authors: Doherty Brett A. , Price Jeffrey J.
Published: June 2014

In this Paper the "Safety Culture" of a large national liquefied natural gas (LNG) company, is explored. The impetus for the paper stems from a company vision for a highly developed dynamic sustainable "Safety Culture" continually developing to meet the challenges associated with a potentially hazardous environment and a multicultural / multinational workforce.

The paper commences with an analysis of the understanding of "Safety Culture", the tools used to improve ‘Safety Culture’ and an analyses of the results gathered from the company’s "Safety Culture" assessment.

Historical and current analysis of the organisations cultural assessment(s) are then reviewed, along with employee climate surveys, and information gathered from employee forums and discussion group, to determine where the organisation sits in the Safety Culture Ladder.

Findings from the cultural assessment are then cross referenced with international recommended practice, specifically the "International Association of Oil & Gas Producers, "A guide to selecting appropriate tools to improve HSE Culturei" to outline a bespoke toolkit for culture improvement specific to the organisation. This ultimately will allow the development of a dynamic, sustainable, safety culture which will build on the Company’s safety performance.
Congo: A Process Safety Approach For The Refurbishment Of Old Facilities"
Authors: Rosa L. La , Petrone A. , Rainaldi I. , Bosco M. , Gallo G. , Cherubin P.
Published: June 2014

Aging and mature oil and gas assets may pose serious problems when it comes to ensure integrity of Process and Operations. Depending on age, repair history, deterioration (even not necessarily associated with time), and all the other factors that influence the beginning, evolution and mitigation of its degradation many equipment may be out of compliance with Safety standards or with original manufacturer’s specification. This may result in an increasing likelihood of failure and urge the company to make a partial or total refurbishment of the plant to prevent Major Accident Hazards.

It is therefore apparent that management of equipment integrity especially in old facilities requires an effective Process Safety Management approach that can support at managerial level the decisions and the actions that need to be under taken with respect to the asset itself: the alternatives can consist in elaborating dedicated studies to justify continued service, re-rating, fix, refurbish or scrapping the equipment.

This paper describes how integrity issues related to old facilities in Congo have been managed in the framework of the Company Process Safety Management System through the application of BART (Base line risk Assessment tool) BART is a Process Safety risk management tool supported by dedicated software that combines a simplified quantitative risk assessment (QRA) with a bow-tie model a to identify and assess any potential hazards and associated risks, that may arise from process activities in onshore and offshore oil & gas installations.

In the aging assets in Congo, the application of BART has provided a clear picture of the risk level of the plant: the need for some actions already included in the HSE risk register has been confirmed and further recommendations to improve the overall safety of the installations (in addition to those already implemented or foreseen) have been suggested.

In the overall, this application has once again confirmed the soundness of BART methodology and its important role as a tool for assurance and verification within the Company Process Safety Management y framework.
Addressing the Social and Community Impacts of Shale Gas Development
Authors: Reider Susan , Wasserstrom Robert
Published: June 2014

Regulators, legislators, local officials and social scientists have become increasingly concerned about the social and community impacts of shale gas development. Drawing on a long tradition of research about western energy boomtowns, researchers have identified four major categories of community impact: economic volatility, instability and de-diversification; rapid (and harmful) industrialization of rural areas; community "corrosion" (uneven costs and benefits); and psycho-social disruption. Many of these impacts involve conflict – among landowners, within communities, between communities and companies. Most of them will be unfamiliar to US oil and gas companies, because they evolved outside of current regulatory frameworks. But they are already shaping policy debates over shale gas development in Pennsylvania, New York and Colorado, as well as the federal government.

Mitigating the risk of conflict in shale gas plays would appear to be a high priority for both industry and government. New tools will be needed to avoid or mitigate social conflict, including a detailed understanding of existing social cleavages and mechanisms of solidarity in rural communities. Yet many of these tools have been used in overseas oil and gas operations for at least two decades: in most major capitol projects, for example, companies analyze the baseline socioeconomic conditions that give rise to potential (or existing) conflict. Such assessments provide an essential first step in anticipating and addressing community-level impact. Using case studies from two Marcellus Shale regions, this paper will present a model for analyzing community-level impacts and recommend appropriate measures to avoid or mitigate them.
Managing Socio-economic Risk in Frontier Areas: A Case Study of Oil Development in the Falkland Islands
Authors: Wagner Jay , Dowse Susan , Jones Murray
Published: June 2014

Oil and gas activities raise important socio-economic questions for host governments, local communities and project proponents alike. If not identified and managed in a timely and effective manner, socio-economic issues - such as labour market effects, population influx, revenue management, social investment and socio-cultural change - can result in significant non-technical risk to projects including local opposition, permitting and project delays, inadequate delivery of benefits and reduced scope to prevent and/or mitigate negative impacts.

These issues are particularly important where oil and gas projects take place in remote and environmentally and socially sensitive areas. Addressing socio-economic impacts early on can provide companies with timely identification of socio-economic, cultural and environmental issues at strategic and project level, as part of corporate planning, due diligence and risk management. Independent socio-economic impact studies can help resource companies (and host governments) plan projects more effectively, especially in relation to socio-economic impact management, social investment and overall stakeholder engagement.

This paper explores the rationale, process and outcomes of an Independent SocioEconomic Impact Study of a proposed offshore oil development in the Falkland Islands. Arguing that the management of socio-economic issues is essential to any project’s approach to non-technical risk (NTR) management, the paper discusses the value of socio-economic impact studies as a means to manage socio-economic impacts. It also discusses key lessons of the Falkland Island study and its relevance to other projects around the world.
Towards Integrated Environmental Monitoring
Authors: Ulfsnes Amund , Møskeland Thomas , Frost Tone Karin , Hepsø Vidar , Gramvik Geir , Brönner Ute , Rylandsholm Pål
Published: June 2014

A large part of the earth’s remaining offshore oil and gas reserves are found in environmentally sensitive areas where (extraction) operations and discharges to the environment can have negative consequences for the ecosystem. The offshore oil and gas industry needs to adapt to this reality, and develop new more prudent ways of working.

On the Norwegian Continental Shelf, oil and gas operations often take place in areas with cold water corals, deep sea sponge aggregations or spawning grounds for sand eel and other benthic resources. In order to minimize the risk of negative impacts from operations in these sensitive areas, monitoring of discharges and of the vulnerable environmental resources is required.

Two systems providing decision support in this new risk reality are under development. The first is a system for real time integration, analysis and visualization of multi sensor environmental data, operational data and modeled data. This system is applicable for oil and gas operations in general, but the initial focus has been on drilling operations in sensitive areas.

The second is a system for real time modeling and risk assessment of drilling operations. This includes combining state-of-the-art models for hydrodynamic and discharge modeling. The model output will be combined and fed into risk assessment computations.

The two systems combined will support decision making in order to minimize risk of negative effects on vulnerable resources during oil and gas operations.

Analysis, visualization of real-time data from different data sources and modeling in real time enables the operator to continuously assess the potential impact to the environment and to control the operation such that the risk to the environment is minimized.

To support different roles and to optimize the decision making process different graphical user interfaces are made available, presenting data in different contexts and at different aggregation levels. For example geographic representation and plotting of time series have proven to be particularly useful.

For companies operating in environmentally sensitive areas, these systems represent decision making tools, enabling them to better plan and manage their operations.

Intelligently integrated into daily operations this represents a large step towards Integrated Environmental Monitoring, which key industry players consider to be a pre requisite to obtaining license to operate in new unexplored sensitive areas.
Super 6 Safe Driving Rules: Enhancing Fleet Safety Management in China
Authors: Fei Leong Weng , Shen Chen
Published: June 2014

The increasing prospect for hydrocarbon in the interior parts of China présents opportunities as well risks to organizations operating in these remote corners of the Middle Kingdom which presents harsh driving conditions coupled with poor driving etiquette. In the more developed provinces, driving also has its challenges with the exponential proliferation of automobile population in the world's most populous country; ensuring safety of personnel on the road remains an ongoing challenge both in urban and remote corners of China. Keeping driving safety messaging simple and relevant is key to getting to the heart and minds of population of drivers in China, many whom are contractor employees. The use of the Super 6 Safe Driving Rules which were formulated based on 80% of common motor vehicle accident causes. The Super 6 Safe Driving Rules is more than a vehicle safety campaign. Proactive performance measures based on the Super 6 Rules are also implemented and the results are used as a leading indicator for transportation risk management. In essence, this is balanced approach for fleet management and in particular provides an effective mechanism to pinpoint, monitor and review driving data. The Super 6 Safe Driving Rules has helped to shift the driving behavior of drivers managed under this program in China and early lagging performance data have been encouraging.
Mangrove Restoration in the Vicinity of Oil and Gas Facilities: Lessons Learned from a Large Scale Project
Authors: Dutrieux Eric , Proisy Christophe , Fromard François , Walcker Romain , Ilman Muhammad , Pawlowski Frédéric , Ferdiansyah Henry
Published: June 2014

Mangroves are critical ecosystems given their key role in conserving biodiversity, protecting coastlines from érosion and supporting coastal resources. They may be impacted by oil and gas activities, either directly or indirectly. Restoring them is therefore of prime importance. In the Mahakam Delta (East Kalimantan, Indonesia), oil and gas exploration and production have been conducted for more than 40 years. This industry has operated in a quasi-pristine area barely affected by human activities until the mid 80’s. Toward the late 1980’s and until 2000, the delta was subject to massive and rapid development of shrimp farming and by 2001, 85% of the delta mangroves were destroyed and most of it replaced by ponds used for aquaculture. By the end of 1990’s, shrimp farm productivity in the delta decreased due to a lack of nutrients in ponds and the occurrence of shrimp diseases. Numerous ponds were abandoned in the delta. This economic situation generated social instabilities that could threaten the oil and gas industry in the region. Therefore, in order to better protect mangroves and optimize restoration of damaged areas, Total E&P Indonesie embarked on a mangrove restoration initiative of the Mahakam Delta aimed at understanding and contributing to the restoration processes through both natural recolonization and planting techniques. The general methodology implemented has been to i) describe the land cover using satellite imagery, interpreting aerial photos, conducting field work, and establishing GIS maps, ii) inventory the fauna and flora (including mangroves, birds, mammals, reptiles), iii) monitoring the naturally re-colonized areas, replanted areas and original forest in selected areas. Results show that natural recolonization of a mangrove area can be very quick under certain conditions (subject to availability of seeds and easy access of seeds to the area to be recolonized). But in areas where seeds cannot easily move, or where seed supply is scarce, replanting remains the best option. Social aspects have also to be taken into account given that replanting can promote the local commitment to sustainable environmental conservation.
Micro-Finance: A Tool for Promoting Women’s Economic Development in Yemen’s Governorate of Shabwah
Authors: Rascher Jeanette , Al-Naami Howaida , Jubary Nashwan
Published: June 2014

SME development is well established in some of Yemen’s Governorates. However, the Shabwah Governorate in which the Company operates is constrained by financial and other resources including a lack of support for small and micro-enterprise (SME) development. The majority of the Company’s project neighbors live in remote areas where no employment opportunities are available. In a conservative and traditional society like Yemen, women are not allowed to work out of home, unless they have the permission of their husbands. In addition, only a limited number of job skills centers and job opportunities are available for women in Yemen that limit their opportunity to work in the fields of their preference.

SME development is well integrated in the Company’s 5-year Sustainable Community Development Program and its importance in a developing country such as Yemen cannot be overemphasized. The Company has made several efforts since 2010 to establish partnerships with Yemen banks/financial institutions in support of SME development in its project neighboring areas, however due to the socio-political instability, those consulted, were not prepared to take the risk.

Based on international best practice, the Company has established its own model in support of SME development in its project neighboring areas and implementation and monitoring are carried out jointly by the Company and local partners, mainly women’s associations. Although both men and women are supported with micro-loans and training, particular attention is given to women as micro-finance constitutes an important tool for their economic development and social empowerment.

During 2011, more than hundred males and females have received micro-finance in the form of loans from the Company in support of small businesses that vary from sewing to small grocery shops and car repairs, with almost a hundred percent success rate in repayments. During 2012, loans have been given to one hundred and twenty potential and existing entrepreneurs (including males and females). The expected outcomes of microfinance support to project neighbors is an improved economic situation, poverty reduction, enhancement of women’s self-confidence, their ability in decision-making in the household and contribution to the overall well-being of their families.

The Company’s efforts have paid off. Several financial institutions have recently approached the Company with a view on partnership projects. These ongoing efforts to support economic development and poverty alleviation in its neighboring communities and lessons learned from establishing the Company’s SME development strategy are expected to have valuable application for other major oil and gas investment projects in Yemen and other developing countries where the social, economic and environmental context creates particular challenges.
Putting the "H" in "HSE" – A Business Friendly Means to Effectively Address the Health and Hygiene Aspects of the E&P Industry
Authors: Randolph B. L. , Hinton J. J. , D’Orsie Sharon
Published: June 2014

With most HSE professionals either skilled in safety or environment, few have occupational hygiene skills or formal training. This many times results in the occupational health and hygiene aspects of the workplace not receiving the attention workers may deserve. And, when occupational hygiene is addressed, it is usually through an over-dependence on consultants by HSE professionals who do not possess the requisite skillsets to effectively oversee the work. Baker Hughes has developed Health Hazard Profiles – user-friendly field guides to assist the local HSE practitioner in effectively addressing the occupational health aspects of the workplace. These have proven to be a cost-effective way to render professional health and hygiene guidance to equip the HSE practitioner with practical guidance to control and manage the occupational health aspect of the workplace. The Health Hazard Profiles have been demonstrated to be an effective means to level the attention of HSE to health, instead of having it remain focused on safety or the environment. This paper addresses how modifications were made to make Health Hazard Profiles more effective to better ensure work practices protect employee health.
Screening Personnel Exposures to Hydrocarbons Using the Ion Science CUB Photoionization Detector
Authors: Owens Patrick
Published: June 2014

Petroleum industry workers have a potential for exposure to a variety of organic compounds while performing a variety of tasks. Therefore, it could be useful to have an exposure screening monitor with a low enough detection limit for these compounds. A direct-reading data-logging ionizable hydrocarbon monitor with low concentration capability could help identify potential toxic exposures more economically than laboratory-based monitoring methods. This paper evaluated the IonScience CUB monitor for usefulness in monitoring routine full-shift hydrocarbon exposure by measuring the CUB’s accuracy and bias, response time, and other specifications relevant for use in screening petroleum worker exposures. The CUB was chosen because it is one of the first pocket-sized wearable data-logging monitors with the ability to detect (parts per billion) organic compounds in low concentrations (parts per billion). The IonScience CUB was repeatedly exposed to test concentrations of isobutylene and n-hexane delivered from purchased calibration cylinders. Four concentrations were tested: 0.1, 1, 10 and 100 ppm. In addition, workers in a petroleum refinery wore the CUB side-by-side with traditional charcoal tube and pump monitoring methods for laboratory analysis of total hydrocarbons. For the measurements against the known calibration gases, the CUB’s peak and time-weighted measurements agreed well with the expected values. For the refinery personnel monitoring, there were some differences between the CUB and the laboratory charcoal tube results that could be due to the CUB sensor response to the real-world mixtures, the CUB baseline/zero measurements, and other factors such as temperature changes in the workplace. This study indicates the usefulness of the CUB in screening workers’ exposure to ionizable hydrocarbons. The CUB is small enough for workers to wear repeatedly day after day to screen for potential toxic exposures. Furthermore, the CUB’s data logging features can be used to capture peak exposure events and estimate time-weighted average exposures. Occupational exposure limits to petroleum compounds are continuously being lowered. With the ability to detect low concentrations, i.e., parts per billion, the CUB can be useful to screen exposures within the present and future lower exposure limits.
Process for Security Policy and Requirements Development
Authors: Aarab Najoua , Houmb Siv Hilde , Hulick Kent , Engum Erlend A.
Published: June 2014

Control systems such as Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) and Drilling Control Systems (DCS) are part of the critical infrastructures of the oil and gas industry. These systems were originally designed to be in physically secured and isolated areas. However, the need of integrating the DCS with IT networks and the increased use of commercial off the shelf components (COTS), such as USB, Windows etc., has resulted in less isolation. In addition, the new industrial targeted cyber security attacks have demonstrated that this air gap isolation strategy is no longer a viable security model.

The first industrial cyber-attack was Stuxnet discovered in June 2010. Stuxnet is so far considered to be by far the most complex and sophisticated malware ever discovered. Stuxnet targeted specific SCADA systems that were configured to control and monitor the Iranian uranium enrichment facilities. It targeted a special model of Siemens 400 PLC series, commonly used in the oil and gas industry. While Stuxnet did spread to oil and gas control systems it did no harm on these systems because Stuxnet was so specifically designed to attack it’s Iranian targets. However, according to the statistics from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) more than 40% of cyber-attacks against critical infrastructure in 2012 targeted the energy industry. Stuxnet represents a paradigm shift and confirms the need for a holistic and preventive security strategy and model.

One important aspect of this holistic approach is security policy and requirements. There are three internationally recognized cyber security standards relevant for security policy and requirements development and these are: ISO/IEC 27001ISO/IEC 27002ISO/IEC 15408

ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO/IEC 27002 cover organizational and physical security, while ISO/IEC 15408 covers technical security.

This paper describes a process that properly addresses security throughout the lifecycle of a DCS. The process is built on the above mentioned cyber security standards and does a stepwise development of security policies and requirements. The process starts with analyzing the system architecture and understanding the existing security barriers of the system, follows with defining the security architecture, and ends with creating a set of security policies that are refined into security requirements.

This process has four benefits: Ensures the fulfillment of the three core security objectives: availability, integrity, and confidentially.Produces documents aligned with international standards.Enables change and requirements tracking.Eases product evolution.

The security policy and development process has been developed for DCS, but can easily be extended to support other types of control systems.
Incorporating Respect for Human Rights in Petroleum Projects in Papua New Guinea: Is Compliance Measurement Possible or is Performance about Setting Standards for Acceptable Practice?
Authors: Genter Sabrina , Bryson Ian
Published: June 2014

Description of the material

Over the last decade, there has been considerable discussion about the role that business plays in relation to human rights. This paper focuses on the operationalization of this role and the measurement of the effectiveness of its application. The objective is to highlight the challenges faced by petroleum project operators associated with embedding respect for human rights in social and environmental management systems in countries where protection of such rights by the state is limited.

Application/Development

Through a detailed review of petroleum projects currently in exploration and operational phases in Papua New Guinea (PNG), this paper shows that compliance with international and even internal corporate human rights related performance standards is, in the end, possibly immeasurable. It is certainly possible to measure a company’s efforts to promote respect for fundamental human rights through compliance performance audits but this does not necessarily reduce the risk of complicity in infringements and abuses by third parties. The International Finance Corporation’s renewed focus on such risks emanating from supply chains is an important step toward company’s reducing the potential for implication in abuses by others but conducting due diligence on human rights compliance on all suppliers in such typically complex jurisdictions can be costly, onerous and sometimes duplicitous.

Results, Observations, and Conclusions

Effective supply chain management requires traditional procurement methods and tools; however, additional rigour is required when managing human rights performance. In a country such as PNG, where mining and petroleum operators have already been called into question for their human rights performance, it is important for an operator to implement additional differentiated measures that effectively enforce ongoing compliance on suppliers to ensure complicity in abuses and infringements within the supply chain are avoided.

Significance of Subject Matter

In order to ensure long-term mitigation of human rights risks and impacts, particularly in the supply chain, performance monitoring should not just be about compliance but should also be about establishing standards of what is acceptable practice. This in the longer-term will support the shift in thinking and behaviour among all personnel that is required to ensure that human rights risks and impacts are managed effectively.
Human Reliability Analysis for the Petroleum Industry: Lessons Learned from Applying SPAR-H
Authors: van de Merwe Koen , Hogenboom Sandra , Rasmussen Martin , Laumann Karin , Gould Kristian
Published: June 2014

Human error has shown to be a contributor to a number of major accidents in the petroleum industry. However, Quantitative Risk Analyses (QRA) have only to a limited extent taken into account the contribution of human performance to major accident risk. Human Reliability Analysis (HRA) has the potential to overcome this by systematically analysing human performance for safety critical tasks. A joint effort between industry and academia is underway in Norway to adapt SPAR-H, an HRA technique from the nuclear industry, to a petroleum setting (PetroHRA). This paper discusses some of the lessons learned so far in directly applying the technique to a petroleum case study.

A case study was performed where the operator’s task was to manually activate the platform’s depressurisation system upon detection of a hydrocarbon leakage. The factors influencing the performance (Performance Shaping Factors; PSF) of the operator were analysed indicating the potential contributors to operator failure. The PSFs were: time, stress/stressors, complexity, experience/training, procedures, HMI/ergonomics, fitness for duty, and work processes.

A number of issues were identified in when directly applying of SPAR-H. These were challenges in deciding on the multiplier of the PSFs, the potential for overlap between the PSFs, the industry specificity of the HMI/Ergonomics PSF description and the method’s tendency to inflated Human Error Probabilities (HEP). A first step to improve the definitions and guidance material for a petroleum-specific SPAR-H was taken in a separate literature study performed by two of the authors of this paper (Rasmussen, Standal, & Laumann, in submission).

The lessons learned presented in this paper provided a basis for further development of SPAR-H and its guidance material. It was further shown that directly applying and integrating SPAR-H in QRA in a petroleum context is possible and relatively straightforward. In addition, the qualitative outcomes provided a structured and meaningful understanding of human performance previously not available to QRA. Ultimately, this effort contributes to a further integration of HRA and QRA and therewith providing a more complete picture of the factors contributing to major accident risk.
Performance Standards for Environmentally Critical Elements
Authors: Yessekeyeva Zhanar , Vandenbussche Valentin
Published: June 2014

In the aftermath of the April 2010 Macondo well blowout and explosion, the offshore oil and gas industry in the UK and Norwegian sectors has been undergoing major changes. This includes the issuance of a number of guidelines and requirements for offshore oil and gas facilities to effectively manage the Safety and Environmentally Critical Elements (SCEs and ECEs) in their installations.

Effective Environmental and Safety Risk Management practice requires that processing systems and associated equipment are assessed for their criticality both for safety and environment. It is aimed to be proactive, preventive, and risk based, in an attempt to reduce the likelihood that events similar to the Macondo incident will reoccur.

In the past the emphasis has been on safety barriers. The common methodology for identifying and managing SCEs has already been developed and is established. There is now a need for a methodology for managing barriers preventing discharges to the environment as well.

Thus, this paper will be mainly focused on Environmentally Critical Elements (ECEs) and the approach for determining ECEs, developing their respective performance standards and associated maintenance requirements, helping operators to answer the following questions: Which equipment is critical for major environmental hazards (MEHs)?What are the performance standards requirements for MEHs?How to ensure that prevention barriers are maintained during operation?

This new methodology makes use of specific risk instruments such as Environmental Hazard Identification (ENVID), bowtie diagrams, and barrier management, together with extensive experience in managing SCEs related to major safety hazards.

Relevant examples from the European, offshore O&G industry will be presented and discussed.
Development of Operational and Scientific Monitoring Programs to Support Marine Spill Response
Authors: Lane Alison , Krause Paul R.
Published: June 2014

While operational response techniques are well established, typically the most problematic and long-lasting aspect of a marine pollution incident is the assessment of environmental harm, environmental rehabilitation programs and continued monitoring of impacts and the success of restoration. Concerns about real or perceived environmental impacts receive intense attention from regulators, media and the public long after the immediate cleanup is complete. Failure to address these concerns can result in serious, long-term reputational damage, along with the potential for large compensation claims that are hard to refute. Following recent significant offshore spills, there is an increased focus by industry and regulators on marine pollution response. Regulators now consider not only at an operator’s spill contingency plan, but also their ability to implement that plan.

Australian regulators now also require a comprehensive operational and scientific monitoring program to support a spill response and assess the level of damage. This paper draws on our experience developing these programs for offshore oil and gas operators.

To be effective, implementation of some aspects of the OSMP must begin almost immediately an incident occurs, when traditionally the focus is on physical containment and clean-up. Pre-impact baseline assessment before oil hits sensitive environments is critical to demonstrating whether the spill has resulted in contamination and the extent of impacts, and a challenge for companies is to identify how they will gather baseline data in a timely and cost-effective way. A credible, robust program of environmental sampling and analysis is also essential to justify the demobilisation of response and remediation activities.

Developing and planning for the rapid implementation of an OSMP is a complex and challenging task. The OSMP must include study protocols that are flexible enough to account for the specific spill characteristics, in addition to the organisation, staffing (including identification of suitably credible experts to lead scientific programs), HSE plans, initiation and termination criteria, and logistic support requirements.

In this paper each of these fundamental components of an Operational and Scientific Monitoring Program (OSMP) are described and discussed in the context of spill contingency planning and with a focus on improving spill response outcomes.
Prevention and Control of Emerging Infectious Disease Outbreaks in Global Oil and Gas Workplaces
Authors: Diara Malick , Ngunjiri Susan , Marusiak Amanda Brown , Ben-Edet Affiong , Plenderleith Rob , Modrick Michelle , Buford Deena
Published: June 2014

Problem Statement: In global companies with internationally mobile workforces and operations where people work and live together, infectious disease outbreaks can impact the health of workers and communities, disrupt operations and affect a company’s reputation. Emerging diseases such as coronaviruses and avian flu can be challenging in these settings. Adequate control of outbreaks in Company workplaces requires standardized measures that are globally communicated and applied consistently across worksites and countries.

Objectives and Scope: Provide a standard and efficient approach to infectious disease outbreak prevention and control, including communication procedures and action plans with staged response for both known and emerging infectious diseases with outbreak potential.

Method: Building on its global pandemic flu plans and site Infectious Disease Outbreak Management (IDOM) measures, the Company used a two-pronged communication approach to engage stakeholders and communicate with workers on latest emerging diseases: the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus and avian influenza H7N9. This approach was developed within Company systems and interfaces at affiliate and headquarters levels, as well as with external experts to generate action plans aligned with scientific evidence progressively made available.

Significant New Information: This outbreak management model represents an effective global and scalable approach to mitigate the impact of various communicable diseases in workplaces. Standardized outbreak management and communication approaches are potential innovations for oil and gas companies that could better protect the health of their workers and business.

Conclusions: Infectious disease outbreak risk should be consistently integrated into safety, security, environmental and health programs of oil and gas sector companies, regardless of the geographic locations of their operation sites. Methodical application of evidence based outbreak prevention, preparedness and response measures, built on existing company systems, enables effective awareness, engagement and preparedness in Company sites.
Understanding the ALARP Concept: Its Origin and Application
Authors: Taylor Mark , Israni Chris
Published: June 2014

Mr Edwards was a miner. He was tragically killed in November 1947 when the supporting structure of a roadway collapsed. His employers argued that it was too expensive to shore up every roadway in all of the mines. The judge, in the subsequent court case, in some respects, sided with the employers and stated in his judgment "that a computation must be made… in which the quantum of risk is placed in one scale and the sacrifice involved in the measures necessary for averting the risk (whether in time, trouble or money) is placed in the other…..". Since this judgment the concept of "As Low As Reasonably Practicable", ALARP, has formed a significant part of HSE practice and Risk analysis in much of the world where the regulatory framework is "goal" setting rather than "prescriptive". Does ALARP have a part to play in a US context?

The ALARP term comes from the tragic death of one individual; is it applicable to the prevention of Major Accident Hazards involving multiple deaths or major pollution of the environment? If so, how should the ALARP concept be applied? The difficulty arises as there is disconnect between the statistical analysis used to assess the risks, which is based on generalities, and the practical reality that major incidents will happen in the future; but what is not known is when and where major incidents they will happen. Rather like winning the lottery, it is inevitable that someone will win; it is, however, unlikely to be you as an individual. For these reasons, making decisions to reduce risk to the ALARP level is not obvious.

This paper discusses how the ALARP principle is applied to the design and operation of oil and gas facilities. Examples include: how decisions are made in relation to the layout of platforms; the requirement for accommodation platforms separate to the production platform; the positioning of flotels/walk to work vessels; the requirement for subsea isolation valves; or the requirement for deluge systems; all can be assessed with reference to the ALARP concept.

Furthermore, the paper discusses the benefits, difficulties and ambiguities associated with applying the ALARP principle in the real world.
Managing a Contractor Workforce Based on High Consequence Activities
Authors: Peterson Brent
Published: June 2014

With an ever growing contract workforce, the need to manage Health, Environment, and Safety (HES) performance is becoming increasingly relevant. A core item to managing performance is accurately gauging field HES performance of a contractor workforce.

To gauge HES performance accurately, a robust field verification process should be in place. The field verification process should have several key components including focus on critical tasks and controls, in depth-understanding from the verification team of the critical items, and a process for leveraging results of the field verification to hold contractor companies accountable.

In 2012, Chevron – San Joaquin Valley implemented a team to conduct accurate field verification of critical items related to fatality prevention. In 2013, the grading process used to hold contractor companies accountable for their HES performance was modified to include field verification results. By including the results of the field verification in the grading process, the contractor company’s grade either dropped if their field verification results were poor, or went up if their field verification results were good. The initial result of including field verification in the contractors grade were the scores declined holistically, indicating that performance was lower than it was understood to be.

Historically, an incident or injury occurring within a contract company was the primary driver to take a focused look to understand what the gaps within their processes are and what mitigations should be in place. A significant benefit to holding contractor companies accountable for HES field verification performance is that an organization can react before an incident occurs based on what the field verification data is indicating.

While there generally are methods in place for verifying HES performance, there is opportunity to increase their value by including a robust field verification process and holding contract companies accountable for their performance. It is critical that supervisors and management understand the state of their contract workforce so appropriate controls can be put in place to mitigate and lower risk to the organization before incidents occur.
The Safety Leadership Challenge: Line Leaders as Safety Culture Change Agents
Authors: Krauss Autumn D. , Casey Tristan
Published: June 2014

Frontline leaders (e.g., shift supervisors) serve the critical role of being the conduit of information and instruction from management to the frontline workforce. From a safety perspective, they translate the company’s safety vision into how safety is actually executed in the crews. Even with this important role, it is rare that shift supervisors are empowered to be true safety leaders through developmental opportunities and the integration of safety leadership into their key performance indicators.

For shift supervisors to take ownership of their crews’ safety and be influential safety culture change agents, effective safety leadership needs to be clearly defined and assessed so that targeted interventions can be implemented. This paper describes an ongoing research program on safety leadership that was initiated in an attempt to define the dimensions of effective safety leadership for frontline leaders, create an assessment to measure frontline leaders’ safety leadership, and inform evidence-based interventions to develop the safety leadership of specifically shift supervisors.

Based on this research program, the paper addresses the following topics: The eight dimensions of safety leadership, grounded in safety science and organizational psychology.The distinction between safety compliance and safety citizenship as two safety performance domains impacted by safety leadership.The results of a research study examining the impact of safety leadership on important safety factors like team safety climate and safety performance.Potential intervention opportunites to develop the safety leadership skills of shift supervisors.

Shift supervisors represent an excellent opportunity to foster strong positive safety climates within work crews and drive exemplary frontline safety performance. The research program described in this paper focuses specifically on how to turn shift supervisors into effective safety leaders.
The Outcomes of a Fishing Compensation Plan for Drilling Activities Elaborated With the Communities of the Marine Extractive Reserve of Canavieiras, Brazil
Authors: Pessoa Maria Eduarda , Kiperman Rebeca , Nascimento Antonio
Published: June 2014

Drilling in shallow waters and sensitive areas has plenty of well-known environmental requirements. In Brazil, in addition to the common requirements for shallow water drilling, a "Fishing Compensation Plan" must be implemented in areas where artisan fishing is common. BM-J-2 Block, located in Jequitinhonha Basin, northeast of Brazil, falls into this category. This paper presents an E&P Company’s experience in the implementation of a pioneer fishing compensation plan, written, elaborated and executed by the local communities of the Marine Extractive Reserve of Canavieiras, which borders the west limit of the exploratory block. The Fishing Compensation Plan is a mitigation measure requested by the environmental agency as a condition of the environmental license.
Dermal Risk Assessment Using the IH SkinPerm Model
Authors: Tibaldi Rosalie S , Berge Wil ten
Published: June 2014

The risk for skin absorption from chemical contact or from airborne vapor is sometimes questioned during workplace exposure assessments. Although of interest, assessing the dermal route of exposure has been a challenge due to a lack of sampling methods and dermal exposure values. The IH SkinPerm model was developed as a practical tool to help estimate the dermal absorbed dose from skin exposures to pure substances in occupational settings. Three types of dermal exposures can be simulated. The first type of scenario that can be modeled involves an instantaneous deposition, such as those received by accidental skin contact or splash situations. A second scenario that can be modeled is one where the deposition occurs over time, e.g., a repeated rate of skin exposure. The third scenario models the risk of vapor absorption through the skin. Real time description of dermal absorption and evaporated mass is provided in graphical displays and as numerical outputs. Comparisons of measured and estimated dermal absorbed dose show that IH SkinPerm estimated dermal absorbed dose was within a factor of 3 compared to the reported study values. The presentation will describe the use of the IH SkinPerm model with example scenarios involving skin exposure to chemicals with skin notations along with methodology to interpret results for dermal risk assessment.
Social Investment Programs and Indigenous Peoples: Field Case Study
Authors: Kuniholm Matthew , Frye Dana , Sanchez Isolina
Published: June 2014

Across the Amazon region, Indigenous peoples live with vast reserves of non-renewable natural resources located under their lands. National regulations ruling extractive industries on Indigenous lands have historically been nonexistent, weak or poorly enforced. This situation, coupled with concerns over the associated financial, reputational and legal risks, has prompted some companies to establish internal standards seeking to ensure respect of Indigenous peoples’ rights and include affected communities in project benefits through participatory social investment programs. At the same time, national regulatory frameworks and international standards regarding Indigenous rights continue to evolve. This paper presents lessons learned from a field case study of six Indigenous communities in a remote area of the Amazon and describes how a major extractives operation located on Indigenous land in an area of globally important biodiversity has addressed these issues. It illustrates the company’s efforts to design and implement social investment programs aimed at minimizing the operation’s potential impacts and maximizing its potential socio-economic benefits among a recently acculturated Indigenous group. Participatory techniques were used to interview the communities and assess the company’s social performance against its own internal standards. Findings show that in order for a social license to be real and effective, it must involve not only the Indigenous peoples’ representative bodies but Indigenous populations at large. The main contribution of this paper is to provide an example of a participatory social investment strategy and the challenges in its implementation.
Using Technical Competence to Drive High-Grade Safety Performance
Authors: Novia M. D. , Fernandes M. D.
Published: June 2014

Did you know that getting trained is not the same as being competent? Generally speaking, a person who has the required knowledge, skills and behavior, and can perform a given task is considered competent. Why competence? The oil services industry cannot afford not to have it - the increasingly challenging environments, the current drive by industry and clients, scrutiny by the media, the focus of new regulations, and the "big crew change" are but a few reasons to name. However, the most important reason is the positive impact it has on health, safety and the environment. It is an essential part of doing business.

Having a competent workforce is an integral part of overall risk management. The focus on critical areas and the robustness of a competency program are as important as its implementation. As a case in point, this paper will focus on pressure testing and the significance of having competent personnel in this area that is critical to safety as well as business.

This paper presents the methodology of a global pressure testing competency program that has evolved from a multi-year safety initiative focused solely on pressure testing. The methodology is organized into multiple segments including web-based training courses covering the fundamentals of pressure, and advanced topics in pressure testing. A hands-on segment of the program involves the application of course knowledge to location-specific and equipment-specific competencies including an on-the-job training course and a workplace assessment.

The methodology by which people are trained is not only critical to the successful attainment of competence, but the instilling of behaviors that motivate the worker to compentently work safely.