Techbits: Workshop Focuses on Improving Industry HSE Performance
Authors: JPT staff _ 
Published: February 2015

Techbits
Health, safety, and environmental (HSE) incidents have been trending downward in the oil and gas industry for more than a decade. The philosophy of running an incident-free operation has been embraced by the majority of industry participants. However, in recent years, the general observation is that HSE performance has remained static.
SPE recently assembled leaders in the field to try to find ways to reduce the number of workplace accidents. In 2010, a forum titled “Getting to Zero” was conducted. The outcome stimulated a range of responses and a follow-up workshop titled “Continuing the Journey to Zero” was held last fall.
The workshop in Austin, Texas, attracted 90 attendees from 10 countries and 55 companies. The topics covered:
The current state of safety leadership
Executive managements’ vision of the journey to zero incidents
Analyzing lagging indicators
How leading key performance indicators affect performance
Learning from incidents
Human factors engineering
Developing and sustaining a proper safety culture
The participants said that the industry has many examples of outstanding leadership and performance. They agreed that the session should form a continuing part of the growing global dialog on attaining the goal of zero incidents and decided that the results of the workshop would be made available to other forums.
Some of the presentations were made by people outside of the oil and gas industry, such as governmental bodies and the aviation industry. They stimulated interest and vibrant discussions. One topic was the general public’s view of the oil and gas industry. The worst reported HSE performance may be assumed by the lay person to be the industry norm. If true, the implications of poor performance obviously affect all participants in the industry. Another subject concerned “self-reporting” in the aviation industry. The notion that individuals are able to report below-standard behavior to the management without fear of retribution provoked a lively discussion.
Leading and lagging indicators sparked much interest. The maligned lagging indicators were shown to be still an essential part in the understanding of overall performance. They provided critical information in dissecting the causes of systemic failures. Leading indicators remain an elusive but much sought-after part of the goal of zero incidents. The participants support continuing work in making them a universally acceptable standard.
Experienced senior leaders gave invaluable insight into learning from incidents. A common theme was the removal of blame and the encouragement of honesty and openness in investigating root causes. The behavior of the senior leader is the crucial factor in unearthing critical lessons.
Human factors are key elements toward creating an illness- and incident-free workplace. Using a series of pictures of an industrial site, attendees were given a bird’s-eye view of how poor design guarantees poor worker behavior. The conclusion was that an investment in effective design prevented potential cost in injuries and rework. In addition, a full understanding of the limitations of human body movement can contribute to creating a safe and healthy operating environment.