Effectiveness of Safety Culture on Drilling platforms and their Impacts on workforces

By: Nadim Iqbal

Client/Research Requirements• To Identity management and administrative Safety Barriers on offshore oil

and gas site.

• To critically evaluate effectiveness of Safety barriers by considering the safety culture in organisation.

• To interlink the safety culture and employee involvement for sustainability of health and safety in oil and gas sector.

• To identify links between safety barriers and their interaction with workforce.

• To provide proper recommendations for achieving sustainable safety culture in offshore oil and gas sector.

Research Objectives• To provide literature based information from primary and secondary

sources regarding the importance of safety culture, relationship between employee involvement and safety culture, and administrative/management safety barriers in oil and gas sector.

• To analyse the client organisation based on health and safety policies and strategies, also provide relevance of research based on their organisation policy.

• To conduct questionnaire based methodology for collecting the data from respondents regarding the safety culture, employee involvement and safety barriers in Weatherford International.

• To analyse collected data based on safety culture, employee involvement and safety barriers.

• To conclude the major outcome of this dissertation related to health and safety requirements in offshore oil and gas sector.

Overview for Health and Safety• Health and Safety is the term used in

management of organisation for doing safer jobs.

• These safer jobs can be done by creating policies and rules to develop safety culture, in which each member has its own duties and responsibilities for maintaining their own and workplace safety.

• Sustainable health and safety environment can be achieved through proper safety culture, employee involvement and removing safety barriers.

Safety Culture• Powerful force that shapes behaviour, belief and attitude of

organisation and its members for doing safe work.

• All procedures and formats followed such as productivity, safety, manufacturing, assembling, construction and everything.

• Managing safety policies through all these activities followed in organisation, but safety is not considered as sub function of organisation cultures.

• Accident at Chernobyl nuclear power plant; whereas report showed that poor safety culture was responsible for disaster in the year 1986.

• Elements that make safety as compulsory element in organisation culture such as trust in safety measures, risk perception, effectiveness of control and characteristics of safe tools.

Components of Positive Safety Culture• There should be strong leadership for promoting safety as core value.

• Implementation and establishment of high standards for maintaining performance.

• Power should be given to individuals for completing their safety responsibilities.

• The sense of openness should be maintained properly.

• Open and effective communication should be made for establishing mutual trust among all members.

• Properly established learning environment with constant admiration for expertise.

• Proper monitoring of performance and implication of safety rules and regulations.

Five Stages of Safety Culture• Realisation stage based on needs required for actions.

• Traditional stage based on procedure rules and policies.

• Observation stage based on training and compliance of employees.

• Empowerment stage based on empowering employees to take responsibility for their personal and workplace safety.

• Utopia stage based on self sustaining of safety culture and organisation becomes benchmark for other organisations.

Safety Culture in Offshore Oil and Gas Industry• Based on the effective management done by safety officers for different types

of hazards and accidents.

• To install safety programs based on measures to provide sustainable safety culture such as strong relation between the contractors and employees and training of employees.

• Many reasons for flaws such as behaviour of people, reduced consequences an bulk to be averted.

• The most common example is Piper Alpha disaster that cost millions of dollars and 167 lives.

• Different other elements to learn from previous incident such as questionable decisions, misguided priorities, preference for productivity, design flaws, improper design guidelines and practices.

• Majority of accidents are industrial accidents with percentage of 88%, environmental and mechanical accidents are resulting for the percentage of 10% and very less numbers of accidents are unpreventable with total percentage of 2%.

Employee Involvement and Safety Culture• Willingness of management for improving the process of safety through their

motivated workforce.

• New regulation in UK with name SI 971 for improving the safety performance of industry by workforce involvement.

• Health and Safety Executive forum had already declared it as an important element for sustainable safety culture.

• Key elements for employee involvement are operational efficiency, motivation and communication.

• Involving employees for new policies and routines is to inspire them for handling these changes and managing their attitude that can reflect for the survival of work environment.

• Frontline employees are usually working on the field and better know the ground realities based on their personal experiences.

• The true drivers of culture are not the formal rules made by organisation but it all depends on informal tradeoffs between individuals.

Safety Barriers in Safety Culture• The major barrier in health and safety occurs due to inadequate knowledge and

understanding of regulations, whereas cost and tie factors are also considered major barriers.

• The attitude and value of employees is also creating safety barriers, whereas role of management is also important as personal egos and lacking can also result in severe safety barriers.

• The poor communication between the employees and management is also considered major barrier, whereas incompetent employees and managers are dangerous for health and safety of organisation.

• Safety is responsibility of each and every member, to avoid old perception relating safety with leaders and managers.

• Factors for non cooperation and bad attitude of managers and employees such as frustration about job statuary requirements, lack of commitment/interest, enterprise size and profit margins, risk management system, organisational beliefs and legal action fear.

• Barriers for employee involvement such as common sense extent, awareness level, age, profit margins and costs.

• Diversity barriers based on their culture, religion, language, political thoughts and skills.

Assessing Safety Barriers• Four major techniques that can be used successfully for achieving

sustainable health and safety such as employee work life changes, employee initiated improvements, control power for making decision and daily routine assessment.

• Strategies for efficient employee involvement such as management education, employee training and management commitment.

• Transformational leadership is considered as major factor that can help organisation for making positive employee involvement.

• To make strong and clear communication in organisation for developing mutual trust among employees.

• Technologies to improve communication such as electronic mail, electronic memos, corporate website, social media network, video conference, digital report generators and computerised design and planning.

Weatherford International

Company Overview• Weatherford is known since its foundation by keeping

this’ near to customer philosophy” by having more than 1008 locations weather ford has impressive and active infrastructure.

• It is functional in more than 100 countries Weatherford have About 1000 Services Bases, 85 Manufacturing Facilities around the world., More than 58,000 Employees, 16 Training and 13 R&D Centres Globally.

• In 2012 global implementation of OEPS is started by passing through seven centres of Excellence (COE) by having these facilities the company will adopt a constant application methods for services, performance, product line, operation, work method and assurance of competency.

HSE Policies and Standards• Operating based on performance standards and non negotiable services for

managing their clients.

• Environmental objectives, quality and health and safety is maintained through OEP policy.

• ISO 19011 Guidelines for Quality and/or Environmental Management Systems Auditing

• ISO 9004 Quality Performance Standard

• OHSAS 18001 Occupational Health & Safety Management System Standard

• ISO 14001 Environmental Management System Standard

• ISO 29001 Technical Specification for Petroleum & Petrochemical Industries

• ISO 9001 Quality Management System Standard, API Q1 Specification for Quality Programs for the Petroleum and Natural Gas Industry

• API Q2 Technical Specification for the Oil and Gas Industry.

Health, Safety and Environmental Policy•To minimise risks related to different

types of incidents and accidents.

•Policy for zero accident and incidents in their organisation, whereas they believe that all tasks can and should be performed without any accident and incident.

•Policy based on expectations and objectives set for managing health and safety, quality and environmental aspects.

HSE Management Elements by WDI

HSE Responsibilities in WDI

Weatherford Requested Methodology• Literature based information about different safety

barriers and aspects involved in safety culture of oil and gas sector organisation.

• To adopt real world or professional methodology to collect information from main players of organisation that are managing health and safety in organisation.

• The ideal methodology was considered as questionnaire survey; therefore highly professional questionnaire was presented to different safety personnel to provide their views about safety culture, safety barriers and employee involvement.

Relation b/w methodology and main study• The major aim was completed by adopting the

questionnaire based methodology, in order to collect primary data from workers with large experiences in oil and gas sector.

• The major relation between the aim of study and methodology is to collect real data from experience oil and gas workers to check whether HSE regulations are followed during the work.

• It was also required to check whether there are any benefits for using these HSE regulations and other laws for maintaining the sustainability of safety culture in oil and gas sector.

Questionnaire Methodology• The questionnaire methodology was adopted due to easy nature

for collecting the information from different health and safety officers of offshore drilling platforms in Oil and Gas sector only.

• The questionnaire was sent through email to HSE manager and distributed among respondents in both hard copies and soft copies by HSE manager of Weatherford Company.

• This questionnaire was distributed among 100 respondents in countries such as Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and United Arab Emirates including supervisors, Offshore Installation Managers, safety representatives, tool pushers, maintenance team leaders and technicians, operation team leaders and technicians.

• The questionnaire selected most of these technical workers to obtain the real data from front line workers such as tool pushers, maintenance team leaders and technicians, operation team leaders and technicians and safety advisors.

Questionnaire Presented:

Questionnaire Presented Continued..

Questionnaire Response• Respondents were further communicated and selected on

company level by HSE Manager of Weatherford Company, whereas major contacts were made with complete discussion with concern QHSE manager with complete permission of higher official of company.

• The questionnaire was sent to 100 respondents through QHSE manager, whereas there were only 37 responses received.

• All these responses were sent for the period of 1 month, the whole communication was made with QHSE manager for 1 month period, whereas it took longer from respondents due to their busy schedule and working hours.

• Mostly, the company have rigs in countries such as India, Pakistan, Kingdom of Saudi Arab, United Arab Emirates and Qatar. Mostly the questionnaires were sent to rigs located in Kingdom of Saudi Arab.

Collected Data from QuestionnaireExperience of Respondents

Experience of Respondents

Safety Culture Responses

Graph of Safety Culture Response

Employee Involvement Responses

Graph for Employee Involvement Responses

Safety Barriers in Drilling Platform

Graph for Safety Barriers Response

Discussion and Analysis of Data• Most important things for maintaining safety culture are safety

trainings, adequate warning for changes, recognition for good work, performance feedback, clear communication, acceptance and appraisal for staff suggestions, and reporting of unsafe acts and hazards.

• The communication is considered the key element for sustainability of safety culture.

• Organisational effectiveness can be achieved through properly exercising reward system based on knowledge, information and power.

• Trainings are the vital element that can help organisations for changing attitudes and achieving effective performance.

• Change warnings and safe work appreciations are important for safety culture as effectiveness of these two elements can provide strength to management for developing sustainable safety culture.

Discussion and Analysis of Data• Excessive reporting can cause problems for management to achieve

organisational goals, but this doesn’t means that people are hesitant to report the necessary and critical unsafe acts during the operation.

• There are more requirements in organisation to increase confidence and security of employees and workers by involving them in safety culture, rather than just conducting meetings with managing directors and trade union members.

• It was also revealed that employees are involved in activities such as

risk assessments, suggestion schemes, attendants of safety meetings, as well as inspections and audits.

• Frontline employees are the first observer of these risks on offshore oil and gas sector, whereas information and involvement of these frontline employees is important for making important decision and strategies for organisation.

Discussion and Analysis of Data• Friendly environment of organisation plays vital role for

achieving sustainable safety culture.

• Attitude towards safety is not depending on experience of employees but commitment for organisation is important.

• The employee involvement results in standardisation of safety culture, harmonisation of safety practices, improvement of workforce competency and decision making.

• There were some difficulties faced for maintaining the safety in oil and gas sector and behaviour of employees such as getting workers to accept ownership of safety and getting workers to report near misses.

Discussion and Analysis of Data• The lack of communication and trust is considered the

major barrier for maintaining the sustainable safety culture in offshore oil and gas sector.

• Safety culture can be adopted successfully by using proper risk assessment and risk control tools.

• Clear communication and level of trust among all the workers and management of organisation is important.

• Updating the policy of organisation against the Health and Safety Executive regulations is important. The proper updating of policies determines the social corporate responsibility of organisation.

Key Findings of Dissertation• Safety measures are important for oil and gas sector due to different

types benefits such as prevention from financial losses, complying with government regulations, corporate social responsibility and safe work environment.

• Frontline technicians provide exact information about operation and procedures followed in oil and gas sector as they are first observer of these risks and helps in making important decision and strategies for organisation.

• Sustainable safety culture can be achieved through proper safety training, reporting of unsafe act, action for staff suggestions, clear communication, feedback about work, recognition of safe work and adequate warning of changes.

• There are different activities that can be conducted by naming them as safety trainings such as brainstorming, work briefings, toolbox meetings, certifications for employees and linking experience employees with inexperienced employees.

Key Findings of Dissertation• Employee involvement can be achieved by conducting frank

meetings, safety briefings, setting safe methods, clear description of responsibilities and rights, frontline workers appreciation and encouragement.

• There are four major motivational factors for all types of workers such as pay, social norms, power/position and job security.

• Proper assessment and work structure with frank and friendly environment of organization can help in increasing the motivational factor of employees in offshore drilling platform of oil and gas sector.

• Clear communication and level of trust with proper updating the policy of organisation against the Health and Safety Executive regulations is important.

• The proper updating of organisational policies according to HSE determines the social corporate responsibility of organisation.

Conclusion• The worth of any kind of work and operation is determined by its quality and safety

procedures followed to conduct in any organisation.

• Health and safety measures plays important role during the work and operations such as financial, work environment, government legislations and social responsibilities.

• The employee involvement is essential for sustainable safety culture in oil and gas sector because participation provides awareness about strengths and weaknesses of safety culture.

• Awareness among all stakeholders about their personal and organisational safety helps in developing sustainable safety culture.

• Different types of barriers and hurdles in health and safety of oil and gas sector such as low level of trust, inadequate training, weak safety culture, fear of negative comeback, management actions, poor communication and management participation.

• Less effective barriers such as lack of recognition, missing information, macho behaviour and fear of recording errors and diversity based on experience and age factors.

Conclusion• It is required to adopt activities based on ease of employee involvement

such as ease of reporting, encouragement, participation of management, regular safety meetings and clear understanding about rights and responsibilities of each stakeholder.

• It is highly recommended to provide power and security to workers and employees for making decisions during their work for maintaining the safety of everyone.

• Effective trainings and awareness meetings by management of organisation can boost awareness about safety among all workers.

• Sustainable safety culture can be achieved through proper safety training, reporting of unsafe act, action for staff suggestions, clear communication, feedback about work, recognition of safe work and adequate warning of changes.

• Assessment of different barriers for sustainable safety culture such as management participation, updating company policies in the light of HSE regulations, level of trust between all stakeholders, proper reporting and updating information and communication errors.

Thank You