Risk management can do more than lower the probability of drilling or refining accidents; it can reduce uncertainty in forecasting, ensure realistic planning, limit losses and enhance a company’s reputation with customers, employees and other stakeholders.
Oil and gas extraction, refining and transport operations can reduce spills and accidents through engineering knowledge, wise leadership and culture change. Safety engineers can guide this work using proven strategies for continuous improvement. Here are 10 safety strategies to STOP SPILLS. The acronym STOP SPILLS stands for: Standards, Training, Operations, Practices, Systems, Prevention, Incentives, Learning, Leadership and Self-Policing.
• Standards : Drilling contractors and oil/gas producers can work with safety and quality engineers to create more stringent guidelines for rig operations, recognizing crews who meet the highest standards.
• Training: Investigators of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill found serious shortfalls in the training of many rig workers. The solution is more comprehensive training and, for some jobs, special certification.
• Operations: Many accidents occur just after a process or equipment change. Safety engineers should always be involved in operational decision-making to ensure that changes are executed safely.
• Practices: Accident investigations often reveal that safety procedures existed on paper, but not in practice. Management must drive home the message that safe practices rank as highly as productivity.
• Systems: Safety and Environmental Management Systems (SEMS) pursue industry collaboration on continuous improvement, preventing human error through performance-based operating practices.
• Prevention: Regulators can only spot check. Operators must avoid equipment failure. Managers and safety engineers should always require scheduled preventive maintenance, including regular preventive maintenance audits.
• Incentives: Site managers and workers have few incentives to put safety above productivity. Senior leaders and regulators must provide rewards for including risk management in plans and procedures.
• Learning: The aircraft industry models the success of learning from accidents, with all stakeholders sharing the benefits of investigation, root cause analysis, corrective action and continual improvement.
• Leadership: A culture of safety cannot be imposed by regulation and will not develop in a vacuum. At Caterpillar, every employee is taught that their leaders want safety first, followed by quality, then productivity.
• Self-Policing: The Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) is a strong example. INPO pursues high safety standards in an industry where the consequences of an accident would be even worse than an oil spill.
Higginbotham provides a single source solution for your commercial insurance, but it doesn’t stop there. We have subject matter specialists providing support after we place your coverage for year-round value. Our services include safety and loss prevention, risk management information systems, contract review, claims advocacy, certificate validation and 24/7 catastrophe response.
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