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Posts Tagged ‘safety’

Mark Fleming on Safety Culture

Posted in conferences, tagged , , , , on October 27, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Peoples attitudes and opinions have been formed over decades of life and cannot be changed by having a few meetings or giving a few lectures. Mao Tse Tung (from Mark Fleming’s presentation linked below)

Sometimes presentations don’t fulfill the lofty expectations of the audience, particularly when the titles are catchy.  That definitely was not the case with Dr. Mark Fleming’s outstanding presentation at the Vancouver conference.  Mark’s presentation entitled Know where you are going rather than where you have been! A Leaders’ guide to continuous safety performance measurement effectively drove home the safety culture message.  I strongly suggest that you take a close look at the presentation (not yet posted, but I’ll provide a link as soon as it is).

In the meantime, you can look at this excellent paper that Mark prepared for Petroleum Research Atlantic Canada and a presentation he made at the Centre for Occupational Health/Safety. Good, thought provoking stuff for you safety gurus!

 

from Dr. Fleming's presentation linked above

 

You have to love “New ideas present problems” from the Bureaucratic column.  So true.  It’s not that new ideas are not welcome, it’s that bureaucracies (public and private) are incapable of dealing with them and are built with insurmountable barriers that prevent their consideration.

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Drilling Ban to End This Week

Posted in accidents, drilling, Offshore Energy - General, well control incidents, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 12, 2010| Leave a Comment »

The White House said Tuesday the government will lift a moratorium on deep water oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico “very soon” – likely this week. Washington Post

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CNH to Participate in Vancouver Conference

Posted in conferences, tagged , , , , , on October 12, 2010| Leave a Comment »

We are pleased that Mexico’s new regulatory agency CNH will be participating in the International Regulators Offshore Safety Conference in Vancouver. North American cooperation on offshore safety and regulatory issues is critical to the energy and economic futures of all countries in the region.

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Too many distractions before Macondo blew?

Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on October 9, 2010| Leave a Comment »

There were so many simultaneous activities — starting with the displacing of mud to the pumping of fluids overboard — it was difficult to see what was going on. John Gisclair, Sperry Sun (see Times Picayune summary of yesterday’s BOEM-Coast Guard hearing)

 

John Gisclair

 

Too much at once? Hurrying to finish the job? Cost concerns?  No one in charge? Distracted by managers visiting the rig? One or more of these human and organizational factors appears to have contributed to the blowout.

Similarly, the rigid commitment to “batching” the development wells (for efficiency reasons) seems to have been a factor contributing to the Montara blowout in the Timor Sea.  If after removing the corrosion cap on the production casing, the work on the H1 well had continued in series (i.e. casing tied-back, BOP installed, and well secured) before moving on to another well, this blowout may have been prevented.

At both Macondo and Montara, time pressures (perceived or real) may also have affected the way negative-pressure tests were conducted or assessed.  These tests should have detected the influx of hydrocarbons via the shoe track.

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Views on Vancouver

Posted in conferences, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 8, 2010| Leave a Comment »

In less than 10 days, we kick off the International Regulators’ Offshore Safety Conference in Vancouver.  The venue is top-notch, the list of delegates is long and impressive, and the speakers are world leaders in offshore operations, safety, and regulatory practices.  Everything is in place for a productive conference; now it is up to us.  We must challenge the speakers, each other, and conventional wisdom if we want to make a difference.  We need to understand where we have been, and then focus on where we are going.  In that regard, the “Roundtable Discussions” will be an important part of the conference.  If you plan to attend the conference and would like to assist with the Roundtable Sessions, send a note to edanenberger@gmail.com.

Here are ten issues that I look forward to discussing with other delegates:

  1. How do we develop a comprehensive and verified international incident data base?   The IRF data and some of the industry efforts are good starts, but where do we go from there?
  2. What other performance data should be routinely collected?
  3. How do we assess emerging and hidden risks?  In that regard, I am looking forward to Torleif Husebø’s presentation: PSA’s Risk Level Measuring Scheme and how available data are collected and used.
  4. Looking beyond centralizers, long-strings, and corrosion caps, what are the management lessons from Macondo and Montara?
  5. Is there such a thing as a hybrid regulatory regime?  While a certain amount of prescription is necessary in any regulatory system, how can a regime have both  “command and control” and “safety case” elements?  Aren’t they contradictory?
  6. How do we develop and encourage safety leaders?  How do we measure their progress.  In that regard, I am really looking forward to Mark Fleming’s presentation: Know where you are going rather than where you have been! A Leaders’ guide to continuous safety performance measurement
  7. Can regulators inhibit industry safety achievement?  How do we encourage innovation and leadership?  How do we deal with those who have no interest in either?
  8. Should standards participation and safety research be a part of every operator’s safety management programs?
  9. Can the international community help provide stability and perspective during crises like Macondo?
  10. What are the next steps in international cooperation on offshore safety?

 

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And here is the final SEMS rule

Posted in accidents, Regulation, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on October 7, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Safety and Environmental Management Systems

This rulemaking will incorporate in its entirety and make mandatory the AmericanPetroleum Institute’s Recommended Practice 75, Development of a Safety andEnvironmental Management Program for Offshore Operations and Facilities, with respectto operations and activities under the jurisdiction of BOEMRE. This final rule will applyto all OCS oil and gas and sulphur operations and the facilities under BOEMREjurisdiction including drilling, production, construction, well workover, well completion,well servicing, and DOI pipeline activities.

The rule will become effective on November 15, 2010.

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Post-Macondo Drilling Safety Rule Posted by the Federal Register

Posted in drilling, Regulation, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 7, 2010| Leave a Comment »

The complete interim final Drilling Safety Rule is now posted on the Federal Register site.  This rule was announced on 30 September along with the Safety and Environmental Management System rule. The latter rule has not yet been posted by the Federal Register.

The Drilling Safety Rule is effective immediately.  With regard to comments:

While BOEMRE will not solicit comments before the effective date, BOEMRE will accept and consider public comments on this rule that are submitted within 60 days of its publication in the Federal Register. After reviewing the public comments, BOEMRE will publish a notice in the Federal Register that will respond to comments and will either:

1. confirm this rule as a final rule with no additional changes, or

2. issue a revised final rule with modifications, based on public comments.

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Carolita Kallaur Awards to be Presented in Vancouver on 18 October

Posted in Offshore Energy - General, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on October 7, 2010| Leave a Comment »

There is tremendous benefit from collaboration between governments and between industry and governments working together on a global scale. Half of the remaining oil and gas resources are located offshore, and the demand for energy continues to grow. While each country may have unique societal demands that must be addressed, we also share many common technical and environmental challenges as we continue to explore the deep water. Carolita Kallaur, 2001, London

Carolita Kallaur

Carolita Kallaur’s words ring stronger today than ever, and the need for international cooperation on offshore safety issues has never been clearer. Carolita, who directed the US offshore oil and gas program at the end of her outstanding career with the Department of the Interior, was the spirit of offshore safety.  Her highest priorities were improving international standards and working together on safety and pollution prevention matters, and she worked tirelessly to promote these objectives.

Carolita also believed in recognizing outstanding organizations and individuals who demonstrated exceptional commitment to safety achievement.  She was instrumental in establishing an awards program in Houston that honored these outstanding leaders.

Shortly after she retired in 2002, Carolita contracted amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, an incurable nervous system disorder that is commonly known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease.  She died just before Christmas in 2003. Carolita’s indomitable spirit lives on with an awards program that honors outstanding offshore safety leaders. These awards were first presented at the International Regulators’ Offshore Safety Conference in London in 2005, and were again presented at the second conference in Miami in 2007.  The International Regulators’ Forum has completed its latest round of deliberations, and will again be presenting Carolita Kallaur Awards at the Vancouver conference on 18 October.

I look forward to joining international leaders in honoring Carolita’s legacy and recognizing the deserving winners of these prestigious safety awards.  See you in Vancouver!

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National Commission Releases 4 Draft Staff Papers

Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged , , , , , , , , , on October 6, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Decision Making Within the Unified Command

The Use of Surface and Subsea Dispersants During the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

The Challenges of Oil Spill Response in the Arctic

The Amount and Fate of the Oil

 

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Two Items From Yesterday’s CG-BOEM Macondo Hearings

Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 6, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Absent live streaming or television, the Times Picayune seems to be providing the best coverage of the Coast Guard – BOEM Macondo hearings in New Orleans.  While the legal sparring has attracted the most press interest, two other items in this Times Picayune article caught my attention.

Part of Keplinger and Fleytas’ duties was to monitor indicators of gas detectors and alarms from the bridge. Keplinger was busy showing visiting BP and Transocean officials a video-game-style simulator for 45 minutes to an hour before the explosions, he said, but he insisted that Fleytas was keeping him abreast of readouts of the rig’s systems.

Comment: Just as school teachers shouldn’t have been flying in the space shuttle, “tourists” shouldn’t have been visiting a complex drilling operation when the crew was in the process of setting production casing and suspending a potentially dangerous well. While the visit was well-intended, the last thing the crew needed on that night was to be distracted by a group of corporate executives.  The distraction they caused was comparable to driving on a dangerous highway while getting text messages from your boss. Visiting windows should be limited to relatively low-risk operations (e.g. when drilling ahead prior to reaching target intervals), and these windows should immediately close if complications develop.

Keplinger flashed some anger at Capt. Curt Kuchta, captain of the Deepwater Horizon rig, during his testimony. He noted that a fellow rig worker, Chris Pleasant, had to ask Kuchta three times whether to disconnect the rig from the wellhead before he got the go-ahead.

Comment: One of the benefits of drilling from a floating and dynamically positioned rig is the ability to move off location if trouble arises.  The failure to disconnect the riser and move away from the well at the first indication of flow contributed significantly to the tragic consequences.  The technical and human factors that prevented such a disconnect must be thoroughly examined.

Further comment: The absence of live streaming of these important safety hearings is inexcusable.  If a senator or governor were testifying, I expect that the cameras would be there.

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