"That'll never happen." Famous last words. Things can and will go wrong. The job of the business owner and engineers is to anticipate, evaluate, and mitigate possible risks in the operation. Especially if those risks include the potential of loss of life, facilities, and equipment. Risk management and risk assessment are tools to assist companies in understanding and mitigating potential problems.
Anticipate the Risks: This involves identifying the risks to the operation. The best way to start is to construct what-if scenarios. What if there was a major lightning strike on the north tower? What if a blowout preventer failed? What if our computer controllers are hacked? Identify key safety processes and discuss what would happen if each failed. Include a review of injury, maintenance, and incident reports, the near misses as well as the losses. The best brainstorming sessions include staff from all parts of the operation, including the front line workers. They often know the dangers better than management because they've been on the receiving end of the close calls. Evaluate the Risks: Separate the risks into groups (some may fall into more than one category.) As an example, headings might include loss of life/injury, loss of the facility, loss of equipment, loss of data, loss of income, environmental damage, etc. Go through each category and rank the risks from highest damage potential to lowest. The same incident may rank differently in different categories. This can lead to some sobering realizations such as if there was a fire at the south entrance, everyone in the maintenance bay would be trapped. The next step requires expertise and analysis. Each risk needs to be considered by its probability of happening. For example, a natural disaster causing major property and environmental damage is going to have a higher probability in areas prone to hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes. Conversely, equipment that is new, well-maintained, and has little or no record of operating problems is going to have a lower probability of failure. The goal is to create a risk matrix. At a glance, a company can sort out high damage, but low probability occurrences from the more immediate risks faced by the company. In short, the risk matrix identifies the likelihood of a failure and the damages if it happens. This can be a difficult procedure. Software experts have gathered data about everything from weather or injury reports and the programs can assist you in assigning probabilities of different types of failures. Creation of a risk matrix may start out as yellow pads and whiteboards, but in modern business, it will end up as a computerized summary identifying the company's key vulnerabilities. Mitigate the Risks: This isn't just good business, its good stewardship. Once the risk matrix identifies areas of improvement, the company can target resources to lessening or eliminating the problems. Rather than trying to hurricane-proof the entire facility, it could be as simple as clearing out trees and bushes around key valves and equipment. If there is a history of injuries, a job process can be reworked or additional safety equipment installed. Computers can be upgraded and expanded to include easily accessible cloud storage. Comprehensive risk management reviews can also weed out inefficient tottering equipment that is costing the company more in dollars and danger than it is worth. Performing a risk evaluation is a major project. Depending on the size and complexity of the operation, it is a significant commitment of manpower and resources. But the payoff is increased efficiency, lower accident rates, and real savings by avoiding unnecessary downtime and repairs. Bonuses include a better relationship with safety and environmental regulatory agencies and potentially lower insurance rates. Contact us to discuss solutions to help streamline and improve your risk management system. Preventive maintenance refers to the practice of keeping machinery and equipment up-to-date in order to prevent problems before they occur. Preventive maintenance is important in all types of businesses, but particularly in the petroleum industry.
Both the API Spec Q1 & API Spec Q2 standards require a documented preventive maintenance program, specifically section 5.7.8 in both standards. The goal here is to keep all equipment in working order as a means to minimize risk and improve operational efficiency. The best practices for preventive maintenance include creating a preventive maintenance plan and carrying out the plan effectively. Create or Review Your Preventive Maintenance Plan What are the specific preventive maintenance needs of your facility? Take into account your facility size, types of machines used, and other unique factors. If you don't currently have a plan in place, you will need to create one. Existing plans can benefit from periodic reviews. Management should agree on a definition of what preventative maintenance means for your facility before you begin creating or revising a plan. Take an inventory of each machine and its specific maintenance needs. Include both cleaning requirements and upkeep for each machine. Create a schedule for long- and short-term maintenance. Organize your maintenance schedule using computer software. With so many types of machines with different needs, software can help keep everything organized and easy to keep track of. Physical observation of machinery will also be necessary. Schedule walk-through examinations of machines by qualified employees. Keep Employees Informed Employees need to be aware of the preventive maintenance plan, especially those who will be conducting the inspections or performing the maintenance. Emphasize the importance of preventive maintenance and its role in your business's continued success. Keep up with the Plan Ensure employees carry out the plan by keeping up with inspections, cleaning, and other periodic maintenance. Software that creates work orders can make sure the preventive maintenance of your facility is implemented smoothly. Creating or updating your preventive maintenance plan doesn't have to be difficult and time-consuming. The work you do in advance could save you time and money later on. To find out how Accupoint Software can help streamline your preventative maintenance plan, contact us. Keeping your employees safe in the work place should be a top priority. This is especially true in the oil and gas industry. To that end, today’s post will discuss why HSE management is important and some techniques you can apply to your business plan.
Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) involves creating processes for identifying workplace hazards, reducing accidents and minimizing exposure to harmful situations and substances. This is accomplished by developing detailed operating procedures and then effectively communicating the information to your team. It is important to ensure that the information has been internalized and must be monitored to verify that it is followed. The main goal is to maintain a safe and productive work environment. Why HSE Management is Important
How to Get Employees to Comply Employees must complete hours of training that many people find boring and useless. To keep them interested, you should develop a safety compliance plan that is interactive, interesting, and to-the-point.
Per the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), every business must keep records and safety information about the chemicals they use. These records, called Material Safety Data sheets (MSDS) or Safety Data Sheets (SDS) list many types of information about the chemicals, including toxicology, ecological information, and fire-fighting measures. As part of the petroleum industry, properly organizing and managing your MSDS is important for many reasons.
To Comply with OSHA OSHA requires efficient management and organization of MSDS. If OSHA decides to perform an audit, they will check to see if you have MSDS readily available, along with other important safety documentation. Each chemical used in your facility must have an MSDS and a corresponding label on the chemical container to comply. Many Types of Chemicals The petroleum industry uses many types of chemicals in oil refineries, especially gasoline, kerosene, liquefied petroleum gas, and other types of fuels. These chemicals can be dangerous if proper safety procedures are not known. The MSDS for each chemical will list this information so it is readily available to all employees. Efficient management of MSDS is crucial because there are so many types of chemicals used in the petroleum industry. For the Safety of Your Employees One of the main reasons OSHA requires MSDS is in case of emergency. If there is an accident and a chemical gets into an employee's eye, another employee can look up the MSDS and find out how to treat the affected employee. Another example of an emergency situation is a fire. If a chemical fire breaks out, it is important for employees to know how to fight the fire or alert firefighters about the chemical. Having readily available and organized MSDS is imperative in these situations. Contact us today to find out how Accupoint Software can help you organize the management of your MSDS program. Happy New Year. Visitors to public buildings pose a substantial security risk. This affects the oil & gas industry as much as any federal facility. A smart company can reduce that risk, however, by managing its visitors.
Some visitor management systems are "low-tech"; that is, the person signs her name, the time she enters the building, what office/employee she will visit, and signs out when leaving the building - all done using pen and paper. The most successful visitor management relies on computerized systems to confirm visitor identity, conduct background checks, confirm security clearances and otherwise obtain information with regard to the person that may affect his or her ability to visit or that impacts the company. To be successful, a visitor management system should combine security checks with access control. The low-tech method used keys, key cards, and badges to limit access to sensitive areas. Comprehensive visitor management systems now use smart software technology and web-based programs able to document a visitor's whereabouts in the building and track building usage by specific visitors. Some include registration through a portal before the visit. This technique helps the business check the identity and security clearance to fast-track the visitor when he arrives. The visitor management process begins several days before the actual visit and isn't completed until after the visit is over and all information analyzed. For more information on how Accupoint’s solutions can help you manage your visitor management process, visit www.accupointsoftware.com or call us at (800) 563-6250. We always appreciate the opportunity to share information on systems that can help your business become more efficient and positioned to meet global business standards. |
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