The Department of Labor states that on-the-job fatality rates are seven times higher for oil and gas extraction workers than all other industries. The only solution to this serious problem is proactive compliance with a comprehensive safety and health management program. Continual risk identification, analysis and policy enforcement are the keys to keeping workers safe and avoiding operational downtime.

Risk Assessments
Hazards in oil and gas industry are divided between safety and injury dangers and health and illness hazards. Front-line supervisors should work with safety managers to conduct risk assessments that are founded on historical experience, analytical methods and field knowledge and judgement. A risk assessment will ask three basic questions for each possible event: what can go wrong, how likely will it occur and what are the impacts. Both qualitative and quantitative answers offer unique value. Safety planning and risk assessments require that everyone involved understands the objectives, the methods, the resources required and how the results will be applied.

Standard Evaluation Methods
A risk assessment generally involves four basic steps: hazard identification, frequency projection, consequence assessment and risk evaluation. Hazard identification methods include literature research, safety audits, periodic walk-throughs and what-if brainstorming. Popular tools include FMEA, HAZOP and HAZID. Frequency assessment methods include fault tree, event tree, human reliability and common cause failure analysis tools. Consequence assessment methods include source term, aquatic transport, atmospheric dispersion and blast and thermal radiation models. Popular evaluation methods include risk profiles, indexes, matrixes and density curves.

The Hazard Identification (HAZID) Technique
HAZID is a safety tool to describe activities that identify risks and associated events. Offshore petroleum facilities often use HAZIDs to identify potential hazards to personnel, such as injuries and illness, to the environment, such as spills and pollution, and operational issues, such as delays and production losses.  Offshore petroleum leaders often use the HAZID technique to analyze operational procedures on vessels and machinery. A HAZID planning session will involve an interdisciplinary team that includes those who have experience with facility design, such as engineering, and facility operation, such as veteran employees. Together, they will use checklists to methodically brainstorm and identify potential hazards associated with each part of the system.

A what-if analysis uses subjective questioning to ponder potential performance problems and their consequences. For example, if an intake air filter is blocked, this will reduce the air flow through the compressor, which will consume more energy and lead to functional inefficiencies. The solution is through monthly inspections and scheduled filter replacements. Contact us today to learn how Accupoint can streamline your safety, compliance and risk assessments processes.

Staying ahead in today's global economy often requires companies to make changes. The ability to adapt to change is a crucial part of organizational management. When your company adopts clear methodologies and processes to respond to change you will be set up for success. Organizational buy-in has become a prominent topic of discussion. Due to the team-based structure of most companies, change is often created through influence. Therefore, you need to be skilled in gaining support for your ideas. You need buy-in to implement your revolutionary ideas that move the company forward.

To successfully achieve organizational buy-in, your effort needs to be constructed carefully with attention paid to all of the factors that help a change initiative gain support. While there is not one method that will always work to overcome natural resistance to change, here are four tips that will help you achieve successful organizational buy-in.

Make It Clear
Disciplined thought and honest effort go a long way. When you present reality truthfully, the right decisions become clear. Being honest will also allow your coworkers and employees to trust you. Perhaps the most influential factor in achieving organizational buy-in is committing to open, honest and complete disclosure. To be successful you need to go beyond the data and analysis. A change effort makes the most headway when you appeal to employees' emotions. Using clear, striking examples that appeal to feeling will compel people to want the change. Show what the existing problems are and how this change will resolve them. This will motivate others to act.

Make it Manageable
Presenting a complex, multiyear project can easily make employees and coworkers feel overwhelmed. When you break the project down into steps with clear goals, it will seem more manageable. Consider presenting the larger project as smaller bite-sized phases. This will also make it easier to feel like progress can be made; it will give the change momentum. You can use this method to implement the change in smaller steps in the real world also. Utilizing this technique will help you resolve any potential problems before they become bigger.

Listen to Employees
The relationship with your employees and coworkers is important. You will need their help to achieve buy-in. Your job is to sell everyone on your idea. Explaining your ideas clearly and making it manageable are both ways to strengthen your relationship. Then you need to listen. Address concerns or any interpersonal issues. Your change effort will depend on management's dedication to open dialogue. Remember that listening well can sometimes be even more important than speaking well. Your employees are a valuable source of ideas and support.

Trust the Team
When trying to achieve organizational buy-in, there needs to be strong methods to drive management from the bottom up. You will be implementing change as a team. When change is driven both from the bottom up and top down it creates a strong dynamic and momentum. This means getting both employees and even customers on board. Everyone will come together to harness the force of change and push for success.

Senior management is ultimately responsible for the success of the change effort. Avoid some common faults by paying attention to how much funding is needed, what the required competencies and capabilities are, and what metrics and rewards can be used to support the change. Effective leaders will find the right levers and incentives to reduce resistance and gain momentum for change.

For more information on achieving organizational buy-in, and a variety of other business management solutions for the oil and gas industry, contact us today.

Contract management and review are important, and often neglected disciplines. According to research done by the independent International Association for Contract & Commercial Management, good contract management practices could improve profit by 9% of annual revenue. Contracts can leak, costing money through outdated pricing, or misunderstandings and breakdowns in communication that lead to losses. 

Contract review is the process for determining customer requirements prior to the supply of a product, and proof that the organization has the ability to meet the defined requirements. Contract review should be part of your company's business management. Attention must be paid to the requirements related to products, supply and management of information. Your company will determine the specific needs of the customer including delivery and post-delivery activities, such as warranty and maintenance services. You also need to consider requirements that are not explicitly stated by the customer, but are still necessary. You need to know any regulatory requirements that apply to the product.

Before your company commits to a contact or order, or any changes to existing contracts you need to consider several factors including:

• Clear and defined product requirements.
• Contract terms, especially anything that is changing from a previous agreement.
• Your company's ability to maintain the agreement including records of the review and actions taken in response to the review.
• If no documentation of requirements in provided by the customer your company needs to outline them.
• When requirements are changed documentation, needs to be updated and any relevant personnel must be informed.
• In some situations, a formal review is not practical, but product information should still be looked at.
  

Communication is also critical to success. You will need to determine effective means of communication in relation to product information, contracts, order handling, feedback and complaints. This is all part of your customer relations management processes and determining customer requirements. If contract review is ever done offsite, you need to link the activities to your on-site quality management system.

You must conduct risk analysis before committing to a contract. Consider whether taking on additional obligations will affect your supply chain, for example. Manufacturing risk analysis will help you assess your ability to effectively provide the specified product. Do you have the resources needed to fulfill the obligations? Can you meet timing demands? Are there additional developments costs and investments? Look at potential failures in processes, including suppliers. Is there solid potential for increased profits? Considering all of these factors will allow you to enter into contracts that are efficient and effective, which is good for your bottom line.

For more information on how Accupoint can help improve your contact review process, contact us today.