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Building situational awareness in oil and gas operations has always been vitally important. Without a strong foundation of situational awareness, there can be severe consequences. In fact, 88% of human error can be traced to a lack with situational awareness. Not just that, situational awareness can negatively affect oilfield operations and the ability to project future events.
 
Many offshore installations have the capacity to be hazardous and despite numerous rules and regulations in place to ensure that the risk of accident is kept to a minimum; accidents still occur. Having good situational awareness contributes towards the reduction of accidents. Situational awareness, or SA for short, is vital for when work being carried out is hazardous, or has the potential to be hazardous, as the workers must constantly monitor and evaluate conditions in an attempt to reduce accidents.
Situation awareness is critical for effective decision making. Without it, mistakes can occur with disastrous consequences. 
 
Accident statistics show us that a team can lose a shared awareness of a situation when it is vital to the safety of their operation. This is of course relevant to drill crews; due to the interactive and hazardous nature of their work.

Situational Awareness is made up of three (3) key elements.
Situation awareness is the perception of elements in the environment within a volume of time and space, the comprehension of their meaning and the projection of their status in the near future - Endsley 1988.
  • Perception - What information can you see, hear and feel?
  • Comprehension - stress on equipment, system status and the state of equipment at the pump station.
  • Projection - What do you think will happen? Anticipating alarm overrides, changing equipment or watching for leaks.
 
In a nut-shell, situation awareness can support decision making and aid performance. In fact, situation awareness is key to good decision making and safe, efficient performance.
 
Although situation awareness seems relatively easy to comprehend, some people struggle with it. Specifically, 78% of people don’t get the information that is needed. 17% of people do not correctly understand the information they receive and 5% of people don’t project what will happen in future.
 
Situation awareness is important for many factors and is the responsibility of the entire crew. Between us, we can reduce the risk of accidents and ensure a safe working environment for everyone in the gas and oil industry.
 
For more information on how Accupoint Software can help improve your situational awareness, please contact us today.
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Companies handling potentially dangerous or sensitive materials, like chemical treatment plants and oil refinement corporations, put a premium on safety. Implementing safety protocols and verifying them during operations is essential. The following are a few safety management ideas and tools for cultivating a safety-oriented atmosphere.

1. Constant and Dedicated Safety Training
A workforce requires precipitous safety training reminders, no matter how much extensive training they have had in the past. This may seem like an obstacle to productivity; however, each worker having a comprehensive understanding of safety standards and protocols saves time and money in the long run. Conducting dedicated safety training courses helps employees realize their active roles in maintaining safe operational standards.

2. Use Safety Management Technology
Technology can play a vital role when it comes to increasing safety at places like oil processing plants where standards and process are strictly documented. Programs like the OpX Process Safety Management system helps by creating a safe working environment by operating intuitively to delegate critical tasks systematically to essential personnel. Any management software should easily scale, have a simplistic roll-out and implementation procedure and reduce the need for burdensome training. With this software, you can address and eliminate compliance gaps as they are discovered.

3. Develop an effective Safety Program
Every processing or refinement plant should have in place or be developing, a safety and health program with policies, a budget, and procedures tailored to their location. This shows an appreciation for the workforce and will help to ensure the security of your resources and their adherence to OSHA standards and guidelines, reinforcing your company’s bottom line. In fact, modeling your intra-company safety guidelines after strict governmental standards, while tailoring them to suit the dynamic of an oil processing firm better, will keep employees hard a work help to avoid daily hazards.

4. Be Active and Pro-active
Taking charge and actively applying safety protocols conveys the fact that you take safety management seriously. You should develop safety initiatives that require the participation of executives, you, and your bosses to take part.  Part of implementing your safety program must include the cultivation of a culture focused on safety, which can only be accomplished with the involvement of leadership. Work closely with the team utilizing training sessions, applying technology and work site analyses whenever possible.

To find out more about how Accupoint Software can help you reach a new standard in production and safety, contact us today.
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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.

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The petroleum industry requires dangerous work. Protecting personnel from injury requires rigorous monitoring and training protocols and scrupulous attention to reporting, prevention and data analysis when an accident occurs.  Here are three fundamental concepts to keep in mind when designing an effective injury management program:
 
1) Know your hazards.  Most injuries in the petroleum industry fall into one of two large categories: safety-related injuries and health-related injuries. 
 
Safety-related injuries include those related to:
  • Motor Vehicle Accidents
  • Contact Injuries
  • Fires and Explosions
  • Slips, Trips and Falls
  • Confined Space Accidents
 
Health-related hazards include:
  • Chemical hazards-toxins, irritants, asphyxiants
  • Biological hazards-viruses, parasites, bacteria
  • Physical hazards-noise, vibrations, radiation
  • Economic hazards-overuse and repetitive stress injuries, awkward postures
  • Psychosocial hazards-overwork, isolated sites, violence
 
Be aware of where each of these may appear in your site or team workflows and make sure preventive and responsive protocols are in place to deal with each.
 
2) Manage your risks. A robust risk management program has the following 7 steps:

  1. Planning-identify and assemble relevant staff, obtain regulatory and process requirements.
  2. Risk Identification-use the list above as a baseline and add any other risks particular to your operation.
  3. Risk Assessment-what procedures are in place for prevention? how have they failed? what is the result of failure? what new procedures are necessary?
  4. Risk Recording-formally document Risk Assessment findings with respect to pertinent regulations and requirements.
  5. Risk Control-define and implement new procedures for prevention and mitigation of identified risks.
  6. Follow On Assessment-ensure new procedures are in place and evaluate their effectiveness.
  7. Monitor and Review-repeat this process at regular intervals to capture new risks, refine procedures and improve outcomes.
 
3) Design a program that works. Effective injury management programs must satisfy the following requirements:

  1. Ensure site safety by evaluating all processes and workflows for potential risk and establishing comprehensive prevention and mitigation protocols.
  2. Empower all workers to protect themselves by making safety procedures straightforward and as simple as possible; training must be thorough, frequent and accessible.
  3. Relates directly to regulatory and audit requirements as well as other internal and external reporting structures, to maximize transparency and minimize administrative burden.
  4. Is thoroughly documented so that workers, trainers, executives and external regulators have clearly-defined expectations.
 
If you adhere to the guidelines above when designing and refining your injury management program, you will be able to anticipate problems more effectively and resolve them more efficiently.  For more information on how Accupoint’s web-based solution can help you improve your injury management program, please contact us today.
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There is always the potential for accidents in any work environment. Properly utilizing OSHA's LockOut/TagOut (LOTO) procedures can help you greatly reduce the risk of injuries while performing maintenance on hazardous machinery. 

It's more than simply putting a tag or a lock on the machine that's being worked on, though. Making sure that you know all of the required steps of the LOTO procedures will help you ensure you're creating the safest environment possible for your employees. 

  • Proper training is key. Making sure all of your employees are trained in the LOTO procedures -- not just the people who will actually work on the machines, is critical. A proper understanding of the entire process will help reduce the likelihood of someone accidentally interfering with any of the key safety steps. 
  • Identify all hazardous machinery. Knowing which machines will require the LOTO procedures beforehand will save time and prevent accidents.
  • Following ALL of the required steps, not just some of them. Skipping steps can lead to unsafe conditions. They are as follows:

  1. Notify all affected employees of the intended LOTO. 
  2. Shut down the machine according to proper shutdown procedures. 
  3. Identify any and all energy sources to the machine and shut them down as well.
  4. Isolate the machine from said energy sources. 
  5. LockOut/TagOut the machine by attaching locks and tags to any and all energy sources or switches that could power the machine back on.
  6. Safely release any stored energy left in the machine.
  7. Test machine to make sure it is completely powerless.
  8. Perform maintenance or repairs. 
  9. Reverse LOTO procedure so the machine can be put back into service. 

  • Don't forget the steps to restarting safely. Removing any nonessential parts before you restart the machine -- tools or spare parts, for instance, is important. Properly reconnecting all energy sources and making sure all safety devices are back in place is critical as well. Finally, don't forget to let all affected employees know the equipment is back in service. 

Training your team to effectively enact the LOTO procedures is important, but don't forget that it's ultimately up to you to make sure they are being followed properly. To learn how Accupoint Software can help improve your LOTO process, please feel free to contact us.

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Safety is essential to the petroleum field operation.
 
The importance of collecting and analyzing large amounts of data and providing solutions or recommendations based on that data is essential to the oil and gas industry. Accurate analysis is a make or break scenario for field crews and managers alike. Software that automates inspections of existing equipment and throughput while alerting key employees to problems that may arise is the first line of defense for a streamlined oil and gas operation.
 
Oil and Gas: Risky Heavy Industry.
 
The oil and gas industry has to meet stringent federal and state strictures to operate. Environmental, safety and social aspects of field operations cannot be ignored. The regulations can be convoluted in their complexity. Software applications that monitor all aspects of a drilling venture or transfer station simplify all processes while meeting regulatory criteria effortlessly. Even if you don't know how often you should be checking your release valve, the compliance software will, and can perform that task automatically.
 
Safety inspections are the backbone of a field operation.
 
Without them you can be shut down. Whether the shut-down is triggered by an independent inspection that fails, or a faulty mechanism that went unnoticed, the costs associated with a work stoppage are enormous. When you use inspection compliance software you are providing a vanguard against the possibility of failed inspections or machinery. Every aspect of your operation will be monitored and analyzed. Developing problems can be corrected before they turn into a disaster. Inspections can be scheduled according to your circumstances.
 
Software flexibility, a long-term solution.
 
No one wants to pay thousands for inspection compliance software only to have it become outdated within a few months. Regulatory mandates can change overnight; your inspection compliance software needs to respond to those changes just as quickly. Software with a built-in protocol for shifting and adding data blocks effortlessly solves the problem of the ever-changing regulatory atmosphere for the operator. When you can diversify and streamline your software to fit changing needs, you have a flexible application that works with your operation.
 
The four most important tasks of automated inspection software:

  1. Manage all the data and information in a high performance operation seamlessly. Analyze that data and pass information on to key people
  2. Perform automated inspections of the entire operation or a specific component of it based on the client’s needs. Generate full reports of these inspections.
  3. Be flexible enough to meet compliance standards and regulations that change constantly. The need to reconfigure inspection software in the field is continuous, make sure to choose inspections software that has a flexibility feature.
  4. Mitigate risk. By applying inspection software to your operation, you reduce risk one thousand fold. Because these solutions are so inclusive and exhaustive in their data collection and analysis, potentially dangerous problems are caught well before they manifest.
 
Get the help you need.
 
The petroleum industry is filled with complexity and regulatory oversight. Not to mention the dangers associated with field operations. Attempting to run your inspections without the help of compliance software is a one way ticket to failure. When you are ready for more information please contact us.

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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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Although injuries are actually lower in the oil and gas industry on average compared to most other industries, there is still much work to be done regarding the focus on safety principles and practice. The recent 3rd Annual Offshore Safety Conference in Houston highlighted practices that all industries, not just those in oil and gas, should implement in an effort to improve the safety culture of their company.

Safety should not be "added on" to an existing company's philosophy or practices. It needs to be at the core of a company's thinking from the very beginning. From the personnel to the processes, the focus should be on safety as a primary component. If management places an emphasis on safety but the production team is actually much more focused on getting things accomplished, the result is an imbalanced approach that can make the company more likely to experience safety issues.

The best time to begin thinking, planning and preparing for the safety practices of that will be put into place during a specific event is before that event actually happens and not after it has already taken place. Being proactive is a much better philosophy than being reactive.

Although it may seem hard to grasp in the highly competitive oil and gas industry, companies need to be more willing to share what they have learned both before and after events regarding safety issues. As a result, all companies will see continued improvement in the area of safety practices. The end result will be a safer work place environment for everyone.

For more information on how Accupoint can help improve your safety management program, please call 800.563.6250 or visit us on the web at www.accupointsoftware.com.

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Since 2006, North Dakota’s Bakken region has experienced a meteoric rise in oil drilling. This boom in energy production has fueled economic growth, but it has also come with significant safety concerns and environmental risks. Notably, incidents like the oil pipeline explosion and oil train derailment have cast a shadow over the region’s reputation. In fact, Bakken crude has been involved in at least eight major incidents in the past year.

This uptick in accidents has drawn serious concerns from both the public and regulatory bodies. As one of the most prolific oil-producing areas in the U.S., the Bakken is now under intense scrutiny, with critics pushing for stricter regulations and even calling for the cessation of operations.
Harold Hamm’s Call for Safety in the Bakken
At the Williston Basin Petroleum Conference, Harold Hamm, the chairman of Continental Resources Inc., highlighted the need for increased safety measures in the region. Hamm, whose company has been operating in the Bakken for over 25 years, has seen both the progress and the challenges firsthand. His company was also the first to use horizontal drilling in a Bakken well, a pioneering technique that revolutionized oil extraction in the region.

However, despite the advancements, Hamm acknowledged that the Bakken region is now under immense pressure. He noted that the area is in the “crosshairs” of opponents who want to shut down operations. The region’s reputation hinges on minimizing accidents and improving overall safety. Hamm’s call to action emphasizes that one more accident could further fuel opposition and lead to regulatory crackdowns.

Risk Mitigation Through Effective Compliance Management
This situation in the Bakken is not unique to North Dakota; it is a global concern. In regions where industrial operations involve high-risk activities, such as oil drilling and transportation, there is always the potential for accidents that could have devastating consequences. The growing focus on safety and environmental responsibility reflects a collective desire to prevent future incidents.

One effective way to address these concerns is through the implementation of compliance management systems. By adopting a system that tracks and manages compliance requirements, companies can ensure they meet industry standards, maintain regulatory adherence, and, most importantly, mitigate risks.

Accupoint offers solutions that help oil and gas organizations in the Bakken and beyond streamline compliance management. With our platform, you can ensure your organization meets all required safety protocols and environmental regulations, preventing costly fines and ensuring the safety of workers and the surrounding communities.

Protecting the Future of the Bakken and Beyond
As the Bakken continues to play a critical role in the U.S. energy landscape, the industry must prioritize safety, compliance, and risk mitigation. The key to preventing future incidents lies in proactive planning and the use of effective compliance management systems.

​To learn more about Accupoint’s compliance management solutions,  visit accupointsoftware.com or call (800)563-6250.
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Increased activity in the Bakken field of North Dakota has sparked greater demand for its crude oil. The Bakken field does not have the pipeline infrastructure to support the transportation of large quantities of crude oil. This region is heavily reliant on the use of rails in order to ship the crude oil to the port facilities on the east coast of the United States.

The increase in rail activity has raised some safety concerns for the oil and gas industry and the surrounding communities. A train carrying Bakken crude oil was involved in an accident last year that killed 47 people. This incident, along with a few others, has brought increased attention to the safety of these rails.

In April, the NTSB hosted a panel on rail safety with attendees including service providers, consultants, manufacturers, and the API. Attendees collaborated to discuss topics such as risk management and emergency responses to spills. The forum provided insight into possible changes and areas for improvement.

In response to the recent safety concerns, the Department of Transportation will require railroads to notify emergency responders when oil shipments travel through their states. Trains carrying more than one million gallons of Bakken crude oil need to notify emergency commissions within 30 days of the shipment. Thought leaders in the industry feel that measures like this will decrease the likelihood of another railroad disaster.

Safety regulations will constantly change and update in the oil and gas industry. To see how Accupoint’s solutions help organizations in the oil and gas industry manage evolving safety requirements visit accupointsoftware.com or call (800)563-6250.

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