OnePetro - April 2018
By: Shawn M. Galloway
Highly pressurized hydrocarbon systems, heavy equipment, constantly changing environments, sweltering temperatures and rough terrain, remote locations with complex logistics — this isn't a scene from your favorite space flick, just your typical oil and gas operations. These characteristics underscore the industry's inherent safety risks, and with the recent uptick in U.S. onshore drilling, more operators are re-evaluating their safety capabilities. While organizations use safety KPIs to grade their safety performance, these numbers are usually influenced by a myriad of factors - location, job type, formation, hydrocarbon type (oil, gas, condensate), equipment, service provider, and procedures - but they don't tell the whole story.
In her 2011 testimony to the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources on risk management in offshore oil and gas, MIT professor Nancy Leveson stated that "flaws in safety culture" is the leading cause of major incidents in the oil and gas industry1. A 2013 Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority article echoed her assertion, stating, "increased knowledge of the interaction between technical and organizational elements - and the people using these - is crucial in understanding the underlying causes of incidents."2 Although safety in the oil and gas industry is driven by multiple factors, it is clear from industry experts and incident data that the key factor influencing an organization's safety performance is people and the culture they operate in. To move the needle with a company's safety performance, you have to affect the hearts of its people through its safety culture.
At the core, organizational culture is enhanced by the way its key assets (people) are engaged, led, communicated with, and incentivized — in other words, by affecting the human experience. An organization's safety culture is a microcosm of the overall culture, with a more heightened and critical lens because of the direct impact on people's health, well-being and lives. Statoil's Development & Production USA Business Area (DPUSA) came to this realization during a review of their safety program in early 2017. The organization had grown through acquisitions over the past several years and had the challenge of ensuring safety excellence while integrating the employee and contractor workforce into the broader organization.
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Shawn M. Galloway is the CEO of ProAct Safety and an advisor to leading organizations across all major industries. With over twenty years of experience in safety systems, strategy, culture, leadership, and employee engagement, he is a trusted advisor, keynote speaker, and expert witness.
He is the author of several bestselling books and has multiple regular columns in leading magazines, with over 400 articles and 100 videos to his credit. He also created the first safety podcast, Safety Culture Excellence, with over 800 episodes. Shawn has received numerous prestigious accolades and has been featured in Power 101 Leaders of the EHS World, Top 50 People Who Most Influenced EHS, Top 40 Rising Stars, Top 11 Health and Safety Influencers, and Top 10 Speakers.
He serves on the Harvard Business Review Advisory Council and the Fast Company Executive Board. He has appeared as a guest on Bloomberg, Fox News, The Daily Mail, Dubai One, U.S. News & World Report, Sirius Business Radio, Wharton Business Daily, and leading safety magazines and podcasts, reinforcing his status as an authority in the field of safety excellence.
For more information, call +1.936.273.8700 or email info@ProActSafety.com.
