The extraction of oil and gas can be a dangerous occupation. Between 2015 and 2017, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health recorded 161 fatalities and hundreds of additional incidents.
In a profession where so many various types of equipment and activities pose a grave threat to worker safety, it is necessary to identify all potential hazards.
Additionally, it is essential to instruct your staff on how to mitigate these risks. Here are some recommendations for oil and gas supervisors on how to understand their risk environment and develop a communication strategy to protect their personnel.
Unrecognized Oil and Gas Safety Risks: Be Aware of Your Environment
In the oil and gas industry, there are numerous other causes of injuries and fatalities besides combustible chemicals and huge pieces of equipment.
Safety Managers must be conversant with both the surrounding environment and the safety procedures of the project they oversee. Since crews and job sites are constantly changing, each project manager may be charged with overseeing a brand-new setting daily or weekly.
The following oil and gas risks should be of concern to supervisors because they are not limited to extraction operations.
1. Auto accidents
The greatest safety risk for oil and gas employees does not exist at work. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), roughly four out of ten fatalities in this industry are caused by highway vehicle accidents, making them the leading cause of death.
It is important to transport employees and equipment to and from well sites, which are frequently located in remote areas. Collisions can occur when drivers operate transportation vehicles poorly or while fatigued.
When developing safety measures, managers must take into account how employees will travel to and from work sites.
2. Parallel Operations
The second leading cause of fatalities in the oil and gas industry is struck-by, caught-in, and caught-between accidents, which account for three out of every five on-site fatalities. Automobiles and other machines in motion, falling objects, and high-pressure lines are common examples of such occurrences.
These risks are usually caused by concurrent operations.
On an oil and gas well where multiple subcontractors and other businesses coexist, space may be limited. One supervisor may be an expert in water-related hazards, whereas the supervisor next door may be an expert in chemical hazards. Unaware of the concurrent operation, a worker could inadvertently be hurt by or become entangled in machinery.
Communicate your own risks to other supervisors if you are close to another project, and stay in touch if they alter.
3. Short-Service Workers
Temporary or short-term employees pose a substantial risk to both themselves and other construction workers.
Staff turnover is a substantial risk factor for incidents involving being struck by, caught in, or caught between. Even though certain services do not require prior experience, they frequently involve labor-intensive, high-exposure tasks that can be hazardous if new personnel are not adequately trained and supervised.
To make managing them easier while juggling other responsibilities, managers should maintain a ratio of short-service employees to experienced workers at one to five.
Develop a Transparency Culture with Crews and Outside Supervisors
Honesty is the best course of action while discussing oil and gas issues. No one should be punished for approaching you with a question.
When people, places, and projects change, safety managers must be forthright and aggressive in communicating risks in real time. At least one advocate should be appointed to each project in order to explain evolving safety risks to internal and external stakeholders.
In addition to your own project owners, it is essential to have solid ties with the project managers of surrounding projects. Even though your project’s crew is experienced, they may be unaware of the safety dangers posed by their coworkers.
Creating a “pause button” for project operations is an effective means of promoting transparency and education. You should be able to suspend your team’s work if a serious safety matter is raised, whether by a short-term employee or a supervisor on a different project.
Use the two-way approach to communication by relaying any hazards orally and electronically
It is essential to maintain open communication channels with all project stakeholders. Additionally, compliance with OSHA standards depends on it.
The majority of job-site safety information should be delivered verbally, but each update should also be supplied in writing.
While paper records can support supervisors’ compliance-related discussions, digital alternatives can aid in the distribution of information in real-time. An application can enable the on-site staff to consult the home office for information if a question cannot be answered immediately.
Thanks to digital documentation, a Job Safety Analysis (JSA) and other key safety papers can be stored and shared with project management teams. Additionally, supervisors can exchange digital materials with other project supervisors to facilitate the development of their own safety strategy.
The Safety of Oil and Gas Depends on Effective Communication
In recent years, oil and gas-related fatalities have decreased. According to reports, there were 25 deaths in 2019, compared to 69 in 2017.
Hopefully, this is due to enhanced communication among and between site staff.
Oil and gas extraction sites are transient in nature. To account for the environment’s ongoing changes, safety supervisors must frequently collaborate and share safety information.