The attached document details 2008 Step Change meeting dates.  Further information will be posted on the News section of the website providing full details of events nearer the time.  To ensure that you are kept up to date, log in to the site and visit your User Profile to turn on News e-mail notifications.

 Speakers from industry, the safety regulator and consultancies, confirmed speakers include: Ian Whewell, Head of Offshore Division, HSE, Robert Noble, Technical Services Leader, Hydratight, Ed Terry, SAUF Consulting, Rob Swindell, Bureau Veritas UK & Ireland and Professor John Sharp, Cranfield University with further names to be announced shortly.

For more information or to book, please click here or contact the Events Team on e: events@energyinst.org.uk

 This event has been cancelled due to lack of interest.

In May this year over 70 industry leaders attended a Leadership Safety Day at the Ardoe House Hotel.  This occasion provided leaders with an opportunity to reflect on the learnings from the Piper Alpha disaster and to determine what more needed to be done to embed the Step Change In Safety Charter commitments within their organisations.


Note: To view pictures in MDDaydocs.ZIP  please ensure you extract the zip files.

Our confirmed speakers John Methven & Rick Cohagan, co-chairs of Step Change in Safety, will look at the current safety agenda & how the industry is responding.  

This DVD sponsored by Shell advocates a 'zero tolerance' approach to the management of hydrocarbon releases. It outlines the extent of the problem based on the reporting of HCR incidents to the HSE and what you can do about it.
 
Hydrocarbon releases (HCR) continue to present a significant threat to the safety of offshore installations. Between 1992 and 2000 there were on average 140 major/significant HCR incidents per year. Since 2000 significant improvements in plant, safety-related control systems, procedures and training have helped deliver a year on year reduction in HCR incidents.
 

Despite all this good work HCR incidents have increased slightly over the last 2 years. The industry is reporting around 70 major/significant hydrocarbon releases a year each with the potential to cause a serious accident. The challenge for the industry is to reduce the number of HCR incidents against a background of aging plant and equipment while maintaining workforce competency.
 

This challenge requires a zero tolerance approach to the management of hydrocarbon releases both from the perspective of plant integrity and human factors.
 

Copies of the DVD will be sent out to Step Change members and additional copies are available from Step Change in Safety.

Historically the Step Change Liaison role has been the key link between the company’s senior management, workforce and Step Change Support Team (SCST). Because the role is seen as being critical to the future success of Step Change in Safety a review was undertaken with the following objectives:

• Enhancing the profile of the role within Member Companies and Step Change.
• Strengthening links with the Managing Director, workforce and SCST.
• Identifying the support required for the role.
• Establishing a framework for effective networking.

• Name change to revert to ‘Step Change Focal Point’.
• Formal appointment into the role by company MD/CEO.
• Publicise the new appointment within the Member Company and Step Change.
• Improve induction process into role.
• Mentoring and support from other Focal Points.
• Clarification of roles and responsibilities.
• Establish Focal Point network meetings.
• Improved support from the Step Change Support Team.

These changes will be endorsed at the next Step Change Leadership Team meeting on 10^th September.

 Health and Safety Executive, Tea Shack News issue 7, July 2008  Further details can be found at www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/teashacknews/jul08.pdf

Lifting and mechanical handling are routine operations performed daily on both offshore and onshore drilling units. Without effective management control, these activities possess the potential to inflict significant harm and damage.

The vision for this conference is to demonstrate that the inherent systems of management control, training and equipment design have benefited from past experience. That improvement is a continuous learning process of open dialogue and a willingness to share best practice.

Presentations during the conference could include the following topics

• Training methodology, including on the job, computer-based simulators, and standards for competency
• Regulation & standards for lifting operations, including harmonization and goal-setting regimes
• Lessons learned from case histories of lifting accidents
• Lifting equipment & slings: design, inspection, modification, maintenance and impact of ageing
• Hoisting equipment (Pedestal, Bridge, Deck, etc. Cranes: Rig Floor Hoists) maintenance and certification
• Planning and preparation for lifting operations, including risk assessment
• Hands-free lifting
• Manriding: risk assessment, supervision and alternatives
• Ergonomics in lifting and mechanical handling
• Safety Culture during lifting operations
• Preslinging of tubulars and factory transit slings (tracking of slings)
• Containerized lifts

Further details may be found at : 

http://www.iadc.org/conferences/OL8_Program.html

Join SHP Magazine on Friday, 4 July at 3pm (BST) for an online seminar which will look at the Piper Alpha disaster, examine what has been learned since, and
look at the future of offshore safety.

The event is interactive, and you will have the opportunity to submit questions to the panel of experts during a live Q&A session.

• What lessons have been learnt?
• Have these lessons created any real change?
• How significant was the event for the wider H&S industry?
• How can the onshore safety culture be implemented offshore?

REGISTER NOW - it’s easy and takes less than a minute.
 
A panel of experts will discuss and debate the key issues around Piper Alpha. Attendees, who take part online, will also be invited to submit their questions and opinions to the panel.

The experts
• Chris Allen, HSSE Director, Oil&Gas UK
• Jake Molloy, General Secretary, OILC (Oil Industry Liaison Committee)
• Ian Whewell, Head of Offshore Division, Health and Safety Executive Offshore Division (HSE OSD)
• Tim Southam, MD, Progress Through People, chair of IOSH Offshore Group

Chair
Martina Weadick, Editor, SHP Magazine

In order to streamline access to Step Change resources the Personal Responsibility for Safety (PRfS) material currently available through its own website has now been migrated across to the main Step Change in Safety website.

The PRfS Guidance document is a collaborative effort which has pulled together good practice identified within our industry to provide all of the components required to comprehensively support PRfS.

For those of you new to PRfS check out the link below.

Personal Responsibility for Safety - Overview

The PRfS content remains the same with only some minor changes in website presentation. It is envisaged that the current PRfS website will go offline - date to be announced

Step Change are keen for companies to promote and share their own experiences of implementing the PRfS principles and guidance through the Step Change in Safety website. Many of you have done this but we are sure there's plenty more good stuff out there to be shared. Please let us have your latest material to share with the rest of the industry. 

This new edition contains the same regulations (with minor changes to regulation 2) but brings the associated guidance up to date, particularly in relation to the changes in reporting arrangements and the need to use the Incident Contact Centre (ICC)*.

Other amendments have been made to reflect changes in legislation, such as the Carriage of Dangerous Goods and Use of Transportable Pressure Equipment Regulations 2007, and also the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH), among several others. Schedule 2 has been revised to take into account the Manufacture and Storage of Explosives Regulations 2005.

The introduction now contains a useful 'at a glance' list of reportable major injuries, dangerous occurrences and diseases 

This is the third edition of the PUWER 98 ACOP and has been amended and updated to reflect the latest legislation. References throughout have been updated to include the most recent publications available, and obsolete information has been removed. The Approved Code of Practice (ACOP) and substance of the guidance remains unchanged.

This book is for anyone with responsibility directly or indirectly for work equipment and its use, for example employers, employees, the self-employed and those who hire work equipment.

PUWER 98 applies to the provision of all work equipment, including mobile and lifting equipment. It applies to all workplaces and work situations where the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HSW Act) applies and extends outside Great Britain to certain offshore activities in British territorial waters and on the UK Continental Shelf.

This book provides guidance on the supply of new LEV equipment. It describes the principles and good practice of deciding on, designing, commissioning and testing cost-effective local exhaust ventilation. The guidance is written for the suppliers of LEV goods and services. It will be helpful for employers and managers in medium sized businesses and trade union and employee safety representatives.

The book contains information about: the roles and legal responsibilities of suppliers, and of their clients as employers; competence; principles of good design practice for effective LEV hoods and their classification; ducts, air movers, air cleaners; and system documentation – with checking and maintenance schedules, and the marking of defective equipment.

It also offers guidance on the specification of LEV; supplier’s quotation; commissioning; zone marking; user manual; logbook; and testing and hood labels.

The one day seminar will explore how well industry is currently equipped to cope in case of an offshore emergency, look at the latest escape, evacuation and rescue arrangements and examine how all relevant agencies work together during the time of an incident.

The seminar, which is organised in conjunction with the Evacuation, Escape and Rescue Technical Advisory Group (EERTAG), will also focus on the significant progress made in emergency response over the last 20 years along with an insight into the current and future challenges facing the industry.
 

The day presents an excellent opportunity for representatives of the industry to debate and discuss key safety issues within the North Sea industry.  

OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY LEADERS TO DISCUSS WAY FORWARD IN OFFSHORE SAFETY

More than seventy oil and gas company managing directors and senior leaders will come together to underline their personal commitment to improving safety offshore, demonstrate visible leadership and promote effective collaboration through the sharing of best practice and learning across all industry sectors at the annual Step Change in Safety leadership day on 27 May 2008 at the Ardoe House Hotel in Aberdeen.

Ian Aitchison, leader of the Step Change in Safety support team, said: “There is no other industry in which more than 70 company managing directors and senior representatives come together on a regular basis to discuss safety issues, share lessons learned from major incidents and exchange best practice examples in offshore safety. It is vital that our industry leaders meet regularly to demonstrate their commitment to safety, share ideas and experience, explore some innovative thinking, review current progress and suggest new areas of focus for collaborative action.  “Recent initiatives such as the asset integrity sharing website and the asset integrity workshop have been well received by industry and we intend to build on this success in the other Step Change workgroups, focusing on control of work, competence and visible leadership.” 

Speaking at the event, Malcolm Webb, Oil & Gas UK’s chief executive, will call on industry leaders to work through Step Change in Safety and with Oil & Gas UK to ensure the oil and gas industry takes proper control of its safety agenda. He said: “Nobody is better qualified or able than our industry to further improve its safety record and achieve its vision of making the UK offshore the safest place to work in the world-wide oil and gas industry. Step Change in Safety must continue to evolve to a level where it is regarded as a gold standard which companies aspire to achieve and maintain. People are still getting hurt in our industry and we must use Step Change in Safety to drive our safety agenda forward to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of our workforce.”  

The offshore industry compares well with many other industries in terms of its safety performance. Its safety record improved greatly in 2007, with the lowest number of major injuries since 1995/1996, despite a 22% increase in the offshore workforce. The number of dangerous occurrences also decreased to the lowest level in the last ten years. To maintain this positive trend, companies are investing more than £1 billion a year on asset integrity alone, a figure not matched by any other industry.

Ian Aitchison, leader of the Step Change in Safety team, said: "We expected a busy and energetic day with more than 250 delegates from across the oil and gas industry listening to over 40 presentations. The day covered the full range of offshore safety from asset integrity to personal responsibility and risk management, focusing on case studies and best practice sharing.

"The day before and after the Safety Share Fair saw special network meetings being held for the industry's safety representatives and offshore installation managers, where they shared their experiences and insights into good practice, problems and issues across the industry. The network meetings are vital in helping to develop new initiatives, providing practical feedback and suggesting new areas of focus for collaborative action. One of the benefits of the safety representative network in particular is the support it gives to the safety representatives to carry out their function offshore.  It also gives the safety representatives a collective voice to get their views heard by senior industry leaders, providing a direct channel of communication between workforce and industry organisations, such as Step Change."

A new guideline on the safety of wireline operations was launched at the Safety Share Fair. This guideline was produced by the Well Services Contractors Association (WSCA) in conjunction with Step Change in Safety in response to Health and Safety Executive (HSE) concerns regarding the frequency and potential seriousness of dropped toolstring incidents. Chris Strang, director of WSCA, said: "The new guideline provides practical guidance to companies and individuals involved in wireline rig up/down operations so that the risk of dropping toolstrings and injuring personnel are as low as reasonably practicable. The HSE have indicated that they will be using the guidance as a standard in their inspections of wireline operations."

The offshore industry compares well with many other industries in terms of its safety performance. Its safety record improved greatly in 2007, with the lowest number of major injuries since 1995/1996, despite a 22% increase in the offshore workforce. The number of dangerous occurrences also decreased to the lowest level in the last ten years. To maintain this positive trend, companies are investing more than £1 billion a year on asset integrity alone, a figure not matched by any other industry.

Ian Aitchison added: "Although the industry's safety record is continuously improving, the three day event was designed to ensure that there is no complacency about the current safety performance. The industry is working hard to make the UK continental shelf the safest place to work in the world wide oil and gas industry."

The UK’s Health and Safety Executive carried out a review of reported wireline lubricator/toolstring incidents which had occurred in the period 2005/2006, including one fatality.

This trend of incidents continued through 2007. Analysis of the data indicated that the incidents were almost exclusively related to dropped toolstrings resulting from pulling the toolstring into the top sheave or stuffing box causing the wire to part.

When the dropped toolstring is contained within the well bore/lubricator, there is little risk to personnel. However, when it is dropped outwith the lubricator or well bore, there is the potential for serious or fatal injury to personnel.

In October 2006, WSCA set up a workgroup with representatives from: Baker Hughes, Expro, Halliburton, Schlumberger and Well Ops.

Objectives:

•        Address issues raised by the HSE

•        Make practicable recommendations to reduce risk of:

         Dropped toolstrings/lubricators

         Potential for Harm to people

Draft guidelines were produced and ‘road tested’ in a workshop in May 2007 attended by ~60 wireline hands. After several revisions and with the close co-operation of HSE, the final guidance document was produced  by WSCA and made available to the Oil and gas Industry through Step Change in Safety.