Managing Occupational Safety and Health Risks

Safety and Health Management System in Oil and Gas Industry

Managing Occupational Safety and Health Risks

Oleh : Bayu Nurwinanto

The aim of occupational safety and health risk management is to identify and assess safety and health hazards existing at the workplace and to define appropriate control and retrieval steps.

Business processes in Oil and Gas industry are very complex. Hence it is essential that a systematized approach should be used for managing occupational safety and health hazards. Its solution model can be based on the PDCA Cycle :

Risk Management Process

Risk management is crucial for preventing work related injury and illness. It includes :

• Identifying the risks.
• Evaluating and prioritizing the risks.
• Implementing preventive/protective measures to control the risk. 

There are a number of circumstances in the Oil and Gas industry where a proper risk management process is essential. For example :

• Job safety analysis: It is a process of systematically evaluating certain jobs, tasks, processes or procedures and eliminating or reducing the risks or hazards to As Low As Reasonably Practical (ALARP) in order to protect workers from injury or illness.
• Workplace inspections and audits.
• Change management - identification of new hazards, introduction of new equipment/process, or regulatory needs. 

Generally Risk Management Process in the Oil and Gas Industry Involves the Following Key Steps :

 Key Features that Should be Fulfilled by an Efficient Safety and Health Management System are as Follows:

• It should ensure safety of different operational sites by correctly mapping the business processes, risks, and controls involved in all the three segments (upstream, midstream and downstream) of Oil and Gas industry.
• It should enable workers to follow consistent health and safety practices.
• It should help in managing site inspections, permits, violations, lessons learned and best practices execution for Oil and Gas sector.
• It must be well documented (strategies and action plans) and should be easily understood and readily available to all the workers.

Components of an Effective Occupational Safety and Health Management System

Occupational Safety and Health Management System is one of the critical factors whose successful execution confirms operational safety in upstream, midstream and downstream segments of Oil and Gas industry. Following key components should be encompassed in an active occupational Safety and Health Management System.

No	Occupational Safety and Health Management System Components	Requirements
1.	Health and Safety Plan	Oil and Gas Company’s vision and approach towards Health and Safety
2.	Administration	Organizational hierarchy Key details of persons responsible for managing health and safety plans
3.	Work Area Management	Proper demarcation and management of workplace according to processes, activities, design, etc. Worksite inspections Implementation of best practices and lessons learned from the past experiences at workplace.
4.	H&S Risk Management	Set of systems and processes for managing Health & Safety risks, Job Hazard analysis, Hazard ranking/risk matrix, Corrective action plans, Risk control levels analysis.
5.	Inventory Management	Maintenance of hazardous substance database.
6.	Task and Work flow Management	Calendar management, Role assignments - Involving and informing workers, safety officers and others about their roles and responsibilities, allocated tasks, etc. Automated notifications.
7.	H&S Maintenance Systems	Performance and monitoring of H&S activities and corrective action as needed.
8.	Incident Management	Recording, processing, investigation, reporting and root cause analysis of any reported incident/accident/nearmiss/safety observations.
9.	Occupational Health Management	Health protocols. Medical appointments. Injury/Illness management. Drug, alcohol and other medical, testing
10.	Management of Change	Identification of new hazards, Introduction of new equipment,  Process change New regulatory requirements.
11.	Emergency Response Plan	Disaster management/Emergency response plan for all the potential predicaments based on predictive risk analysis, Alarm system.
12.	Compliance Management	Comply with the obligations under pertinent local/national/global H&S regulations.
13.	Competency Management	Track capabilities/skills of workforce, Trainings for employees, contractors and visitors Assessment.
14.	Content Management	Management of SOP, SDS, Health and safety documents
15.	Contractor Management	Managing and coordinating activities of contractors.
16.	Rehabilitation Management	Tracks number of compensation days, rehabilitation information of workers.
17.	Statistics, Reporting and Dashboard	Relevant report generation from health and safety data, Interactive dashboards for higher management view and decision making.
18	Audit and Review	Audit and review programs to check and improve the effectiveness of implemented Safety and Health Management System.

Benefits of Occupational Safety and Health Management System

• It enables Oil and Gas industry in performing hazard identification, risk assessment and implementing various control methods.
• It ensures well-being of all the employees and thus contributes to a more inspired, and performance driven workforce.
• Regular risk assessment process helps in frequent tracking and monitoring of health and safety indicators (both leading and lagging).
• Reduced costs associated with accidents and incidents.
• Improved regulatory compliance.
• Implementation of OSH management system gives competitive edge and improves relationships between stakeholders, such as clients, contractors, subcontractors, consultants, suppliers, employees and unions.

Conclusion

Given the perilous nature of the Oil and Gas industry, the need for implementation of an efficient occupational Safety and Health Management System is important for improving safety and health performance. Many countries have extensively participated in it by making strict and obligatory OSH standards and legislations. For example, on 10th June 2013, the EU adopted a Directive on safety of offshore oil and gas operations. The new directive sets clear rules that cover the whole lifecycle of all exploration and production activities from design to the final removal of an oil or gas installation.

Because of the regulatory compliance pressure, the principal responsibility of ensuring operational safety and sustainability is placed on the Oil and Gas industry.

OSHMS not only provides a systematic and synchronized proactive approach to managing occupational health and safety risks, but also helps in defining strategies for implementing control actions, performance substantiation, resource mapping and competency management. Moreover it also helps in enhancing organization’s brand image in today’s competitive scenario.