Salos and HFB Consulting to offer aviation training to oil and gas sector

Over the last 12 months the two firms have been working closely to develop a suite of training courses, toolkits, techniques and strategies to measure and accelerate human factors competence, specifically tailored to the oil and gas sector.

The two firms believe their bespoke oil and gas Advanced Human Factors programme will deliver significant performance benefits and a measurable impact in offshore safety KPIs.

Grant Wallace, Managing Director at Aberdeen-based Salos said:

“In industries where safety is critical, human factors are typically behind more than 80% of major accidents – and this is equally true in the oil and gas industry. Around 30 years ago the aviation industry recognised that by training employees in human factor techniques they dramatically improved safety and operational performance. HFB Consulting are real experts in this area, and our new partnership enables us to introduce proven cutting-edge techniques from the safety-critical world of aviation to the oil and gas sector in a way not previously seen.”

Salos has already piloted the programme with drilling crews preparing for advanced well control situations on a challenging High Pressure High Temperature well.

Wallace added:

“We used the onshore simulator at Robert Gordon’s University to overload the crews with challenging situations and coached them to deal effectively with threats and errors. Our coaches then accelerated their human factors competencies at the wellsite. Once this training is embedded within individuals and teams the results are very impressive. In this case there were no well control incidents during the course of the project, and the team achieved seven best in class Rushmore well construction KPIs. Across the board we believe safety compliance, procedural adherence and operational performance can all be transformed, and this offers operators a new layer of assurance and efficiency savings.”

Steve Cathcart, Director at HFB Consulting said:

“The aviation industry now incorporates human factors into all aspects of training, recognising the importance the ‘human influence’ can have on operational success but more importantly on all matters relating to safety. The Oil and Gas sector has historically had minimal human factor consideration in its training but is now beginning to acknowledge that to be at the cutting edge of safety and performance it is crucial to be proficient in this area. Human factor training must be integrated fully into both the operational and company culture to create high reliability organisations. For too long human factor training has been a bolt-on or afterthought. Over the last 20 years, as front-line trainers with a number of the major UK airlines, we have come to know what works and what makes a difference to the operation. We have recognised that through correctly training and equipping people with the behavioural tools to deal with operational complexity, a much higher level of performance can be achieved.”

Read the article online at: https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/hse/16072019/salos-and-hfb-consulting-to-offer-aviation-training-to-oil-and-gas-sector/