BP Contractors Recommit at Annual Safety Forum

The theme of the annual safety forum for BP Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey, held this month in Azerbaijan, was Conformance to Process and Leadership - or as guest speaker Managing Director of CTP Phil Smith asked, “Why don’t people follow procedures?”

An audience of 250 Managing Directors and Chief Executive Officers from BP contractors attended the event at which Phil was invited to speak for an unprecedented second year by Gordon Birrell, Regional President for BP and Chairman of the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (OGP).

Immediately after Phil’s presentation, several CEOs of key BP contractors took to the floor to share their personal commitment to improve safety, compliance and training within their organisation over the coming 12 months.

Phil was preceded on stage by Jim Wetherbee, a retired American naval officer and a former NASA astronaut who is a veteran of six space shuttle missions and the only American to have commanded five spaceflight missions. Jim was sharing his vision of Leadership, having recently retired as Vice President, Operating Leadership at BP, America.

Talking about the event Phil Smith commented, “Simple, mindful changes in process and behaviour as a result of our training interventions can, and does, result in fewer potentially damaging incidents in the workplace. CTP has a wealth of experience of providing human factors training interventions to the oil and gas industry – and many insights to share. The safety and security of personnel in the field is constantly in the hearts and minds of these delegates, along with their commitment to safeguarding resources and the environment. My intention was to develop a deeper understanding of human factors within this critical environment.”

The second half of Phil’s presentation shared CTP’s work on the recommended practice document for Well Operations Crew Resource Management non technical skills, applicable to all disciplines within this field. CTP was commissioned by OGP to take the lead role in the production of this recommended practice and this is now in the final stages of development. CTP’s role was to work with key industry stakeholders and to capture ‘best practice’, as well as using CTP’s extensive knowledge and practical experience of delivering CRM training to high performing teams in high-risk environments. Other key stakeholders supporting CTP to produce the recommended practice include BP, BG Group, Shell, CAE, Maersk Drilling and the Wells Academy. The aim is to introduce standardised, human factors training across the whole of Well Operations and supporting functions.

Commenting on this project Phil Smith said, “We were awarded this commission based on our rich experience in the field of CRM training within the Oil and Gas Industry and other, diverse, high risk industries. CRM awareness is at the cutting edge of training interventions within this sector and sharing our understanding of this, and our wider experiences of error management in other critical environments, is key to our role here.”