One Basin, One Way!
NDPC Kicks Off Standardized Contractor Safety Orientation Program
In February, the NDPC safety committee kicked off a discussion on creating a Bakken wide standardized contractor safety orientation program.
The oil and gas industry has similar programs in Houston, (Houston Area Safety Council) and on the North Slope, (the North Slope Training Cooperative).
The scope of the orientation issue is:
- Contractors are required to spend several hours in company specific safety training before being allowed to start work on the producer’s facilities.
- Each operator requires company specific training.
- Contractors report taking the same or very similar training 4-6 times/year.
- A core set of training courses are common to all operators.
- The committee calculated that 32,000 contractors were trained last year, most multiple times.
- The group calculated a total of 1.25 million lost manhours due to redundant training at a cost of $125 million.
- Given the manpower shortage that looms in the Bakken, making contractors more available increases manpower efficiencies.
- Next step is to gather the orientation curriculum from many operators to determine the core needs.
- Those trained will be given a card (similar to a driver’s license) that will identify them as ready to work in the Bakken.
- The group is working on a logo and name for the program that signifies Safety: One Basin-One Way.
Once core common curriculum is established, NDPC will write contracts with safety providers, manage the venue selection and kick off the training classes.
If your company is interested in participating in the steering committee for this effort or participating in the final program, please email me at kcutting@ndoil.org or Kay Roth at kroth@ndoil.org.
If you agree to participate, please send your safety orientation curriculum to Steve Braden at SBraden@hess.com.
The next meeting is scheduled for July 12, 2018, Venue is tentatively set to be Hess Corporation in Minot.