Can We Safely Develop Our Natural Resources After the Deepwater Horizon?

June 22, 2010 - PRLog -- HOUSTON, TX — June 22, 2010—Proforma Safety International President Scott Arnold has published an article in which he poses the question: Can we develop our natural resources safely after the Deepwater Horizon? Arnold says yes, but advises that the energy industry renew its commitment to use processes that — when used correctly and with consistency — can prevent such accidents from happening.

Arnold offers his insight into the causes of the Deepwater Horizon tragedy and urges the energy industry to prioritize safety over cost and schedule.

“When you set safety as your top priority, schedule and cost usually take care of themselves,” said Arnold. “We at Proforma Safety have managed hundreds of projects for companies with great success by prioritizing safety and quality first.”

Arnold cites several important processes that have been shown to prevent incidents from occurring by identifying and addressing hazards in advance. “Stop the Job” is one such process in which all personnel are empowered to call a stop to work in progress if they believe there are problems.

“In instances where we’ve witnessed a worker call a stop,” says Arnold, “the after action review has usually disclosed that the worker’s action saved lives and time more often than not.”

Other very successful processes include HAZIDS (Hazard Identification), HAZOP (Hazardous Operations identification) and MOC (Management of Change).

Based on publicly available information disclosed to date, Arnold believes there are several factors identified as causes of the Deepwater Horizon disaster that are strikingly similar to industrial incidents in the past.

“We believe the causative factors for the Deepwater Horizon disaster are rooted in how priorities were set, and how decisions were being driven by cost overruns and schedule delays,” Arnold commented.  “While the cause of the Deepwater Horizon explosion may not be due entirely to these factors, they were certainly contributory.”

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Proforma Safety International LLC is a safety consulting company serving the oil and gas, petrochemical and oilfield contractor service industries, in addition to transportation, manufacturing, and oil-field related concerns worldwide. Based in Houston, Texas, Proforma provides HSE safety programs, comprehensive safety auditing and inspection, onsite HSE representation, advanced safety management practices and full HSE spectra coverage delivered by its S.W.A.T. (Safe Work Awareness Teams). Proforma helps companies achieve compliance with OSHA’s process safety management and EPA’s risk management requirements, in addition to USDOT, MMS, USCG and other government and industry regulations. For more information about Proforma, visit our website at http://www.proformasafety.com