BackDROPS Forum - Aberdeen, 6th September 2012
Greg Reid opened the Forum and gave a Safety Brief. Many new faces were in the room and introductions were duly made.
DROPS Update – Greg Reid, DROPS
MEMBERSHIP: We are Delighted to welcome the following new DROPS members - Ty-Flot Inc, USA; Global Remote Integrated Access Solution PVT Ltd, India; Petrustech, Brazil; Cape Industrial Services Ltd, UK; Vertech, Australia; Integrated Inspection & Surveying, UAE; FMC, USA; Neptune Asset Integrity Services, Australia; Grup Servicii Petroliere SA, Romania.
INTERNATIONAL: Since our last UK Forum in April, there has been a Forum in Stavanger, Norway and DROPS Asia hosted a Forum in Singapore. Minutes of both events are available online. A Middle East DROPS Forum will be held in Muscat, Oman on October 15th. This event is kindly sponsored by PDO. DROPS Training (Train-the-Trainer) will also be available post event. Event information and registration details will shortly be circulated and posted to www.dropsonline.org
An Australian DROPS forum will be held in Brisbane on November 1st. Kindly sponsored and promoted by Arrow, Santos and Moduspec, a key focus of the event will be the unique challenges that face land-based operations, including the region’s Coal Seam Gas (CSG) sector. DROPS Training (Train-the-Trainer) will be available at this event. Flyers and further information will soon be circulated and posted to www.dropsonline.org
DROPS Asia plan a Malaysian Forum on 8th November in Kuala Lumpur. Nearer the date, registration will be available online at www.dropsasia.com
Through Chevron, DROPS USA plan to re-engage and refocus regional members, with a forum being planned for Q1, 2013
DROPS TRAINING: Since last forum, DROPS Training and Awareness has been undertaken in Ghana and Mozambique with several sessions at Silverdot here in UK. Training is planned for Oman, South East Asia, Australia and Sakhalin Island (Russia) over the next few months. DROPS Train-the-Trainer sessions will continue to be hosted regularly in UK – see website for details.
2012 UK DROPS Forums: Forthcoming Forums will be held on Thursday 4 October at Sprowston Manor Hotel, Norwich (Training available post Forum) and Thursday 6 December at Marcliffe Hotel, Aberdeen.
DROPS BACKROOM: Several more enquiries seeking clarification on use of DROPS Calculator and again a prevailing misconception that 1.8m should be deducted from the fall height in lieu of average person’s height.
Plan is to address the most commonly recurring enquiries in a FAQ section on website. Information requests are regularly received and the opinion / feedback of our membership are sometimes canvassed. An example followed later in proceedings.
FOCUS GROUPS: Of our legacy Focus Groups, thanks to all who have added further data to DORIS database. Encourage all to access and populate DORIS - get in touch for a User ID (doris@dropsonline.org) Reminder to all that we are always looking for assistance with translation of DROPS materials.
2012 Focus Groups now focus on Reliable Securing and Behavioural Safety. (Dynamic DROPS will resume in 2013). Also, an old Focus Issue – Subsea DROPS – was revisited in today’s forum Quick Hits: Website FAQs for recurring enquiries; fresh DROPS poster campaign for year-end (still time to submit any poster ideas / concepts).
SAFETY ALERTS: A number of safety alerts and lessons learned were circulated through the DROPS community. Further details were presented later regarding the “Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing” alert issued in July. Please continue to share alerts and lessons learned with us – send details to admin@dropsonline.org
Behavioural Safety Focus Group – Alistair Tong, ADC & Mark Walker,
Optimus Seventh Generation
This Focus Group has been working closely together for the past few months to learn more around the topic of behavioural safety and the effect that it can have on actual and potential dropped objects. The aim of the group is to help reduce and eliminate these DOs from happening. At today’s meeting, all members were provided with a hand-out that showed a variety of dropped object incidents and an overview of the photos was provided to the members. Members were then invited to work together to write down the potential causes during the forum and coffee break.
These were analysed by the workgroup and the top 3 causes that the members recognised were inadequate training, inadequate processes / procedures and failure to recognise a hazard. Mark then held an interactive session with attendees and gave a basic overview of the calculation behind Behavioural Safety (People, Processes & Procedures x Behaviour = Safety Performance) which showed the impact on Safety performance every time an additional process etc was introduced. Most organisations currently work in a compliance mode which is deemed Safe Enough but we would like to move towards the caring and resilience side of the Behavioural model. Mark and his colleague Bill will continue to work with the Behavioural Safety Focus Group in trying to devise a method with which the potential for dropped object incidents occur less and less.
For further information on Optimus, please see their website www.optimus-she.com
Subsea Dropped Object Analysis – John Eddie, Prospect
John Eddie gave an overview of Prospect as a company, and how they can help in the field of subsea dropped objects. They employ engineering analysis tools to simulate potential dropped objects in the water column, including component stress, deflection etc. The computer model looks at fluid dynamics and subsequent loading which can determine where an object can land on the seabed. Examples of the computer simulations were demonstrated.
Follow this link to download the presentation.
For further information on Prospect, please see their website www.prospect-fs.com
Delegates suggested to raise the awareness of subsea dropped objects by improving the current guide that we have on our website. There was a large interest in establishing a focus group on this topic and it will be proposed at the December forum as an area to look at in 2013.
The DORIS focus group will look at adding a field in the reporting database to include Subsea incident’s as a category.
DROPS - A Gallivanter’s Perspective – Allen Smith, DROPS
Allen gave an insight around some of the recurring themes that appear during his visits around the world Some of the most common problems are lack of hazard awareness, poor risk assessment and locally modified or poor quality equipment and materials. He also demonstrated, using the DROPS calculator, the impact of carrying a small bottle of water in the back pocket of a set of coveralls, and it falling from 30+ metres. Such a small and insignificant object can have devastating results. The message that he reiterates is back to basics by using the DROPS systematic approach Identify, Eliminate, Substitute and Control.
Follow this link to download presentation.
Focus Group and DROPS Updates – Greg Reid, DROPS
The legacy groups continuing into 2012 are DORIS, DROPS Translations and DROPS Training & Campaign Packs. Dynamic DROPS group is postponed until 2013.
The updates from the 2 new focus groups are:
Reliable Securing Update and Technical Review Team
- Main objective to update and extend the scope of the Reliable Securing Booklet
- Looking for feedback into new methods of retaining/securing; who is using the booklet; what is available it out there
- The new SFS book is available now and it will circulated to Focus Group members for review in advance of the next Focus Group meetinng planned for November
Behavioural Issues – Improving Performance with Behavioural Change
- In addition to the presentations shown and described today, the group will get their first output issued, as a poster set, within the coming months. This will also be available to download and use as a rolling presentation.
Greg also provided further details about the recent Safety Alert that was issued under the apt title “a wolf in sheep’s clothing”. The cutters were found during preparation for a rig start-up and after a thorough check of the tool, it was discovered that the securing shackle was only attached to the rubber grip which was easily removable, and not secured to the metal handle. The full presentation is available to download with the minutes.
Also, a member in Australia was querying the suitability of using a glue as a secondary securing method for bolted connections. Greg asked the members around the room whether it was a known and proven correct practice. Two members advised that it is used but not in oil and gas sector. One member stated that they had tested this method but they found the results completely inconsistent and therefore deemed this an unsuitable and unreliable secondary retention method. This will be fed back to the original requestor.
Open Floor and Any Other Business
Greg thanked everyone for their participation and invited the attendees to offer any issues for further discussion in the open floor session.
Next UK meetings
Date: Thursday 4 October
Time: 0900-1200
Venue: Sprowston Manor Hotel, Norwich
Host: DSL (Event Sponsors)
Date: Thursday 6 December 2012
Time: 0945-1230
Venue: Marcliffe Hotel, Aberdeen
Host: DROPS Global Steering Committee