Safety First: A Lifeline in the High-Risk World of Oil and Gas Operations

Greetings everyone.

Welcome to another week. I hope you all enjoyed your weekend. It's another week to pursue those dreams and not to give up. Today I want to share with you guys on rig site safety.

The rig is one place I have seen where safety plays a major role. Like, safety is a lifestyle. Everything is done with carefulness and as per procedure, because one time mistake by one person could affect others. This is why safety is taken seriously and, based on this, safety is not just a word, it's a lifestyle everyone must follow.

There are many risks involved in rig site operations (example, is the trip & fall). That's why all personnel onboard have to be aware of their surroundings and be safety cautious at all times.

On other ways to work safely, let's look at the PPE, also known as personal protective equipment. These consist of

• coveralls

• Safety boots

• Eye goggles

• Hard hats

• Hand gloves

• Ear muffins.

PPE varies based on job description, whether onshore/offshore. Even if you're visiting the rig for the first time or occasionally, the safety officer is there to give you induction on the dos and don'ts, restricted areas of the rig, emergency procedure and general safety rules. Also, you will be given the basic PPE to enable you to have access inside the rig site.

In my rig, PPE is a must and if you're not wearing your complete PPE, you're putting yourself and others at risk. That's why, during the morning safety meeting, the safety officer emphasized on everyone always putting on their complete PPE, working safely, equipment handling, giving signals, pinch points, load lifting and others. Also, the morning safety meeting is compulsory that everyone attends, so you don't miss out on important information.

Safety Training and Awareness: Of course, there are some safety training courses as a worker you should undergo, these trainings include,

• Permit to work (PTW) system training

• Working at height training

• Confined space entry training

• Manual handling training

• First aid training

• firefighters training

• Job safety analysis training

• Dropped object prevention

• Gas testing & monitoring

• Stop work authority and others.

At the rig/camp site, emergency drills are not taken for granted. Emergency drills are held regularly in other to get all personnel onboard prepared in case of a real emergency to know the muster point and evacuation plan depending on the situation at hand.

Also, I can not end the talk on safety at the rig site without speaking about the relevance of teamwork and effective communication.

A rig site is an environment where no one works alone.

In regard to team work, there was a time when some community people were contracted to dig a certain part of the rig site. They had a supervisor in charge. Before the break, they spotted a pipe in the ground, and immediately they communicated, and they were all asked to hold on. Later that day, they did a crew change without proper handover and one of them was spotted digging that same spot where the pipe was spotted. Finally, he was stopped on time and they all went in for re-induction. This happened because the outgoing crew did not properly hand over to the incoming crew. No communication and zero teamwork.

More reasons why teamwork and good communication are encouraged on a daily basis. No man is an island. Working together reduces the chances of accidents. That's why everyone must look out for one another. In other ways, a proper handover can also help reduce risk hazards at the rig site.

We all come together to work as a team in other to earn an income so we can solve family-related issues, provide food for our family, and go back home in one piece. For this to be achieved, we must apply safety in our daily activities.