Scapa Energy is very pleased to continue our organic growth over the last year with existing and new clients. This provides a clear indicator there is a continued demand for independent assurance across all aspects of oil and gas, and other high hazard industries.

We strongly believe in taking a different approach to what we do. We embrace complexity in the various domains we operate in, recognising that by taking a systems approach, key insights and barriers to effective performance become clear, whether it is people, culture, ways of working, or technology. This in turn instils deep organisational learning.

The positive feedback from our clients reinforces the value this approach can provide.

New Clients, New Work

We started working closely with Spirit Energy throughout 2018 after carrying out an initial small assignment. Following a detailed gap analysis, Spirit has now adopted a similar major accident hazard assurance framework to that already adopted by other clients. This comprises a range of focussed audits covering major accident hazard topics and includes a high degree of engagement with site-based personnel as well as key decision-makers. Our analysis is strongly based on actual practices, and recommendations are targeted towards realistic interventions that influence front line performance and assure regulatory compliance.

As part of this framework, we have also completed detailed ‘Regulation 5’ audits for our clients. This is a key UK regulatory requirement which places a duty on field operators, and other equity partners, to ensure that outsourced duty holder contractors are effectively meeting their obligations as an installation operator under the Safety Case Regulations.

Scapa Energy has also recently started working with Apache North Sea. They are planning the implementation of a new Control of Work software application. Apache wanted to gain a deep understanding of front-line practices to ensure that any organisational issues did not impact the successful roll out before committing to the technical implementation of the new software. We worked closely with Apache to develop the scope and completed a series of site visits to build a picture of common themes and issues. These findings were incorporated into tangible improvement actions, fully aligned with the software implementation programme.

New Areas of Assurance

Assurance is essential not only for ongoing operations, but for major investments such annual shutdown/ turnaround programmes or major projects. We believe the same principles of systems methods, front-line engagement and leadership participation provides a powerful combination.

Adopting our core principles, we are now providing a range of project and shutdown management assurance services, including Shutdown Lessons Learned Reviews, Shutdown Risk Management services and Critical Path Scenario Planning for a major subsea project. This work has significantly contributed to de-risking these projects.

New Office, New Consultants, New Website

To continue our growth plans, we have acquired new office space in the centre of Aberdeen. This will allow us to work more closely with our client base and provides a central space for our team of consultants to meet and collaborate, as well as an alternative venue for client engagement.  The office is located at 7 Victoria Street.

To support the increased level of work, we have increased the size of our team. These new consultants bring with them a diverse range of operational, regulatory and management experience. What brings us together is our shared passion for reducing risk, improving performance and bringing tangible value to each of our clients.

Finally, we also have completed a major website refresh. Have a look to find out more about what we do and who we work with. You can find us at www.scapaenergy.uk.

If you are interested in discussing in more detail what we do, how we can help you, or if you are interested in working with us, we would be delighted to hear from you. Please contact graham@scapaenergy.uk, or stephanie@scapaenergy.uk.

The last year has been an exciting period with heads down and shoulder to the wheel to meet client demand

This effort has resulted in a steady increase in the range of clients we have, the diversity of projects we are managing, and enhanced capability from our growing team of consultants. With a swing to a positive sentiment in the energy industry, we are looking forward to continuing this path whilst consolidating our core services with existing clients.

With our unique mix of experience and by taking a holistic systems approach, we strongly believe we can make a real difference to risk management and asset performance in upstream and high hazard industries.

In what ways do we achieve this?

• Major Accident Hazard independent audit and assurance, focussing on front line operations.
• Independent regulatory advice for operators including management of the Well and Installation Operator approval process.
• Process Safety leadership, coaching and competency assessment.
• Transition Management and Operational Readiness Reviews.
• Independent Incident Investigation.

How do we deliver this?

• Our team of consultants is a unique combination of senior operational managers and ex-regulators.
• We have a hands-on approach to engagement, we know which stones to look under and who to talk to.
• Our advice is always impartial and evidence-based.
• We take a systems view, avoiding the trap of ‘wood and trees’ and understand the wider business context.

What assignments have we been working on? Here are some examples of ongoing or recently completed work;

• Managing and delivering EnQuest’s Major Accident Hazard Audit and Assurance programme, operational Readiness Review process and provision of Transition Management support.
• Provision of HSE Audit and Assurance Services for Chevron UK North Sea operations.
• Led a successful Well Operator approval process for a newly formed Independent Operator in the UK.
• Led Operational Readiness Reviews for new FPSO operations in the UK and Internationally, including the Kraken project.
• Completed a number of Process Safety related investigations and provided advice to manage regulatory compliance challenges.
• Delivered a programme of Process Safety Leadership and Competence Assessment for Spirit Energy, including operations in Norway, Netherlands and the East Irish Sea.
• Completed Safety culture assessments for a variety of European high hazard sites, engaging with front-line and senior management personnel.
• Leaning on our regulatory experience, provided Fatal accident Expert Witness services for a UK high hazard operation.
• Designed and implemented an HSE Management system for an Independent UK E&P Company.
• Completed an Asset Transfer Due Diligence exercise for HSE and Operational areas.

Scapa Energy is committed to efficient and effective delivery of our services with the goal of always increasing client value by working together to; reduce risk, enhance organisational learning and improvement, and achieve regulatory compliance. This is what motivates us as we look forward to an exciting new year.

If you are interested in discussing in more detail what we do, how we can help you, or if you are interested in working for us, we would be delighted to hear from you. Please contact graham@scapaenergy.uk, stephanie@scapaenergy.uk, or have a look at our website www.scapaenergy.uk.

In our oil and gas industry, we have many arrangements in place to assure, audit, learn lessons etc. and continuously improve our operations. Many of these arrangements are driven by regulation or to meet Company standards, as well as improve operational and HSE performance. Unplanned events do occur and we investigate to ensure ‘lessons are learned’. But how effective are all these activities as a means of organisational learning and what more can be done to make sustainable improvements to control risk in our hazardous operations?

Three perspectives which I think offer some insight are;

• What do we say we do through our processes and procedures
• What do we actually do in practice
• What more can be done to improve organisational learning

Taking the first, as an industry we create many procedures, standards, policies, processes, swimlanes, excel registers, databases etc. Each time a new requirement emerges, an incident occurs, or new assets are added, we add to the already burgeoning collection of management system documents. At some point, we all end up moving to a ‘de-cluttering’ exercise!

These are essential tools to manage our business. However, when we undertake creating these documents, how much time and effort do we put in to understanding the perspectives of the end user, the usability of the document, the logical soundness of the processes, the clarity and style of language, and making effective use of graphics and icons. My experience shows a mixed bag; there are some excellent examples out there, matched by procedures that are well in excess of 150 pages, or with flowcharts so complex, you need an algorithm to work out all the possible combinations!

However well or otherwise we capture ‘what we say we do’, what actually happens in practice? Given that the stated purpose of any procedure is well intended, the expectation must be that well intended actions follow. Given any improvement to a procedure or process, equally we should expect improved performance. And given that we audit, verify and assure these processes to check they are effective, we should, after identifying gaps to close, have effective processes that work in practice.

But there are many situations where a gap persists between procedures and practice. Following an incident, how often do we see the root cause of ‘procedure not followed. Or, during an audit, in answer to the question ‘are you aware of this procedure’, the answer is often in the negative.

Whether the activity is proactive assurance, or investigation, the findings from these must be the kernel to organisational learning and improvement. This raises two other questions – are the findings robust, and how well are these findings implemented?

Too often, findings and recommendations are ambiguous, open ended, or confusing. Increased rigour, competence and governance to create targeted, value adding SMART actions is essential.

When actions are entered into the organisation’s action-tracking system, is there clear accountability through the life of these actions, all the way through to checking if the action has actually made a difference? Is the learning loop being closed?

When organisations adopt ISO standards, they are couched in PDCA models, ‘non-conformances’, and other such quality oriented terms. This can add to the theory-practice gap because the language of Quality is often incongruent with day to day oil and gas operations. This does not make for an effective ‘learning system’.

What more can be done to strengthen the organisation’s learning effectiveness? Perhaps a first step is to look at what the learning process is. Deming’s PDCA continuous improvement cycle has been in use over a long period, driven from a manufacturing viewpoint where we;

1. Plan a better way of improving a product (or process)
2. Implement (Do) the improvement
3. Check if the improvement has worked (Deming called this a Study step)
4. Take further Act(ion) to improve again, and so on in a cycle

An alternative model is offered, where we;

1. Engage with end users and observe behaviours in practice, compare these experiences to the expectations defined in company processes.
2. Reflect on what is driving any differences in practice, what are the underlying themes from a cross section of perspectives, what are the soft issues, are there any feedback loops setting up certain types of behaviour?
3. Form a clear view on what the essential themes (or models) are that drive practice and what improvement actions might make a difference. Check any assumptions being made.
4. Validate these key improvement actions with those who will be affected, test how they will add value, and implement through a robust change management process, and we return then to the first step.

This learning process (introduced by Kolb, 1984), takes account of people, their unique perspectives, and the importance of taking time to reflect and identify underlying themes.

Kolb (1984)

How does this translate into our fast-moving dynamic, complex and unpredictable energy industry? This suggested approach, a systems approach, is not complex or time-consuming. It is necessary however to think and plan a little differently. Rather than only getting involved at low levels of detail and looking at component level, also stand back and observe the wider behaviours in the workplace. Rather than think of events in isolation, look at the feedback loops and other inter-relationships which have caused the event. Rather than assume people will comply with a process, engage with the key users, go to their operating space and really understand their perspective. Get them involved in shaping business processes.

Organisational Learning using a Systems Approach such as this is expertly introduced in Peter Senge’s ‘The Fifth Discipline”. A recommended read for an introduction to systems thinking in organisations.

With this approach, more effective interventions are possible, personal ownership for improvement will be more likely, and in the long term, more effective organisational learning, and a safer and more efficient operation!

Courtesy of James Reason, the Swiss Cheese Model has advanced thinking considerably in the explanation, and in the prevention, of major accidents in the energy industry. Reason forced us to think in more than one dimension and to consider ‘defences in depth’ to avoid undesirable events happening in our industry. These defences include hardware, people, systems and processes.

Reasons ‘Defences in Depth’, 1997

In recent years, industry has adopted many tools, processes and models based on this barrier model aimed at preventing and minimising the risk of Major Accident Hazards being realised. This has without doubt progressed the understanding of the primary causal factors of these events, but we are still, with an unnerving regularity, having unplanned hydrocarbon releases and major accidents. In the UK North Sea, hydrocarbon leaks have reduced in recent years, however, in the period April 2013 to April 2014 there was a 20% increase in leaks (source HSE). This year alone, four workers were killed and several injured, following a fire and explosion on the Pemex Abkatun platform in the Gulf of Mexico, and six workers were killed on the Cidade de Sao Mateus FPSO in Brazil following a pump room explosion.

Certainly, there will have been in-depth analyses carried out by investigators to understand what barriers have failed and resulted in these tragic events. We have a very effective tool to analyse and present these findings through the barrier model, but, it did not prevent the event. Is this because Reason’s model was not applied, not understood, or limited in some other way?

I think there is a limitation of this model, which is this – it is targeted at avoidance of an undesirable event in isolation. To offer a simple analogy of football, if the only strategy was to avoid conceding goals, we wouldn’t be a very successful team. A holistic approach would have a strong defence, midfield and forwards. We would have clear strategies for developing the performance of the team as a whole, identifying barriers to improving overall performance, not just defending. We would have arrangements in place to reflect on performance and identify what areas require further improvement.

By adjusting our mindset to go beyond barriers to avoiding undesirable events happening, we would open up fresh thinking and new ideas, such as identifying barriers to Best Practice. By understanding the barriers to best practice we could strengthen our prevention safeguards and create a larger gap between daily operations and the risk of a major accident, and at the same time, providing significant leeway when organisational drift reduces performance over time.

Moving towards Best Practice

Of course, it can be argued that this is just another way of presenting an ‘ALARP’ justification, but there is a difference. In our day to day management of operations, if we think ‘what can I do today that will make a shift towards better practice’, rather than the approach of ‘what do I need to do to meet a minimum standard’ then new opportunities arise. It might be something as simple as focussing on better quality risk assessments for work activities, or investing more effort in integrity management strategies, or looking at opportunities for the team to work more to its strengths.

During the design stage of major developments, how well do we really meet Inherent Safety in Design goals (rather than falling into the reverse ALARP trap)? Testing the design against best practices, and taking into account all the necessary trade-offs, will result in a safer design and a smoother passage through regulatory assessment.

Taking yet another view, Dave Brailsford of Team Sky provides a powerful example of moving towards best practice over a long period of incremental improvements, or as he called it;

the aggregation of marginal gains

To address the question raised in the title of this blog, Reason’s cheese model has been immensely successful in advancing preventive measures, and is perhaps not yet stale! But we need new metaphors to energise our thinking and to move to a different level of performance and we need alternative models to stimulate fresh debate on achieving best practice.