The Society of Petroleum Engineers’ new report, ‘The Human Factor: Process Safety and Culture,’
provides guidance on reducing upstream operational risks and improving
safety. The report derives from a July 2012 meeting of a steering group
of subject matter experts. Section 6 of the 23 page report focuses on
the use of information technology in safety which ‘faces challenges as
to what information to present to individuals and teams.’ IT is often
‘unclear in its support, appearing to be confrontational or confusing.’
Information overload in the operational environment is a ‘serious and
growing issue.’ Another problem is an over-emphasis on the presentation
of sensor data rather than usable information. Poor integration of data
sources and of different stakeholders’ IT systems ‘unnecessarily
increases the risk of human error when making key operational
decisions.’ IT systems also often present information in a way that is
incompatible with the way people process it. Remote onshore operators
lack the sensory feedback experienced on the rig.
The authors
are ambivalent on the effects of automation. Safety automation systems
can contain dangerous situations but have a high cost when a shutdown
is triggered unnecessarily. Drilling IT requires sophisticated
intelligence because of the different nature of drilling compared to
refinery operations. The report does not mention products or vendors
with the curious exception of Ureason’s operational advisories model. Read the full report on 2102 and visit the SPE HF technical section.
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