SEMS Tools

Some of the most helpful tools for anyone trying to interpret the new SEMS rules that face the offshore oil and gas industry have now been released for public distribution. The Offshore Operators Committee (OOC) and the newly formed Center for Offshore Safety (COS) held a series of meetings last week along the Gulf Coast and briefed oil and gas companies and service contractors on a number of guidance documents. These documents were developed over a seven month period by a fairly dedicated group of volunteers (PEC has been an active participant in the process from the beginning).

The goal of this work has been to dissect the Safety and Environmental Management System regulations and the API RP 75 guidelines on safety management and come up with some common understanding of how they should be implemented. It has been a daunting task because it involved reaching consensus on training, safety approaches, definitions, evaluating contractors and a whole range of other, very technical, aspects of the regulations. The OOC and COS documents are not standards, but they may help operators and contractors get their arms around SEMS. This is critical because the government has said that all offshore oil and gas facilities must be operating under a SEMS plan by November 15^th or face penalties.

The SEMS tools cover:

1. Audit protocols for SEMS plans
2. A mapping document that helps explain what portions of the SEMS rule contractors will need to be actively involved in for the SEMS plan to meet regulations
3. An outline of training expectations under SEMS as well as matrices that help define the training that contractor personnel must have to work in different jobs offshore
4. Some of the ways that a contractor can determine whether their personnel have the skills and knowledge to perform their duties under SEMS
5. Definitions that can be followed in working through the SEMS requirements

This is one of those instances where the industry has come together voluntarily to help every offshore company meet the new standards for safety in the offshore world. Copies of the presentations can be found on the International Association of Drilling Contractor’s website at http://www.iadc.org/sems-toolkit/ or the Offshore Operators Committee website at http://www.offshoreoperators.com/.