New sharing website aims for "Step Change" in asset integrity

A new program to improve asset integrity on offshore installations in the North Sea has launched with the creation of a unique data-sharing website. The UK-based partnership Step Change in Safety says that its new asset-integrity site will help achieve the goal of making the UK oil and gas industry the world's safest by 2010.

The Step Change in Safety initiative was founded in 1997 by the UK's oil and gas industry trade associations. The partnership is made up of a leadership team comprising the managing directors of 15 operator and contractor companies and representatives from seven trade associations, including the UK Health and Safety Executive and the Trade Unions. It is also supported by Oil & Gas UK, the leading representative organization for the UK offshore E&P industry.

Step Change in Safety has a mandate to help make the UK oil and gas sector the world's safest through cooperation and information sharing. While individual companies are already making significant investments to maintain integrity and ensure longer operating lives for their own installations, "the role of Step Change is to ensure that lessons learned and good practices are widely shared so that the overall industry effort is as effective as it possibly can be," says Chris Allen, HSSE director with Oil & Gas UK.

The new website is designed to make this mandate a reality by sharing best practices, improving companies' internal learning processes, and enhancing inter- and intracompany communication in process-safety and asset-integrity issues.

The website includes two collections of key practices, known as the Hydrocarbon Release Toolkit and the Asset Integrity Toolkit. The first is a collection of good practices and guidance for the industry to promote and sustain a "no leak culture." The second includes references for setting up good practices, key performance indicators, and monitoring and maintenance tools to ensure that asset integrity is maintained and enhanced. Both toolkits are designed to be references for managers, supervisors, and the workforce.

The site also features several contributions and case studies from producers and service companies operating in the UK sector. "A big attraction of the new website is that an interested individual can access full details of a best-practice example or lesson learned from anywhere in the industry almost immediately," said John Forrest, head of the Step Change in Safety Asset Integrity Work Group. "This means that the new idea can be very quickly translated into an improved work practice."

The company contributions include:

• A corrosion-awareness presentation by Talisman Energy
• Chevron's perspective on what integrity management means in layman's terms
• A briefing from the Institute of Petroleum on the design of alarm systems and how they might contribute to, rather than prevent, accidents
• A final-report presentation on the events leading to the sinking of Petrobras' P-36 platform, and recommendations to avoid similar occurrences in the future.

The site also contains documents on consistent materials specifications for critical-component systems, workplace check sheets that companies can follow to ensure safe working practices in various activities, and news releases on upcoming Step Change initiatives.

According to Allen, "the website is the first in a number of initiatives planned for 2008, launching a unique, industry-wide effort to enhance asset integrity on offshore installations." For example, the Asset Integrity Work Group is in the latter development stages of a one-day interactive workshop on asset-integrity management. The workshop is aimed at equipping company leaders with the knowledge needed to ask the right asset-integrity questions such that they are prepared to set priorities and make informed decisions.

To learn more about Step Change in Safety and its new asset-integrity website, visit http://stepchangeinsafety.net/stepchange/resources_asset.aspx.

Ted Moon is the Technology Editor of JPT Online. He brings information on emerging technologies, R&D successes, new field applications, updates from SPE papers about recent innovations, and more. If you have a question or suggestion for future article topics, email Ted at teched@spe.org.