Managing better

from World Pipelines January 2022

Developments in the pipeline

Bonney Hodges, Energy Operations Director at ISN, USA, answers some questions about changing regulations, operator qualifications and how contractor management systems can help oil and gas businesses.

How do constantly changing regulations in the oil and gas impact businesses in the industry? Every organisation must adhere to the regulations that apply to their industry. While businesses in the oil and gas industry are always dealing with compliance and regulatory standards, the changing nature of regulations can have huge time and cost implications. When newer regulations are released, oil and gas companies must be able to adapt, and do so quickly.

Constantly changing regulations alter how operators perform their work. When new regulations cause operators to change their course, it can be extremely costly. This makes it crucial to have tools and partners in place to help businesses pivot quickly or find a solution to adhere to these new regulations in a timely and costeffective manner.

What is the purpose of operator qualifications, and what challenges does it present to businesses? Operator qualifications (OQ) are used to validate the competency of individual workers performing operations and maintenance work on pipelines in the US. The purpose is to ensure that each individual working on a pipeline is qualified for the work they’re performing on oil and gas sites. OQs are put in place to keep worksites safe, and to prevent spills or incidents from occurring. Operators are responsible for tracking and validating OQs and are audited regularly by The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) and other regulatory parties.

However, changing regulations pose a large administrative burden to these companies, which often track OQs for hundreds of individuals, and must implement and document a clear management of change process for any changes made to their OQs plan. This includes addressing audit findings and communicating the changes to contractor employees. In addition to the taxing nature of handling these changes, when operators lack the information they need during an audit, it can result in fines on the company. For operators dealing with OQs, it is important for them to have access to information that allows them to keep up with the changing requirements.

How can leveraging a contractor management platform help businesses keep up with changing regulations? Leveraging a contractor management platform can assist businesses in the oil and gas industry by helping them keep up with ever-changing OQs. Contractor management platforms act as a centralised location for clients to access any relevant information that may affect their business. Contractor management software monitors changing regulations and ensures that all impacted customers are aware of them. Bulletin board and messaging features on a contractor management platform offer an easy solution for communicating changing requirements to these companies’ contractors when changes in regulation occur.

Through contractor management platforms like ISNetworld®, businesses can participate in client roundtables and networking discussions to connect with other industry professionals on the best practices to address these changing regulations. This ultimately drives synergy across the industry.

Contractor management platforms also offer businesses easy access to tools and solutions that will help them address changing regulations in their industry. Through the collection of additional data, collaboration on company-specific policies, and the analysis of information from their contractor base, these tools support companies in responding appropriately to changes in regulations. Contractor management platforms also permit businesses to track and archive all their data, so businesses can easily manage and access their data history.

Finally, partnering with a contractor management platform offers businesses a knowledgeable extension to their immediate team. Client-specific support teams provide guidance to businesses on the tools and services that best fit their needs. These subject matter experts serve as resources to help apply changing regulations, but can also educate on various topics such as HSE, quality, insurance and sustainability.

What digital solutions can allow companies to increase their safety culture, and ensure workers are prepared to complete tasks properly? A third-party contractor management platform can help an organisation clearly communicate their policies and expectations to contractors, helping them enforce a strong safety culture. By clearly defining requirements and how contractors are evaluated, it helps workers to understand what a company’s safety priorities are, as well as how they are evaluated.

Leveraging digital solutions can help streamline the contractor qualification process by promoting transparency, improving communication, increasing due-diligence and allowing for opportunities to benchmark performance. A few examples of digital safety culture tools include: ) An ID badging system, which provides a green and red-light system to help companies ensure that every employee coming on site is properly qualified and prepared to complete their tasks safely.

) Analytics dashboards to quickly assess overall contractor compliance and help organisations identify gaps in training, compliance or safety standards.

) Online training and learning management system (LMS) platforms to post orientation and safety trainings for contractor employees to complete before coming on site.

) Safety culture assessment surveys that gather feedback from a company’s employees and and their contractor employees on their perception of safety at the organisation. This allows a company to assess misalignment between management, frontline and field workers and provides action planning to address the gaps and improve safety culture over time.