Improving Control of Work: addressing human and organisational factors and the experience and lessons from early implementation in the North Sea

Just because you have a permit doesn’t make you safe. This paper describes an aviation-inspired human and organisational factors (HOF) approach to improving one major oil and gas company’s Control of Work (CoW) system. ... [ view full abstract ]

Just because you have a permit doesn’t make you safe. This paper describes an aviation-inspired human and organisational factors (HOF) approach to improving one major oil and gas company’s Control of Work (CoW) system. The challenge was finding the right balance between control/rigour and usability/compliance. Methods included: structured baseline setting (HOF audit, incident review and survey); active user involvement; collaborative design with training and technology providers, HOF specialists; good practice review (aviation sector); system – including procedural – usability improvements. Early results are promising and the approach has already been adopted by other major operators.