Creating an operations safety culture in the oil and gas industry
How Maersk Oil elevated its safety culture
Reduced number
of process safety incidents
Challenge
Headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, Maersk is among the world’s largest container shipping lines and vessel operators. At the time of this case study, Maersk Oil was a wholly owned subsidiary of the company. It was later sold to Total Energies. JMJ’s partnership with Maersk Oil centered on helping them create an Incident and Injury-Free™ (IIF™) culture at two offshore rigs, and a large warehousing facility in Qatar, where safety and being Incident-Free was a huge focus for the organization.
Solution
Warehousing facility: Practical safety measures were introduced, including improving near-miss investigation follow up. JMJ facilitated IIF Orientations for all personnel and contractors, resulting in a change in behaviors around speaking up, reporting, and learning. People were engaged in conversations in safety meetings and encouraged to speak up. Safety became a value that is central to how work in the warehouse is conducted on a daily basis.
Oil rigs: Sneferu was Maersk’s biggest oil rig in the field. It was also the worst performing. The situation had become so serious that Maersk was considering breaking its contract. This changed when Maersk’s head of drilling operations attended one of JMJ’s Incident and Injury-Free leadership workshop and became certain that Sneferu’s performance could be turned around. Subsequent alignment and leadership sessions helped other leaders believe that their Incident-Free goals were possible. Together we:
- Conducted skills development to equip front-line supervisors to lead and direct Incident-Free work
- Worked with the contractor to develop safety leadership skills at senior level
- Held orientations for all staff to make Incident-Free personal and relevant to them
- Created a shared vision and commitment to Incident-Free
Management’s genuine and visible commitment sent a very strong message to their crews. Over the next six months, in partnership with JMJ, Sneferu become Maersk Oil’s best performing rig and the blueprint for an Incident-Free safety culture. This success was replicated at a second rig (Al Jasser) and then rolled out across the organization.
On Sneferu, we all took personal ownership of Maersk Oil’s Incident-Free safety commitment. The safety culture goes beyond the workplace, people have carried it over into their personal lives seeing safety as a true value.
We want to show the world we can achieve an Incident-Free workplace and we can build this to show we are number one in the world. The ultimate goal is to be the benchmark for safety within the oil and gas industry.
Results
Maersk’s commitment to Incident-Free helped build a strong safety culture which impacted across the organization. Going forward, Maersk Oil sought to replicate its successes in Qatar to transform the entire company’s safety culture and performance.
- The Sneferu oil rig went from being Maersk’s worst performer to its best in just six month
- Rather than dismissing the injured worker, leadership hold themselves responsible if an incident occurs
- Successful up, down, and sideways communication led to performance improvements
Reduced number
of process safety incidents
Reduced the risk
of a major incident
Reduced the number
of process shutdowns