Thoughts a quarter of a century later

Dateline: Monday 28th November 2016 - Aberdeen, Scotland (still in the EU).

Twenty-five years ago this week I started working with Santa Fe Drilling’s training department in Aberdeen as a Safety Trainer. I had helped run a green hand training programme a few years earlier (the week 167 offshore workers lost their lives in the North Sea when Piper Alpha went up) but I was still rig crew then – this was me starting full time in training. It was also my first time working in an office environment. It was also also the first time I was mixing it with the managers that made the whole thing happen out there.

The first training session I ran on my own was rolling out the new (at the time) post Cullen Report into Piper Alpha safety management system materials (all seventeen manuals of it) to the night shift catering crew (all three of them) on a jack-up rig after their shift had finished. I had a folder full of acetates to put on the overhead projector, a blank sheet of paper so I could reveal the text line by line and a spare bulb for the projector – I was ready. One of the stewards fell asleep within ten minutes and the chef’s head was decidedly wobbly by the end! Reckon I got through the hour long presentation in a shade under 25 minutes!

Since then I have run training offshore in topics such as manual handling, banksman slinger & lift truck operator through wall thickness testing, safety observation skills and food hygiene (payback time for the steward). In classrooms onshore I have delivered training in drilling calculations, risk assessment, supervisor skills, accident investigation, implications of the safety case and train the trainer amongst other topics plus (and after ‘plus’ I always want to say “Tubular Bells”), on more occasions than anything else, well control.

I have helped develop and manage competence programmes, self-study programmes, computer based training programmes, emergency response training programmes, video programmes (on actual videotape!), leadership development programmes, new-build rig start-up programmes and have assisted with contract bid submissions, rig training budgets and regulatory authority compliance audits. 

I’ve also had the opportunity to put together training programmes on a global scale. One five-day programme, that was put together with RTW, the head of HSE, ran for almost ten years in places as varied as Aberdeen, Bad Bentheim, Bangkok, Budapest, Cyprus, Dubai, Mexico, Muscat, Tripoli and Tyumen (a while back now that second last one). Another one has seen me run training courses for instructors on four continents. As an aside I reckon I’ve managed to have a beer or a nice glass of red in all the locations bar one – pun not intended.

So what has the last quarter of a century spent exclusively training drilling people of one kind or another taught me? 

Firstly. Communication is all. It doesn’t matter if you’re running a training session, supervising a crew, working on a project or managing an organisation, communication is all. Get the message right and things generally work out. Get it wrong……........……

Secondly. Quality always supersedes quantity. Working well is always better than working long. Work hard to deliver quality and but leave work on time and spend it where you want to. Don’t get jaded – rest and stay fresh - make damn sure you take all the annual leave that is open to you. Try and find some excitement in what you do every day if possible because if you are enjoying yourself the quality follows. Be honest in what you do - to yourself and those you’re working with and for.

Thirdly.  If you are in a position to give people freedom to work, then give it. Some of my best stuff has been done when my bosses have trusted me to deliver and then let me get on with it. Freedom to work is a big WIIFM motivator when more money may not be an option open to you.

Fourthly. Don’t forget your sense of humour. Even if it’s crap!

Fifthly. I still bleed orange when I’m cut. That first company really can make a big impression if they do a good job and I believe Santa Fe did a do good job.

Finally.  Drilling people come in many shapes, sizes and colours with different political, religious and sexual orientations. Some of them are as thick as two short planks and some come with degrees falling out their ears (most are in the middle). Some are the best people you will ever come across while others are complete and utter arseholes.  Some will stay your friends for a very long time and some you will forget immediately. You’ll meet them all sometime if you hang around long enough.  They’ll all have stories to tell however – listen to them as you’ll almost certainly learn something.

Well that’s enough for the first quarter of a century. I don’t expect to get a full second one in but another decade or so would be nice. Still some stories I need to hear.