What does Stop Work Authority mean for you??
Steve O. Vorenkamp Sr
![Steve O. Vorenkamp Sr]()
Steve O. Vorenkamp Sr
Business Partner at Vorenkamp Well Control Training, LLC., and Ptnr in Vorenkamp Travel Agency/Dream Vacations
- I am certainly blessed with the opportunity to travel to different work venues and witness operational integrity in action and in a few cases not so much. Corporate safety cultures are almost always based on good practices vetted by historical data, psychological strategies and motivational occurrences both negative and positive. All of this, with the expected “end result” of zero accidents/fatalities. We hear slogan like “Zero this and Safety first that” and yet, though motivational for the Human element, catch phrases do not root the culture in operational integrity. This is, more than any other time, the time when if it can happen, it will. Though my two examples are only 2, there are certainly more, but these I have witnessed more than a few times and they will reoccur if we don’t recognize them and react.
- One of my pet aggravations is when management says we have a Stop Action Culture. It is anchored by the executive management, populated by districts managers and supported by HSE professionals; we teach each and every new employee that this is what we do; YOU have the right and obligation to Stop unsafe practices and be rewarded for your diligence. Operation integrity is difficult to maintain when resources are low, costs are being trimmed and experience suffers, and backups are few.
- Then why are unsafe conditions still missed or worse ignored? How is it that in almost every accident, miscommunication is 3 parts of the equation to a disaster. You see it, then say it and own it……blah , blah blah. What’s wrong here. Put yourself in their place, when you were working your way up, did you ever compromise a policy going forward to save time?Would you then concede the 90% is ok for an airline pilot, or a nuclear reactor operator?? Or a sub boat captain??Though my two examples are only 2, there are certainly more, but these I was recently involved with a very comprehensive pre-spud meeting in the Rocky Mtns. And the work involved very sensitive public lands, so there were many over-riding gov’t regs to consider during normal operations. It was extremely important that all service companies understood their role and I give high marks to the Operator for taking the time and expense to do so. The corporate culture was reinforced and aligned with other management entities, timelines were discussed, expectations articulated. Then the bomb shell hit, the operator offered a big bonus for all participants if the operation was completed on time and additional monies offered if completed early. The expectations in the room were palpable and one could visibly see the impact on everyone in the room. I kept waiting for the next part to come, but it didn’t. So at the end of the day and additional questions requested , I had to ask, then what happens, if in the final week toward completion and realizing the deadline is in jeopardy (as well as bonuses) during the most critical part of the job? What do you think people will do to save their bonuses operationally, how many good practices will be cut short or ignored to reach that objective? The room, as you can imagine, became extremely quite………..having not said something here, would have been equal to Not using my Stop Authority. Though, not my job, to determine what’s next, it was the Operator’s personnel to identify gaps, yet none came forward prior to my comments. How many times is this present in your organization? What is the state of your Operational Integrity??Steve Vorenkamp Sr.IDS Global Inc.
- Chief Operating Officer
- Operational Integrity should be everyone’s concern, if you don’t think you have that as an issue, you already do. So ask yourself this, if a spot audit occurred right now , how would you fare??
- Unintended Motivation:
- come close to home.
- This is, more than any other time, when (So why then the bombshell?)iit can happen, it will.
- Operation integrity is difficult to maintain when resources are low, costs are being trimmed and experience suffers, and backups are few. I, all too often hear, “but 9-10 isn’t too bad”. How then do you rectify #10.
- Let’s look at micro-cultures first, these are inserted when consultants / 3 party are brought in to “manage” in areas where the companies’ normal personnel are not available. These people are driven by performance, for a positive and successful end result. For them $$, for us efficiency and compliance. The old saying is “you are only as good as the last job done”, so when good employees see actions or conditions as unsafe, yet are perceived as costly or delay forward progress(NPT), this is then ignored and worse, employees are threatened to go forward or, may lose their job and or be replaced if not following this counter directive . In this current oilfield climate, what do you think that employee will choose to do?
- Two elements immediately come to mind (though not only), (1) Micro-cultures inside the Core culture and (2) Unintended Motivations.
Regional Quality Manager
8 年Great read
Vorenkamp Well Control Training
8 年So true
Hi there Steve, I know where you're coming from, we used to call STOP "start telling on people" because that is all it achieved.. Well meant by the creators, just abused by both employees wanting longer smoke breaks and employers looking for better stats.. Until we are all airline pilots nothing is going to change, and I'm not so sure about that either ...
Senior Principal Engineer at Jay Bruton Enterprises
8 年I fully agree with everything Steve has said here. I, too have heard managers touting their firm's "Stop Work Authority" for each and every employee when I knew they were only spouting empty words. Most of the people who proudly announce this policy are not fully meaning to endorse work stoppages by any employee for any unsafe work they see. "Maximum productivity in minimum time" is a much more universally recognized job objective, especially in today's cost-cutting to the core economic hard times. Contractors would not be encouraged to have their people acting as "safety police" on jobs with tight schedules and even tighter cost constraints. As an industry, we need to come up with a better safety slogan than this one, because, frankly, that dog won't hunt any more.