Two safety consultants of Proforma Safety International have been recognized by ConocoPhillips for their outstanding contribution to safety with ConocoPhillips Upstream Safety Ambassador awards.

Proforma Safety’s Raymond Gonzalez and Jeff McClenny were recognized for their safety leadership and for taking personal ownership to drive improved safety performance. Both safety consultants worked on the Peregrine Falcon 3D program, the largest land program in ConocoPhillips history, including the heritage companies. The project experienced zero recordable and zero lost time injuries. Nearly 500,000 man-hours were worked without incident. Both award recipients received letters of commendation and plaques from the senior vice president of ConocoPhillips Exploration and Business Development.

Prior to the Peregrine Falcon project, Gonzalez and McClenny worked on ConocoPhillip’s Tier IV and Barnett 3D programs, which also were completed successfully, achieving the safety goal of zero. They provided safety oversight for night operations on the Wyoming NEES3D program and completed the project without a recordable incident. Gonzalez also completed a second phase of the NEES3D program, assisting with the trashing completion at the end of the job with no recordable incidents.

In October 2011, McClenny was invited to participate as panel speaker in the ConocoPhillips Upstream HSE Summit with approximately 3,000 participants conferring on best practices for building a safety culture, risk tolerance, safe behaviors, hazard recognition and planning, process and contractor safety.

Jimmy Taylor, another Proforma Safety consultant, had also worked on the Peregrine Falcon project, but had moved on to another project before the review process for the award began.

“This is the type of performance that Proforma Safety consultants deliver on every job, every day, for every client,” said Proforma Safety President Scott Arnold. “Our team shows its passion for keeping both client and contractor personnel safe, and our outstanding safety track records across multiple projects are proof of this.

“We are very proud to have a team that’s so committed to making Proforma Safety a best in class HSE consulting company and grateful for all they do to grow our reputation,” he concluded. “We truly have the most experienced and dedicated team in our industry. “

How well does sourcing through a single contractor serve the Client’s interests when it comes to safety? Proforma Safety says single sourcing will not always guarantee a safe and consistent job. Regardless of the type of project, having a single contractor handle everything — including safety — can lead to problems.

“The ability for objective, third-party oversight can be diminished, and the potential introduced for dictated safety practices, cover-ups, non-reported incidents or doctored reports to ensure the project looks good in the eyes of the Client,” said Proforma Safety CEO Mike Arnold. “It’s been our experience that it’s better for the Client to hire its own safety experts to handle safety oversight.”

He cites an example in which a service provider is hired by a Client to deliver a turn-key project. The service provider then hires a company like Proforma Safety to oversee safety.

“The risk is that the service provider will tell us, ‘you report any incidents to us, not the Client.’ This does not always serve the interests of the Client,” he explained. “We have turned down several assignments on that very basis because we believe safety should be done one way, the correct way. Our reputation is built on this belief. It’s what our customers count on us for.”

Reading newspapers, cracking jokes, not acting as team…this resulted in a collision between an oil tanker and an outbound vessel towing barges that produced the largest spill in Texas since 1990 and closed the Sabine Neches Ship Channel for five days. The NTSB report cited pilot fatigue as a factor. Fortunately no one was injured.

It’s the small things that lead to big problems — inattentiveness, lack of communication, boredom, distractions or fatigue.

Fatigue is not merely being tired. It can be due to medical conditions, lifetyle or emotional problems or stress. Depression, grief and anxiety all lead to tatigue.

To the extent that we can recognize the symptoms of fatigue in fellow workers, the safer our workplaces will become.

Scott Arnold, President of Proforma Safety International LLC, has been recognized by Cambridge Who’s Who for showing dedication, leadership and excellence in health, safety and environmental project management.

For nearly two decades, Arnold has managed projects for major oil companies, providing oversight for all corporate decisions, contracts and proposals, and personally supervising projects. He ensures the Proforma Safety team of 32 people is properly trained and current on technology and industry trends in order to provide the best services for his clients. Among its many successes, during nine years’ of service on one project, Proforma Safety was able to achieve a Best in Class HSE performance record.

On January 3, 2011, the Wall Street Journal reported that while the current administration lifted the ban in October, it hasn’t issued any permits for new deep water oil wells. This delay, reported WSJ, “has hurt both the oil industry, which has seen billions of dollars in projects put on hold, and the Gulf Coast’s economy, which has been hit hard by the slowdown.”

However Mike Arnold, Chief Executive Officer of Proforma Safety International, believes the unwarranted and unecessary pause in drilling and production operations – coupled with the U.S. Government’s further involvement in regulating oil and gas production in the United States — will reinforce the focus on safety.

“Among the oil and gas operators and their contractors,” said Arnold, “we’re seeing safety being moved to the forefront of every operation, and more than ever, placed ahead of both scheduling and profit.  

“The oil industry has progressed over the years to be one of the safest industries operating anywhere in the world,” he continued. “But because of the BP/Transocean incident last year being magnified by the news media and expanded on by the special interest groups in Washington,  our industry is being portrayed as unsafe and in need of a complete overhaul.  

“This is surely not the case,” he concluded. “It’s a stigma we can easily overcome by continuing to enforce existing HSE policies and procedures while improving how management incorporates safety into their plans, operations and daily activities.”

Jeff McClenny, Proforma Safety lead HSE advisor, has been working on a seismic acquisition project in South Texas for ConocoPhillips. Jeff recently received a thank-you message from the Client for the safety record that has been achieved: 204,625 man-hours and 873,224 miles driven without a single recordable health, safety or environmental incident.

Proforma Safety International has published this free online survey that will help you assess the current state of your safety programs and how your employees, contractors, or subcontractors perceive the challenges at the worksite or within your organization. Our goal is to start you thinking about where gaps may exist in your own safety processes. All responses are tallied electronically and we’ll email you a report of results along with our free recommendations for steps to address findings from the results.

Proforma Safety International can develop surveys for your organization, developing questions in partnership with you or designated representatives, fully customized to a particular situation. Please email us at proforma@proformasafety.com, or call us at +1 281 358 3437.

Battelle has expanded the scope of Proforma Safety’s HSE oversight services to include new carbon sequestration wells at American Electric Power’s (AEP) Mountaineer facility in West Virginia. In 2011,  Proforma Safety will begin HSE oversight of operations in Michigan where Battelle will be involved in CO2 sequestration projects funded by the Department of Energy and energy companies.

In a post-Deepwater Horizon world, oil companies will continue to push into deeper water while dealing with potential slowdowns due to permitting and regulatory changes. They will rise to the challenges of greater scrutiny on operators and more stringent quality and safety requirements.

But to paraphrase one industry analyst: a company is only secure until its next accident. Liabilities can kill good companies.

Which is why Proforma Safety exists — to help companies like yours avoid disasters. In the coming months, we offer our services to any organization that is working to ensure their HSE plans comply with the new regulations. Too many plans that look good on paper fail to survive the blast of an industrial accident.

Proforma Safety International today announced it has signed a Master Service Agreement with Aker Solutions Subsea, a subsidiary of Aker Marine. Proforma Safety will provide HSE personnel for Aker vessels in its worldwide operations.

Scott Arnold, president of Proforma Safety, says this represents an important step for both Aker and Proforma Safety. 

“Our HSE personnel have been on board many of Aker’s vessels representing our clients,” Arnold explained. “Based on our performance, the relationship grew and evolved into this service agreement.”

Arnold commended Aker’s commitment to safety. “Aker has always been proactive when it comes to safety, which has helped us achieve best in class HSE performance,” he continued. “Now we will be working as a extension of their HSE group. We are very excited about this relationship and see it as a longterm win for both companies.”

Aker Solutions is part of Aker (www.akerasa.com), a group of premier companies with a focus on energy, maritime and marine resources industries.

BP’s Thunder Horse Subsea Manager recently sent a letter to Proforma Safety citing the company for “the outstanding contributions they have made to the safety culture of the Thunder Horse Project.” More

As of July 16, 2010, Proforma Safety International has been awarded three projects by Battelle Memorial Institute that are part of its clean coal initiative using its proprietary CO2 sequestration technology. Proforma will be developing the HSE plans and providing oversight for the drilling program. These projects are located in West Virginia, Michigan and Illinois.

As of July 20, 2010, Proforma Safety has recorded 178,560 man hours worked without an LTI, LTA or DAW case on the BP oil spill containment operations offshore. Proforma has been contracted by BP to oversee its containment operations to ensure safe working conditions. Approximately 6,000 hours have been worked by Proforma HSE Advisors assigned to vessels connected to the BP containment operations.

On April 20, 2010, the United States and the oil and gas industry suffered the worst tragedy we have possibly ever faced with the Deepwater Horizon. Can we continue to develop our natural resources safely? In this article, Proforma Safety President Scott Arnold offers his insight into the causes of the Deepwater Horizon tragedy and urges the energy industry to prioritize safety over cost and schedule.