‘Piper Alpha was a turning point – not just for us but for the entire oil industry. The same was true of Brent Spar – although in a different way. But common to these two events was that they focussed attention on the industry’s ability to ensure people’s health and safety and protect the environment.’
Preventing mishaps
And it is exactly the goal of being able to predict what may go wrong, in order to prevent it, which is the driving force behind Shell and Karen Madro. We must never be surprised, she says. Through our management systems, we must ensure that all hazards have been identified, and that all major hazards are managed to tolerable levels that the risk of an accident happening is as low as reasonably practical. Throughout its long history in the Gulf of Mexico, Shell has played a prominent role in the regions development. The company is not only the largest oil and gas producer in this area, which is one of the worlds most important for the exploration and production of oil and gas, but has also, through its expertise and collaboration with skilled industrial partners, been a leader in the development of new technology in new areas with deeper waters.
HSE a line responsibility
But results are never achieved without cooperation, says Karen Madro. No one can work in isolation. DNV has worked closely with Shell for more than a year in order to reinforce the focus on HSE in all parts of the organisation. This project has gradually grown in size, but its goal has always been the same: to help develop guidelines to take care of all aspects of human health and safety, and to ensure that the environment is not negatively affected by offshore or onshore operations. Based on its culture of continuous improvement, Madro confirms that Shell intends to develop systems that reform its effort of HSE. Our challenge now is to maintain the momentum of our progress to date and further improve our HSE work. To this end, and as Ive already said, no one can work in isolation. We realised early in the work of reinforcing HSE that we needed to call upon additional expertise beyond that in our own company. Our experience so far is that DNV has brought expertise, experience and useful tools for risk assessment into our HSE work. New ideas and techniques have been introduced. Once weve reached our target, together we will have lifted Shell to a higher level, with more emphasis and visibility regarding health and safety aspects.
Raising a standard
Developments over the past decade, in which Shell has moved into deeper waters and recovered oil from increasingly complex reservoirs, have strengthened its position at the forefront of the oil industry. But Karen Madro underlines the challenges inherent in these developments. Were operating in deeper waters than ever before and in reservoirs with extremely high pressures. We have developed technology to face these challenges, but we must ensure that the people who are to operate the technology are ahead of it. Im proud of the technological developments that Shell has contributed to, and of the work were now carrying out to improve health, increase safety and bring about a greater concern for environmental consequences. No oil company can ignore the importance of HSE work. I think were raising a standard through this systematic risk-based approach that our industry will benefit from in the future.