Strengthening Safety Culture: Nurturing a Lifetime of Protection in the Oil and Gas Industry

A culture, any culture, takes time to develop, it cannot be decided and implemented the very same day. It must be nursed and cared for, improved over time, until it is absorbed and a part of daily life.

The safety culture in the oil & gas business has high standards and permeates your life, making you see risks where you earlier saw none – both at work and in your spare time. Without thinking about it, you have become a safer person – even though adrenalin junkies will still carry on their activities outside working hours.

There are obviously different types of risks, some can lead to injury in an instant, while others can lead to injury over time. One of those sneaking injuries affects your hearing. Going back in time, a colleague using a sledgehammer on a piece of steel right behind you would give you an instant hearing disability, eventually, as you grew older, making normal conversation challenging as people got tired of shouting at you about their day. On top of that, a high-pitched tone all day, every day, would remind you of the unhealthy noise levels you were exposed to when you were younger.

Speaking of being younger, it is more difficult to follow the safety standards when you just started your career with a new employer. Being the one that follows the rules where others could not be bothered takes a special kind of confidence. This is where culture comes into play; If the older colleagues are good role models, the new colleagues follow suit. And vice versa, if older colleagues do not protect their hearing, the new colleagues will follow their lead.

Taking care of your health, protecting it from sudden injuries as well as injuries that takes time to develop, is the number one priority every day, year-round, and will eventually be a perfectly natural part of life at work -or culture if you like.

Written by Fredrik Johannesen - SVP, Managing Director