BackDROPS Forum - Aberdeen, 1st December 2011
Greg Reid opened the Forum and gave a Safety Brief.
DROPS Update – Greg Reid, DROPS
The recent DROPS updates are:
MEMBERSHIP: Delighted to welcome following new members: Vertech Group Pty Ltd (Australia), Core IRM PTE (Singapore), Caspian Drilling (Azerbaijan) and EnerMech (UK).
DROPS INTERNATIONAL: DROPS USA held their last Forum in May. They have now established a regional DROPS charter and a plan for their way ahead. They plan a forum in Q1 of 2012.
DROPS Asia held several forums this year, most recently in Perth, Western Australia. A Malaysian forum is planned early in Q1 of 2012. Also, look out for DROPS Asia’s DropZone bulletin which we post to the DROPS website. We will shortly be issuing a call to DROPS members (particularly Operators) to support the DROPS Asia Steering committee.
DROPS Middle East moving ahead at pace with a highly successful DROPS forum in Doha this week (over 100 attendees!).
Sponsorship is being arranged and plans put in place to host an inaugural South American DROPS forum and Training Programme in April 2012.
DROPS TRAINING: Since last forum, DROPS Training and Awareness has been undertaken in Ghana and Qatar, and training is planned in South Africa later in month. DROPS Train-the-Trainer sessions continue to be hosted through 2012 in UK at regular intervals – see website for details.
DROPS FORUMS: Next Year’s UK Forums will be held in the Marcliffe Hotel, Aberdeen on:
- Wednesday 29 February
- Thursday 26 April
- Thursday 6 September
- Thursday 6 December
A Norwegian Forum will be held in June as usual and subject to demand a forum is being planned for Great Yarmouth in October Please visit our website periodically for details of other international forums.
INDUSTRY EXCHANGES: Following on from our exchanges with the Construction Sector, we have been invited by the Association of Electricity Producers to present DROPS to their HSE Forum on December 15th.
FOCUS GROUPS: DROPS Training and Campaign Pack Update Focus Group met today (short presentation in agenda). We will be seeking to establish a Focus Group for update of Reliable Securing / Review of new Securing Products.
For our Focus on DROPS Translations, we still welcome your support. So far this year, we have (all downloadable from website) :
- SPANISH: Tools at Height, PreTask Checklists, Poster Selection, Survey/Inspection Guidelines.
- PORTUGUESE: Poster Selection.
- ARABIC: Tools at Height, Red Zones, Reliable Securing Rev2
In our last session today, we will seek everyone’s input in deciding and engaging in 2012 Focus Areas
DROPS PRODUCTS: Special Thanks to Les Symmons and his team in Total. They have helped us iron out some technical problems with the electronic version of the DROPS Calculator. The new calculator is now available for download from the website and it will be issued with Campaign Pack updates.
ADMINISTRATION: As of today, Silverdot (DROPS Administrators) has relocated to Banchory Business Centre and have a new telephone number (01330 826510). DROPS website contact details are duly updated.
Banksmans Checks – Paul Clatworthy, Centrica
Paul gave us an overview of a simple system that they have put into place in Morecambe Bay for banksman checks to help reduce the number of potential dropped objects during backloading. This system enhances the current UK O&G Guidelines. Some examples of items found, in-situ, were shown. After investigations it was found that the current system of completing paper sheets was not always feasible in bad weather. Customary practice was to complete these before the lift and send them down to the vessel with the manifest paper. They wanted to develop a system that would ensure the banksman would carry out his checks prior to the lift. A large yellow label was designed to be signed and attached to the lifting eye. This signed and dated label gives the banksman ownership of the check. The size and visibility of the label allows everyone involved to notice that a check has been done. If a label is not visible then the crane operator and all other personnel involved in the lift are instructed to refuse the lift. Since being introduced over a year ago, they have only suffered one dropped object during back-loading. Samples of the labels were available for delegates to take away.
You can contact Paul directly if you wish any further help and advice on this system.Click here to email Paul.
Follow this link to download the presentation.
HSE Update – Donald Dobson, HSE
We had our quarterly update from the HSE and Donald gave us the statistics that have been received by the HSE to date. The quarterly totals from 2008 to date were shown and he then had them broken down into 3 categories. Pipe-handling and Derrick fittings still have the highest number of incidents. A few examples of high-potential incidents were discussed. All of these incidents had the potential to cause fatalities when plotted onto the DROPS calculator. Crane & Lifting operation examples and statistics were also discussed.
Follow this link to download the presentation.
DORIS – Allen Smith, DROPS
Allen gave an overview of the current statistics held in DORIS. The message has not changed in the past year and the top 3 causes are still the same from 2010 to 2011. In DORIS, there are currently 122 recorded incidents from January 2011 to date. There is a similar trend in categories between actual and potential incidents namely mostly equipment parts and manual tools. The statistics demonstrate that personnel were exposed on over 30% of incidents. There was a suggestion to have inspection companies to use DORIS to input their data for both statistical information and potential lateral learning.
The populated incidents are all from the European sector, and DROPS expects the global input of data to grow throughout 2012. All members with log on details were urged to input their data so as we can get an overview of 2011 before the next forum in 2012. If you do not yet have your log-on please e-mail doris@dropsonline.org
Reliable Securing – Greg Reid, DROPS
An update to the Reliable Securing book is currently being worked on. A call for comment was issued to all members in the region to review the current Reliable Securing booklet and let us have suggested changes/comments. All members are asked to input data by 20 January 2012 to Debbie, DROPS Global Secretary.
Volunteers were received to form the Focus Group and an invite to the first meeting will be issued in January. There will be a further call for comment from DROPS chapters around the globe and these will be reviewed in due process.
Green Hat/Training update – Allen Smith, DROPS
The Green Hat and Training Focus Group met several months ago and since then, some preparation has been undertaken to refresh the training. Allen gave an overview of how much the training has evolved since it began over 5 years ago. The training now covers Train-The-Trainer, DROPS Workshops and Member Training. The next stage to be developed is a Primer Package. This will cover beyond what is currently provided at the MIST level training. There is also a Primer Plus course. This package will incorporate advanced training material. The Focus Group are now reviewing the current update and will feed back to members at the next Forum in February 2012.
2012 Focus Group Workshop – Greg Reid, DROPS
All members were encouraged to work together to come up with suggestions for Focus Groups for 2012. Round the table discussions took place and a lot of ideas were generated. In addition to the current Focus Areas that will continue throughout 2012, the new suggested main focus areas for 2012 are:
- Personal/Behavioural issues
- Ageing Assets/Anti-corrosion measures
- Design Feedback (Retention points, Weight reduction, New technology)
- Dynamic DROPS (Identify trends and recurring incidents)
If you wish to become part of one of the focus groups, please can you email Debbie (secretary@dropsonline.org), indicating your preference, by Thursday 12 January 2012. You will then be invited to a kick-off meeting to start to progress each topic.
Open Floor and Any Other Business
Greg thanked everyone for their participation in the final event of 2011 and invited the attendees to offer any issues for further discussion in the open floor session. Volunteers for presentations for the February 2012 meeting were gratefully received.
Next meeting: Wednesday 29 February 2012. 0945-1230 at Marcliffe Hotel, Aberdeen.
Host: DROPS Global Steering Committee Members