Rig Supervisor: How do you know your Tubular Running Services crew is competent?
Our Service Supervisors understand the significance of having a skilled and competent TRS (Tubular Running Services) crew. An experienced casing crew will increase the chance of also having a competent crew, but how do you really know you have a competent TRS crew? Being competent does not always correlate with years of experience.
In the past we said that our crew were qualified if they had the right background (education and/or experience) and had passed the mandatory training courses. This is still important to us, but now we have taken this a few steps further by implementing a Competence Assurance Process. In this process we measure workplace performance against a set of standards; this to assure that the employee is competent. The output from the assessment provides critical information that allows us to manage risk more effectively by identifying the gaps between measured performance and the required standard for a job. It is the link between each employee’s performance and OWS’ success. When gaps are identified, the employee will be directed to resources which can bring them up to date or given training that can refresh lost skills or knowledge, or provide required new skills and knowledge.
The benefits from this are:
- Performance standards are maintained, that again will give us a competitive advantage.
- Our employees will be updated on any changes in policy, procedures, regulation or equipment.
- Promotion decision will be made on solid knowledge about each employee’s competence level.
- Each employee will have a clear understanding of their job function and the required competence standards for this. In addition it will also be visualized with what required competence standards exist for other positions, which again can be beneficial when defining a career development plan.
The process has some key documents related to it:
- A Competence Standard Register identifying all internal and external competence standards/requirements relevant for TRS rig personnel globally.
- A TRS Training check-list for all positions within the product line.
- A Candidate’s Competence Assessment guideline with a specific competence element for each part of the operation that again corresponds with one or many operating procedures.
A competence element explains the tasks that make up the broader function or job as described by the unit and specifies the critical outcomes to be achieved in demonstrating competence. The specification of knowledge and skill and the application of that knowledge and skill to the standard of performance expected in the workplace. - Operating procedures that also define the ideal performance standard for each part of the operation. The performance standards will provide our crew with specific performance expectations for each major duty described in the operating procedures. They are the observable behaviours and actions which explain how the job is to be done, plus the results that are expected for satisfactory job performance. The purpose of performance standards is to communicate expectations to our crew.
It is not an objective that all our TRS rig personnel shall be competent on all the different variations of jobs at all times. Our HR system helps us match the type of job with the right competence, so that we always compose a competent crew. All competence is documented and if necessary the documentation can be forwarded to the customer. By taking out regular competence gap analyses we can make sure that all competence is renewed/reassessed if/when necessary.
A crew you can trust is a crew that’s a must!
Topics: Casing Running
By: Hilde Gabrielsen
Hilde Gabrielsen is an HR professional with 22 years’ experience from the offshore service- and drilling industry. Broad experience within most parts of the Human Resources discipline, whereof the last 16 years with leadership responsibilities in a global matrix organization.
