UWP - Unsafe Work Practices - New Approaches to Safety Management

Oilfield Service Approach to Risk Management: From Theory to Practice

The oil and gas industry has historically been a driver in the development of occupational risk management systems. Practices originating on drilling rigs eventually become the gold standard for the entire industry. During the webinar, Artem Solovyov, Deputy Chief Engineer at TagraS-RS, examines a fundamental problem in industrial safety: unsafe work practices (UWP). This is the employee's behavior "a second before" a potential tragedy, creating critical risks for both the worker and those around them.

Heinrich's Pyramid in Action: UWP Elimination Project

Based on the results of real incident investigations, the company's specialists identified a direct correlation between regular unsafe work practices and the probability of fatalities. To destroy this negative foundation, a targeted project called "Elimination of Unsafe Work Practices" was launched in 2021. The speaker details a five-step methodology that enabled a systematic approach to the problem:

• Definition and Categorization: All types of work were distributed by hazard level. 14 target groups were formed, and a so-called "shock list" was highlighted — a list of absolutely unacceptable practices requiring immediate work stoppage.
• Scheduling: Phased processing of each group of violations with clear deadlines to avoid dispersing HSE department resources.
• Action Planning: Selection of specific tools and measures for each group. As the speaker notes, without detailed elaboration at this stage, further steps are meaningless.
• Rapid Execution: Prompt provision of crews with necessary equipment, process modernization, targeted training, and adjustment of local methodology.
• Multilevel Monitoring: Transitioning processed violation groups to background control while moving to new goals. Monitoring is provided by video control and video supervising services, as well as through behavior-based safety audits (BBSA), with all data digitized in the 1C system.

Finding Root Causes Instead of Formal Bans

The presentation details a case involving the failure to use taglines during loading and unloading operations. Initially, line managers faced sabotage: workers ignored requirements despite having the equipment. A deep analysis showed that the root cause was not malicious intent, but a lack of standardization — upon arriving at a new site, the rigger simply did not know where the rope was. The solution was strictly designating equipment storage locations. The result: a reduction in such violations from 26 cases in 2021 to zero in 2023.

Leadership as the Foundation of Safety Culture

Systemic tools only work with absolute management involvement. Using a professional skills competition as an example, the speaker shows how a leadership position changes priorities on the ground. When the winning crew admitted they achieved high speed by being in a danger zone, management annulled their victory, clearly stating: speed achieved at the cost of safety has no value.

The comprehensive approach allowed the company to reduce the total number of identified unsafe work practices by 61% over three years, completely eliminating accidents by the end of 2023, while the quality of detecting micro-violations significantly increased.

What you will learn from this webinar:

• How to link daily micro-violations with the probability of severe injuries and justify the need for changes?
• What are the 5 practical stages of a project to eliminate unsafe work practices?
• How to organize background and local monitoring of violations using video control and audits in the 1C system?
• Why standard bans do not work and how to get to the true root cause of a violation, using rigging operations as an example?
• How top management involvement and the right reaction to production records change the safety culture?