From unsafe acts to system resilience - how emerging technologies in the O&G industry reach new safety frontiers

Abstract

This study explores an historical evolution of the O&G industry, which has heavily relied on technological innovation to meet the operational challenges of its production chain. However, safety developments have sometimes failed to keep up with the technological evolution of this industry. In the beginning, its operations were marked by wild exploitation and numerous accidents, maintaining this scenario where there was the perpetuation of linear safety concepts, for increasingly complex workplaces. Traditional views of safety, such Safety-I, fails to capture the complexity and variability of real-world operations of the entire O&G production chain. To deal with complexity, evolved approaches of safety, such as Safety-II, recognizes that variability and trade-offs are inherent in complex sociotechnical systems and that people are an essential part of creating safety. Furthermore, Resilience Engineering is discussed, shifting the safety management from human error and accidents to system resilience and its own ability to cope with and adapt to disturbances. Embrace the complex reality of the work, grounded by evolved approaches of safety, provides a more comprehensive and effective way to assess, manage, and provide solutions in today's workplaces, ensuring an integration between productivity and safety.

Keywords: Safety, Technology, Safety-II, FRAM, Evolution, Accidents

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1004080