Oil and Gas Community

Social networking is growing more popular every day, LinkedIn, Facebook, Bebo, Twitter and others, have fast became a part of our every day lives. The ability to network and connect with like minded people all over the world is not only a great way to socialise and keep in touch with friends; it is also a very powerful business and marketing tool.

Lots of small companies and even some larger ones are releasing the power of the web and using it as a way of generating interest in their business. Lots of companies now recruit on social networking sites and the chances are if you don’t have an online presence you are probably missing out.

All of the above are reasons why people join such sites. www.oilandgaspeople.com hopes to take it a step further. We believe social networking could be used to improve safety within the oil and gas industry. In terms of safety, some countries are much further ahead than others, some companies have strict policies in place, and others have next to none. The standard varies from country to country and from individual to individual.

It comes down to training, knowledge and education. We see the same accidents occurring time and time again. Often those involved will say they ‘didn’t know’ or ‘weren’t aware’ Accidents and incidents that probably would have been avoided, if only we had managed to learn from other peoples lessons and mistakes.

Let’s use the powers of social networking to share lessons learned and to educate others in the industry. Wouldn’t it be great to have a massive resource of people from all aspects of the oil industry? A bank of knowledge and information that can be tapped at any time! From every day tasks to huge projects, you can bet someone has done it before. They may know a better way, a product you wasn’t aware of or a procedure that could save you time, money and improve safety.

The industry is ever changing, ever developing and pushing the barriers of new technology every day. It’s impossible to keep track with everything. Let’s use social networking to expand our knowledge, share our experiences and to improve safety across the board.

www.oilandgaspeople.com is not just another oil and gas jobs site. It has been created by oil and gas people, for oil and gas people! As part of the site and to prove our commitment to the industry, we are proud to announce the launch of www.oilandgascommunity.com a brand new social networking site for anyone working in oil and gas.

It doesn’t matter where you work or what you do, we are confident you will have something to bring to the table. We are going to be developing the site over the coming months and hope to include lots of pages with information, lessons learned, new technology, industry news etc, etc…

People can post requests for help and information on the forums. Join groups of like minded people, create events, chat instantly with other members, share information through blogs and build a profile advertising their company.

If you work in health and safety our sister site www.hsepeople.com will also be very relevant to you. HSE people is a well established community site that will give people an insight into the potential of www.oilandgascommunity.com

Hope to see you all there soon.

Kevin Forbes
www.oilandgaspeople.com
www.oilandgascommunity.com
www.hsepeople.com
 

The UK's new offshore safety chief has warned the industry there is no room for complacency.

Steve Walker, who has just replaced Ian Whewekk as head of the Health and Safety Executives (HSE) offshore division, said he wants the regulator to be respected.

Meeting Industry at Offshore Europe in Aberdeen yesterday for the first "time in his new position, Walker said: ' Ian has left me an excellent legacy. Under his watch the industry did improve in its leadership of offshore health and safety... but one of my top priorities is to make sure the industry is not complacent with its current safety standards.

"I want the industry to deliver on its commitments to maintain safety."

Walker said he wants the HSE to be an efficient and effective regulator and hopes it will be respected by the industry. However, he raised concerns about spikes in the number of hydrocarbon releases and major accidents in the first quarter of this year.

Walker, who has been with the HSE for more than 30 years and in the offshore division since 2004 was responsible for running the organisation's recent and largely positive KP3 review into offshore safety.

"We gave the industry a pretty good message when the review was published in July but the Industry still has to keep its eye on the ball.

"I recognise the challenges in keeping aging installations fit for purpose at a time when industry is looking at the technical and cost demands of developing existing fields, especially in the context of the economic climate and the energy debate," he said.

Robert Paterson, the health and safety director of industry group Oil and Gas UK, said: "Over the last 21 years the industry has made huge progress in putting in place multiple barriers on its offshore installations to prevent escalation of dangerous occurrences and to reduce their impact.

SOURCE - www.upstreamonline.com