Your Occupational Guidelines for Ensuring the Safety of Nigerian Oil and Gas Personnel and Pipelines

If you are in charge of safety at an oil and gas firm, you realize how critical it is to maintain your infrastructure and employees in excellent working order. According to statistics, hazardous liquid pipes are the major cause of 64% of incidents. The following are crucial tips to help you keep your pipelines and your staff safe.

Conduct Regular Safety Training

In-house safety training for your personnel should be done regularly to increase their awareness of workplace hazards and reinforce what they have learned. Training is required for all individuals involved, including workers, supervisors, and managers. Reinforced learning is an efficient approach for ensuring consistency among all employees.

Develop a Corporate Safety Culture

Safety is of the utmost importance at pipeline facilities to prevent risky situations that might threaten people. Not the other way around, but safety must come first before doing any job. Managers and supervisors must instill this understanding in their employees by leading by example, praising them when appropriate, and implementing consequent measures when necessary.

Every person working on the site should have the option to “Stop Work” so that they may halt any activity that they feel is dangerous.

Keep Pipeline Excavation Procedures in Place

Pipeline excavation practices must be followed with attention to preventing generating harmful conditions at the excavation site. When excavators are used, they should be serviced regularly, and their operators should be well-trained. Explosions and environmental degradation are possible when an excavator damages an underground pipeline. Before any work can begin, any utilities that are buried underground must be found, identified, and labeled.

It is critical to utilize proper benching and sloping processes during excavation.

Follow Proper Pressure Testing Procedures

When the pressure in a pipeline is too high, the danger of explosions and spills increases. As such, one of the most critical aspects of pipeline safety is ensuring that oil and gas pipelines have the proper level of pressure at all times. The right procedures for assessing the pressure using pneumatic or hydrostatic pressure are necessary to ensure that there are no leaks or damage in the pipes. Continuous monitoring is also needed to make sure that the pipes aren’t run at pressures that are higher than what is allowed.

Invest in Technology

There are several ways in which technology may be used to make pipelines safer. Sensors may be used to detect leaks and track the flow of liquids and gases, for example. Drones may be beneficial for inspecting difficult-to-access areas. GPS tracking may also be used to locate pipelines and check their operating status as well as utilizing Turbomachinery Control Systems.

Examine All On-Site Tools

Pipeline installment and management need a wide range of tools. Pneumatic tools include things like rock drills and pavement breakers. Welding tools, fabrication equipment, pipe-laying equipment, and electrical tools are some more examples. It is essential to do routine inspections and maintenance regularly to ensure that the equipment used on the job site is in good working order and has been examined for indications of wear and tear, cracks, or malfunctions.

Put Worker Safety First

On the occupational front, we should place a special focus on the importance of worker safety. In contrast to other industries, the frequency of overall injuries in the oil and gas industry is relatively low; nevertheless, the rate of severe injuries and fatalities is substantially higher. You would not believe how many times people accidentally strike themselves while tightening their nuts. It happens more often than you may think, and the repercussions are frequently more severe than you might think.

Workers’ fatigue should be regarded as one of the most pressing issues. According to a recently released report, fatigue is responsible for 13% of all workplace accidents. Almost all of the risk factors that lead to tiredness may be found in the oil and gas industry.

Stop the System If It Is Malfunctioning

Instead of just speculating on the nature of the issues at hand, you need to place a higher priority on precisely identifying the nature of the issues. Making assumptions may lead to mistakes, which can then cause catastrophes in the long run.

For instance, water hammer and other related phenomena, such as column separation, have been identified as the primary reasons for some pipeline ruptures in the oil and gas business as well as in other industries. During the process of figuring out how to fix the issues, there was a lack of clear communication, which made the effects of some of the issues much worse.

Instead, we recommend that you turn everything off as soon as you see that the operating circumstances are odd. This will provide you with the opportunity, as well as the time and space, to find out what is going on, rather than falling prey to confirmation bias. So, confirm what it truly is by looking at it with your own eyes on the ground.