Your First Day on an Oil and Gas Site
What this awareness course is, what it is not, and what happens between the gate and the work area.
7 min
Activities: 0 of 2
An upstream oil and gas site is a place where wells are drilled, serviced or produced. For a new worker or a visitor from the office, it is unlike any other workplace. Heavy equipment moves and turns. Pipes hold fluids under high pressure. Gas that can burn, and gas that can kill, may be present without any smell or colour.
This course is for people who arrive on such a site for the first time: new entrants, short-service workers (people with only a few months in the job) and office staff who visit. It covers land sites for drilling, well servicing and production. It teaches you to recognise the main hazards, name them correctly, and follow the controls that every person on site must follow.
From the gate to the work area
Most sites control who comes in. The details differ from site to site, but the pattern is usually the same. You stop at the gate. You sign in, so that the site knows you are there if an emergency happens. You receive a site induction: a briefing on the hazards of this site, the alarms, the muster point (the place where everyone gathers in an emergency) and the rules. You show or receive your personal protective equipment (PPE). Then a named person takes responsibility for you.
Until these steps are complete, you do not walk onto the work area, even if the person you came to meet is only fifty metres away.
A typical arrival
- 1
1
Stop at the gate
Park where you are told, usually facing out so that you can leave quickly. Switch off the engine. - 2
2
Sign in
Your name goes on the list of people on site. This list is used for the headcount in an emergency. - 3
3
Site induction
You learn the site hazards, the alarms, the muster points, the restricted areas and the site rules. - 4
4
PPE check
The minimum PPE for the site is checked. A gas monitor may be issued if the site requires one. - 5
5
Meet your supervisor or escort
A named person shows you where you may go and what you may do. - 6
6
Sign out when you leave
If you leave without signing out, people may search for you during an emergency.
You arrive at a drilling site for a meeting. The person you need is standing near the rig and waves to you. What do you do first?
Before you pass the gate
0 of 6 complete