When I first was asked if I wanted to be in the safety profession, I politely said heck no. I had numerous reasons for not wanting the role, so I gracefully declined. Safety records—ours, and those of other companies like ours—were becoming an issue with customers in operations. We did not meet the standards or […]

Welcome back to everyone’s favorite topic—safety! I say that because most of the people that read anything about safety are safety people. Some people in operations will glance through safety articles on the chance there may be something new or a new rule or ruling from OSHA, MSHA, EPA, NIOSH, FMCA, or—if they operate in […]

Each year this particular topic—safe operation of forklifts—is overlooked by too many, to the detriment of the everyday worker. There are numerous people who are accustomed to operating a forklift. However, there are significantly fewer people formally trained and certified in forklift operations. This fact in and of itself illustrates a huge gap. Due to […]

Greetings! While contemplating what topic I would write about, I came across an educational video from a safety company. In this video, a certified safety professional discusses a bill, introduced by Representative Andy Biggs, aimed at abolishing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). This safety professional delved into the bill’s contents, as well as […]

Welcome and salutations! We may be going into some tough times, not that we as Americans—or as members of the oil and gas community—haven’t had our share already. One topic that is prevalent in our industry and often skirted or glossed over is mental health. It is a given that our industry is a “dog […]

The NTSB estimated a total of nearly 24 million flight hours in 2007, when 6.84 of every 100,000 flight hours yielded an airplane crash while 1.19 of every 100,000 yielded a fatal crash. This was down from an all-time high of 9.08 accidents per 100,000 hours in 1994. It is an old statistic that I’m […]

Throughout the years, numerous policies and procedures have been developed to increase safety awareness and improve workplace safety. Ideas come and go based on needs, studies, and action plans. The action plans seem more reactive as opposed to proactive. The key word, though, is active. Reactive, as the word itself suggests, usually follows an accident, […]

Greetings and salutations again to my fellow safety brethren! Regardless if you are a safety professional, a worker out in the field, or an executive, I appreciate you taking a small part of your day or month to read what’s going on in the field of safety. As I’ve stated numerous times over the last […]

Welcome to everyone’s favorite topic in the oilfield: Safety. Said no one ever, lol. It’s easy to make jokes about safety to a non-sensitive safety guy such as myself. However, I have known some safety professionals that had to fill out an incident report for “hurt feelings.” Fortunately, they were all non-recordable. I am going […]