The business of environmental services keeps evolving into something more akin to a real business function, and less like an onerous duty. The trend is driven partly by conscience and partly by receptivity to change. The days in which “environmental” was a dirty word in the oil patch are long gone, say the experts. More […]
The Cafeteria Plan
Welcome back! I thank you for the feedback and responses to the safety section of Permian Basin Oil and Gas Magazine. It is fun to write about some experiences, solutions, and different angles on how to make safety relevant, innovative, and even (sometimes) thought provoking. As I’ve said before, there are numerous different angles to […]
Road Safety
Welcome! I hope this August finds you happy and safe! Today I am going to broach the subject of the most dangerous and deadly part of our industry… Driving. I fully understand that the 40 hours of documented training that we received at the mature age of 16 to 18 years of age fully qualifies […]
Telling Isn’t Training!
Welcome back to this month’s installment about everyone’s favorite topic of safety! I recently was reading a post that intrigued me on a social media. A person who was new to safety wanted to know what was the most prevalent cause of accidents in the oilfield and why. The question was broad and yet evoked […]
Safety and the “Real World”
Greetings and salutations! Welcome to my inaugural column for the Permian Basin Oil & Gas magazine. I am excited to bring you stories, reports, and ideas. Some of the ideas will be new to even my safety colleagues. Just the same, I hope to bring you a refreshing look at what’s new and what’s old. […]
The Keys to the Castle
Most cyber threats come, unintentionally, from within. By Paul Wiseman “We have met the enemy, and they are ours.” Admiral Oliver Perry, September 1813 “We have met the enemy, and he is us.” Walt Kelly, as quoted in a Pogo poster, April 1970 The average person receives 12 spam emails per day, totaling 4,000 per […]
Safe and Sure
By Paul Wiseman “We can dance if we want to… I can act like an imbecile” “Safety Dance,” Men Without Hats, 1982 Those two lines are not consecutive in the song, but for some reason they’re the only ones I remember. They’re pertinent to a story about safety expert Dusty Roach because he’s […]
Standing up for Safety in the Permian
Oil patch safety gets personal for most professionals. By Paul Wiseman Scratch almost any safety professional and you’ll likely find, just under the surface, a horrific work-related tragedy that relentlessly drives everything they do. These images are burned into their psyche with no less force and agony than that of a branding iron searing the […]
The Shifting Dynamics of Cyber Security
By Shanti Terry Editor’s Note: We share the following as our “Part 2” coverage on the topic of Cyber Security, continuing the conversation that was begun in the September issue, in the article titled “Navigating the Cyber Security World.” Although gaining more awareness and fully understanding the questions around cyber attacks is vitally important, the […]
Keep That Data Secure
By Shanti Terry The digital world is one filled with dangers for all industries, and oil and gas is no exception. Industries that make up our nation’s critical infrastructure, like the energy sector, remain constant targets from entities outside the United States who mean to do as much harm as possible for their own gain. […]