Safety at workplace — Lessons from Game of Thrones

Jay Jani
Jay Jani
Aug 22, 2017 · 6 min read

I have spent more than five years in oilfields and more than half of the time, I have been involved in the implementation of safety procedures. In these mere five years, I witnessed wide range of safety scenarios, from worst to the best.

It is undisputed that all major organizations working in hazardous environment today are determined to maintain utmost Health, Safety, and Environment (HSE) regulations. Safety procedures and standard operating practices (SOPs) were formulated long time back. There has been tonnes of research and the rate of incidents has indeed decreased over past few years. From safety slogans to safety awareness weeks, every single dimension of HSE has been thoroughly followed in these organizations and yet, many major mishaps have occurred in the 21st century.

At any workplace, safety is ensured by an HSE cell that works independently of other cells. Nevertheless the head of the HSE department normally reports to the head of the operations department. It is a common joke in the energy industry that HSE guys are like football who get kicked from everywhere. Any operations head would always strive to achieve excellent efficiency and maximum throughput. However, this endeavour to take output to all time high levels always presents risks and threats to the sustainability of HSE standards. And thus, the conflict between HSE cell and operations cell starts that is never evident on paper or in board room meetings, but always exists amongst the closed walls.

The establishment of regulatory bodies and third party audits have ensured that the operations department never overpowers safety. All directors of the company always assert strict communication on these aspects and quote safety as the utmost priority. At any meeting of a company working in hazardous environment, you will find more than 50% of time consumed on safety matters, which shows that everyone is bothered about the well-being of their employees and people in surrounding environment.

The Macondo Blowout

Yet, if we look at some of the major accidents that took place in the recent past such as the Macondo blowout and the fatal accidents at Ankleshwar & Mehsana on ONGC rigs, it was the human error that resulted in these unfortunate events. And more to the story, it wasn’t the negligence of a single small worker but mostly multiple acts of some senior managers that resulted in the unforeseen circumstances. The equipment and technology have grown enormously and failure rates have reduced. Hence, The major hindrance to safety exists in human errors only.

One of the key reasons behind this human risk is the way operations team is formulated among these companies. At any work unit, a safety officer is appointed to look after all the dimensions of HSE. But this officer is normally working under an operations incharge of that unit who is often called as the installation manager or mines manager. It is quite obvious that the operations incharge is always inclined towards achievement of peak production levels as that is his pivotal KPI. He will tend to ignore stringent safety rules and will often look to compromise certain rules which he feels to be too tight to work. The safety officer will naturally try to prevent those violations but here comes the twist. Most safety officers have output and efficiency as one of their KPIs too. Moreover, their direct reporting is towards operations incharge and not towards the HSE incharge. In such a scenario, it is always a dilemma for him to choose between extremely strict safety procedure and a slightly compromised work culture. More often, the latter is the preferred route as is the case in most real life scenarios.

Then comes the question that how can a company ensure complete compliance to statutory requirements at grass root level? Well, companies will often show you their annual reports, technical presentations, and awards as well as recognition system to portray their impetus on this issue. But, as I told earlier, with the growing demand for more efficiency, a renewed threat is emerging in lot of companies that was common in the times of World Wars. The act of hiding incidents.

Since, all the awards of Safety focus extensively on quantitative aspects than on qualitative aspects, everyone is aiming for a higher count of accident free operations, LTI free days, and millions of man-hours of safe operations. In this race for figures, most officers are developing a habit of hiding minor accidents and even some serious near miss incidents. Even the safety officer is part of this race since he is not only under pressure from the operations side but also wants to have his record clean.

So, what can be done to reduce the risks associated with such scenarios?

Well there is something to learn from Game of Thrones. In this popular TV series, one of the key positions in the realm is that of a Master, who occupies major leadership position in the King’s council. One such character is Maester Qyburn, who is like a scientist working every single hour to help realm remain safe from the outside as well as inside threats. However, most Maester Qyburn doesn’t solely rely on the technical expertise, but also builds a network of informants that keep him updated with all the plots taking place in the kingdom. Maester Varys, one of the capable Maesters, trains under priviledge children and builds a team of informants called the Little Birds.

Maester Qyburn guiding the Little Birds

All companies working in mines need to do something similar officially or even unofficially. A mentor-mentee program is an effective medium between safety officer, operations incharge, and HSE head that can fill up the gaps that exist in HSE implementation. A good relationship between these three people can be the best form of risk mitigation. Far better than the toolbox talks, job safety analysis, and risk identification forms, which more often are useful only in highly complicated tasks.

Moreover, most safety officers are millennial, who are young and less inclined to violate the code of conduct stated by government authorities. They have been fed HSE in schools as food for survival and they haven’t grown in power to lose the fear of an unprecedented event. If the top management remains firmly in touch with these young safety officers, working in remote locations, there is little doubt that majority of risks can be automatically mitigated. However, by young, I do not mean the fresh graduates. A completely inexperienced person as a safety officer can escalate risks rather than exhume them.

Build a network of little birds and prevent accidents is the way to go!

Behavioural aspects of safety got lot of attention in 1970s, but still focus on these have been lower than required, especially in developing countries. By concentrating on intrinsic factors of motivation, by building strong mentor-mentee networks, and by creating better incident reporting channels, majority of incidents can be controlled.

Little birds are not spies. They are a bond that can help authority to keep a check on suspected activities. There is this famous quote “Little Birds are everywhere”. And that states their importance. Safety is a perennial aspect and you need important people in place all the time to ensure a safe culture.

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Jay Jani

Written by

Jay Jani

Jay is a Production Engineer working in India's National Oil Company - ONGC. Loves energy, environment, technology, books, travelling and public speaking.

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