Downtime and WOW
The old adage "If you don’t like the weather, wait 5 minutes and it will change" is especially relevant to offshore. Weather systems move through quickly, especially in the spring. The day can start off with the most beautiful sunrise of gold and amber and by 07:30 it’s all gone and the fog has decended. By lunchtime two quick showers have given way to brilliant sunshine. In the evening snow falls lightly on the deck as temperatures plummet. Four seasons in one day. The sea state changes nearly as quickly. As the wind speeds increase, the sea rises and the supply boat turns back. Then it arrives again and the skipper won’t come anywhere near the rig. This inevitably leads to waiting on weather (or WOW) which gradually loops round to hurry. The equipment needed to do the next job waits on the boat, the boat waits on the weather and the weather just keeps happening. The result of all this weather is that when things do start to get moving again everything is done at pace. Shortcuts are taken, not ever deliberately compromising safety directly but there is an indirect safety cost. If things are not found to be faulty now, when they are found to be faulty later there is an effort which has to be made to remedy the situation. This all involves extra unplanned work pushing the job along the time curve again. The longer the time spent doing one task, the longer the time spent exposed to danger. By doing a job right first time and taking a little bit more time over it then you are exposing people to a risk for a shorter "net" time and decreasing the risk of them being injured. This culture of doing things correctly is not one which is seen often in the offshore environment. That is not because companies are putting pressure on people to do things quickly. People put pressure on people to do things quickly. Peer pressure, self imposed performance criteria and a belief that if you are quick then you are good. These attitudes are born in childhood as we compete to be the best, developed as teenagers as we compete to get the girl(or guy) and continue in adulthood as we strive to provide the best we can for ourselves and our family.
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Offshore Convenience
There are many different types of places for you to "go" offshore. The toilets are not always the high piont of any rig. Most systems have been designed for boats. Most offshore rigs are just glorified ships. So as in any ship there are a few different ways to dispose and store waste for later collection by the supply boat. The main cubicles are in the boot room or changing room and were designed with the average American in mind. Privacy is not always guaranteed; probably back to the days when the Tool Pusher (drill crew chief) could see how many of is crews were spending too much time sitting around. The cubicles can have all sorts of instructions on the wall from the Station Bill for the rig, mentioning all the alarms and actions in case of emergency(ironic), to notices reminding you to leave the bowl the way you found it(please use the brush provided), to a small notice reminding you to wash your hands to prevent infection. Occasionally a notice saying Please do not put cigarette ends, matches or any other items in this toilet other than toilet paper. There may also be some notices posted by the rig crew themselves mainly directed at the Pusher. Most Semi Submersibles and Jack-ups use a vacuum, system. In some systems notices are posted to remind you to close the lid before flushing. Some are so powerful care is needed so you don't get you shoes washed at the same time as you flush. Remembering these rigs are occasionally forty years old the engineering used for these contraptions is often a little outdated and any repairs are a little on the fly. Press the button and you may be in for a bit of a surprise as the pipe work all tries to jump off the wall at you. Platform toilets are just like your average everyday toilet in a restaurant. Well a filling station anyway. Paper will always, without exception, be the cheapest and hardest money can buy. Don't expect Andrex here. This is probably to give you somewhere to write the next set of work instructions or the shift handover notes. You will never run out of paper though as there is nowhere on board to store it so it ends up stacked in the cubicle. While "having a rest" you may be greeted by a fellow rigger coming in next door muttering "I'm gonna feckin' clear this place." shortly followed by a small chirp of "Medic" somewhere in the background.
Saturday, April 7, 2007
Friday, March 23, 2007
Responsibilties
Keeping up your end of the deal. Holding your own tower. Taking personal responsibility for what you do. These are all important, or I feel they are all important. I have my own set of values that I have decided to live my life by. Tell the truth as often as is believably possible. Do the very best that you can.
These principles may seem a little bit archaic. In modern society there seem to be less of this ethic and a higher value placed on possessions and idols. Perhaps this is the skewed interpretation that is the result of growing older. But as I think back and remember my past and the past of the people around me I realise that we were all learning and making mistakes, not knowing how to express ourselves properly. So we lashed out, we told half truths, we isolated ourselves in a vain attempt to not be hurt and we learned from the reaction of others to our mistakes. Very occasionally we listened to our peers and elders and the advice they had to give. In fact I am still doing that, maybe a lot less than I did as a teenager but occasionally I'll say something I didn't mean to say or do something I didn't mean to do.
Everyone makes mistakes, it's what makes us human. We learn from them sometimes. Sometimes we don't. I believe the best we can do with this humanity is to stand up and say, "Yes, it was me, I fecked it up." and then ask "how do I fix it." Take some responsibility for your actions and you will always gain a little respect. Even if it is just for yourself.
Earlier this week I had a BHA to do. This is when we get equipment ready to go into the well. This is probably the most stressful part of the job. If everything works then its great for building your confidence. You connect everything together with the help of the rig crew and a finger.* Once it is all connected together then you plug into the tools and program the electronics. This takes about an hour but the difference between getting it right and getting it wrong is the difference between putting a multi-million dollar formation evaluation tool in the oil well and putting a lamppost down a hole. So there is a little anxiety associated with getting it right. There should be a little anxiety with getting it right, it is an important part of the process. While concentrating on this e-mails are flying in thick and fast. Among them an e-mail regarding correction for the logs from the last section of hole we drilled. The tone of the e-mail was sarcastic and condescending. Now needless to say this is not the type of e-mail that you really want to receive when you are trying to concentrate on the important BHA. to put it bluntly it made my blood boil. I continued to program the tools and do all my pre-drill checks. The tool went in the hole.
The ownership that I take to my work is that when something needs to be done, I do it. I am responsible for making sure everything out here runs smoothly. I check and double check my work. As I double checked my inputs into the tool I noticed a discrepancy between the serial number of the tool in the hole and the surface system. My mouth dried up, thoughts started to fly, my heart raced and a mild/medium panic started. I went to try and get a little advice and some support from town. After much to-ing and fro-ing I called town and was relieved to be told it didn't really matter. All would be fine. and the weight was lifted from my shoulders.
I asked the question. I made the mistake. I felt a little foolish. When all was said and done everything was fine. If it hadn't been fine I would have wasted about 4 hours of rig time. If I hadn't asked the question it could have been days of rig time or weeks of rig time. All because it took a little responsibility for making a mistake.
* The finger pointing engineer. the knowlege that is stored in the finger is mighty. "Please connect that to that" "Could you torque that up to 66.5kilo-pounds please." Not that noe of these are questions.
These principles may seem a little bit archaic. In modern society there seem to be less of this ethic and a higher value placed on possessions and idols. Perhaps this is the skewed interpretation that is the result of growing older. But as I think back and remember my past and the past of the people around me I realise that we were all learning and making mistakes, not knowing how to express ourselves properly. So we lashed out, we told half truths, we isolated ourselves in a vain attempt to not be hurt and we learned from the reaction of others to our mistakes. Very occasionally we listened to our peers and elders and the advice they had to give. In fact I am still doing that, maybe a lot less than I did as a teenager but occasionally I'll say something I didn't mean to say or do something I didn't mean to do.
Everyone makes mistakes, it's what makes us human. We learn from them sometimes. Sometimes we don't. I believe the best we can do with this humanity is to stand up and say, "Yes, it was me, I fecked it up." and then ask "how do I fix it." Take some responsibility for your actions and you will always gain a little respect. Even if it is just for yourself.
Earlier this week I had a BHA to do. This is when we get equipment ready to go into the well. This is probably the most stressful part of the job. If everything works then its great for building your confidence. You connect everything together with the help of the rig crew and a finger.* Once it is all connected together then you plug into the tools and program the electronics. This takes about an hour but the difference between getting it right and getting it wrong is the difference between putting a multi-million dollar formation evaluation tool in the oil well and putting a lamppost down a hole. So there is a little anxiety associated with getting it right. There should be a little anxiety with getting it right, it is an important part of the process. While concentrating on this e-mails are flying in thick and fast. Among them an e-mail regarding correction for the logs from the last section of hole we drilled. The tone of the e-mail was sarcastic and condescending. Now needless to say this is not the type of e-mail that you really want to receive when you are trying to concentrate on the important BHA. to put it bluntly it made my blood boil. I continued to program the tools and do all my pre-drill checks. The tool went in the hole.
The ownership that I take to my work is that when something needs to be done, I do it. I am responsible for making sure everything out here runs smoothly. I check and double check my work. As I double checked my inputs into the tool I noticed a discrepancy between the serial number of the tool in the hole and the surface system. My mouth dried up, thoughts started to fly, my heart raced and a mild/medium panic started. I went to try and get a little advice and some support from town. After much to-ing and fro-ing I called town and was relieved to be told it didn't really matter. All would be fine. and the weight was lifted from my shoulders.
I asked the question. I made the mistake. I felt a little foolish. When all was said and done everything was fine. If it hadn't been fine I would have wasted about 4 hours of rig time. If I hadn't asked the question it could have been days of rig time or weeks of rig time. All because it took a little responsibility for making a mistake.
* The finger pointing engineer. the knowlege that is stored in the finger is mighty. "Please connect that to that" "Could you torque that up to 66.5kilo-pounds please." Not that noe of these are questions.
Monday, March 19, 2007
The Tea Dance
The tea dance is a ritual performed on every offshore rig in the world. It is a behavioral ritual which is observed as the hive attempts to make a cup of tea for each other. The cup is retrieved from the dispenser; the tea bag is plucked from the tin and placed into the cup. At this point worker number two approaches the cup dispenser. A sidestep to the urn as a drone replaces the box of milk in the fridge. Worker two, heads for the sweetener. 1 step back to allow the OIM into the cup dispenser. And worker 1 sidesteps in front of the urn. Step to the side to watch him fill his cup. OIM approaches the coffee taking 3 steps to the side Worker 1 steps backwards and allows access to the urn. Fill cup. Step to the side for the milk worker 3 approaches the cup dispenser. OIM leaves. Until someone thinks up a better way to arrange the Tea and coffee making facilities in the galley then this little social dance of trying to get the tea made without literally treading on toe will go on.
Queen Bee!
Queen Bee!
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Slow Nights at the Office.
Just drilling is an interesting sensation. Everything is working; everything is transmitting as it should. Everything is being stored into the computer database as it should. Its almost like floating along on a cloud of expectation. Always expecting something to go wrong and waiting for something to happen. Sitting at the workstation in the cabin; quiet, serene, sedate and safe. The cabin is warm and snug. The white noise of the computers and other equipment rumbles on. The occasional Tannoy breaks the silence.
While we sit at our stations and wait for the next event we read, we play solitaire and we figure out what we will be paid in next months wage pack. Counting the days then subtract the tax and then the plans, the schemes and the lies we tell ourselves and each other. What will we spend all that money on? Selfishly, we are splashing out on our dreams. Allowing our fantastical imaginations to blow every penny.
Then we are rudely interrupted by our employer. Something happens. We listen to the rig as all its little divisions whir into life. Tannoys, phones and squawk boxes crackle and chirp instructions like a busy aviary at feeding time.
There are reports to update and logs to make. Everything must be done at midnight, the reporting hour. How much have we drilled and how long have we been circulating? What have the drilling parameters been for the last 24 hours? What type of drilling mud have we been using and is it in the same condition as we started? All questions need to be answered on the midnight report. What tools are there on deck? Who is coming to the rig and who has gone?
The return to calm is gradual. Cross checking data with colleagues and filing all the appropriate paper work soon surrenders to silence and inactivity. The cloud surfing continues and the air of expectation hovers around the floor.
While we sit at our stations and wait for the next event we read, we play solitaire and we figure out what we will be paid in next months wage pack. Counting the days then subtract the tax and then the plans, the schemes and the lies we tell ourselves and each other. What will we spend all that money on? Selfishly, we are splashing out on our dreams. Allowing our fantastical imaginations to blow every penny.
Then we are rudely interrupted by our employer. Something happens. We listen to the rig as all its little divisions whir into life. Tannoys, phones and squawk boxes crackle and chirp instructions like a busy aviary at feeding time.
There are reports to update and logs to make. Everything must be done at midnight, the reporting hour. How much have we drilled and how long have we been circulating? What have the drilling parameters been for the last 24 hours? What type of drilling mud have we been using and is it in the same condition as we started? All questions need to be answered on the midnight report. What tools are there on deck? Who is coming to the rig and who has gone?
The return to calm is gradual. Cross checking data with colleagues and filing all the appropriate paper work soon surrenders to silence and inactivity. The cloud surfing continues and the air of expectation hovers around the floor.
Friday, March 16, 2007
The Small Red Light
Phone home…..the places to do this on a rig are scarce. Most of the rig phones don’t have the ability to get an outside line. The result is 40 guys trying to call home in an evening. The offshore solution is to limit the amount of time on the phone. Most rigs there is a small sign reminding you to show a little courtesy to your fellow man by limiting your call to 10 minutes. The result of over running is a hard stare from the persons waiting in a queue to use the phone. The alternative is the small red light. 6 minutes into the call the light will illuminate to let you know you will be cut off in 1 minute, giving you 60 seconds to say you farewells. There is a reciprocal light outside the phone booth, letting all in the queue know that you are on your last minute.
Working in an Oven
Working out in the North Sea in March with expected blizzards on the way. Most normal expectations would be to arrive to a freezing cold working environment. As I walk across deck and open the door of the pressurised unit which will be work for the next 2 weeks I am greeted by a blast of heat. The temperature inside the unit is at least 80F. I quickly strip off my fleece and everyone is wondering around the unit in t-shirts.
"Is the Air Con working then?" I venture an opinion. which is immediately shot out of the sky by a volly of sharp stares frome sweaty faces.
" You're on night's. It gets a little cooler at night."
As the shift goes on the heat cools to a bearable 69F and things start to mellow. Lets hope that nothing goes wrong. That will increase the pressure in this unit as Boyles law may explain a few blown gaskets and hotter heads!
Scott Fricasse
"Is the Air Con working then?" I venture an opinion. which is immediately shot out of the sky by a volly of sharp stares frome sweaty faces.
" You're on night's. It gets a little cooler at night."
As the shift goes on the heat cools to a bearable 69F and things start to mellow. Lets hope that nothing goes wrong. That will increase the pressure in this unit as Boyles law may explain a few blown gaskets and hotter heads!
Scott Fricasse
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
February Articles
Downtime and WOW (waiting on weather)
I am, as always, into “hurry up and wait” mode. The condition caused by working on a multi million dollar project. When the cost of waiting around for somebody to do something increases to a certain threshold the people who are paying the bills start to get a little twitchy. If there is nothing that can be done because, for example something has been broken, then the people onshore with there fingers on there wallets begin to ask this question. “What is happening next?” invariably followed by “Can we do anything to be ready for the next event?” This is not a bad thing planning ahead is good. Saving time and money is good. Unfortunately the end result is “hurry up and wait”. The end result means that additional pressure is put on to try and be ahead of the curve and that is usually when things get missed. People have a tendency towards panic and this is a perfectly normal response to pressure. But the truly gifted person is the one that can keep there heads while all around are losing theirs. The condition of hurry up and wait only seams to last a short while. People on the rig then settle down into “nothing worse can happen” mode. The example from this week is a broken drill line. All hands are mobilized to assist with slipping and cutting a piece of damaged drill line cable. The job takes place at a sensible pace to carry out the work safely and in the background everyone is saying “what’s next?” So we start to do some work which will get us “ahead of the curve” this involves testing some tools in our case. We get so far and the crane that is being used to fix the drill line is working right overhead of where we need to set things up. We retreat into our warm cosy cabin and wait. We sit here waiting for the drill line to be fixed asking ourselves “what’s happening next?” So the question maybe doesn’t just come from the people onshore with there itchy twitchy fingers on there wallets. Maybe it comes from every individual who has been brought up to ask the question “what’s next?” from drive and ambition to get things done and the satisfaction of getting to the end of a day and being able to say “we got something done, what are we going to do tomorrow?” so maybe the example of hurry up and wait isn’t an accurate representation of what is going on. We really aren’t hurrying up to wait we are hurrying up to get things done, to have achieved something and recognize that we have achieved something. Are we really being hurried? Or are we hurrying ourselves on? Trying to achieve by rushing. This doesn’t make any sense, to rush to achieve. Better to slow down and achieve. Then the achievement can be recognized and savored.
Zen Master Scott (from the Tao of Cox)
Home from home
You arrive out to the place you will eat, sleep live and work. You expect you will never see anything as bad as the last rig you just left. When you are handed the card and the medic says “Your on nights”
“No” you reply “I am on days, didn’t my employer let you know what we are out here to do?”
“Sorry mate, lifeboat 3, the briefing is at 08:20hrs” military time suggests you respect his authoritie!
You wonder into the cabin, stow your gear, and then go to stick your toilet bag in the head. The smell meets you as you open the door. Glancing into the shower tray you see enough mildew and mould to grow potatoes in. You dump your bag and lift the lid of the toilet seat to be met by your cabin mate’s dinner. “hmmmm”, this will be what you call home for a week or two.
Scott
International Bright Young Thing
The industry is changing. Everyone wants to maximize profit and there is a shortage of people to work offshore. This usually means getting whoever will put on a hard hat. The net result of this is a truly multicultural, multilingual crew. All of whom speak varying degrees of English( the common denominator in the North Sea). It would be tremendously bigoted of me to suggest that our Serbian mud loggers have worse English than some, but yesterday he told me that his colleague had gone for meat. This said our driller from “the Broch” has his share of problems getting the message across too. With his thick Doric it is often a good thing to ask “Sorry could you repeat that please?” to be met with “am aff fir ma tatties”.
Ghengis McCann
I am, as always, into “hurry up and wait” mode. The condition caused by working on a multi million dollar project. When the cost of waiting around for somebody to do something increases to a certain threshold the people who are paying the bills start to get a little twitchy. If there is nothing that can be done because, for example something has been broken, then the people onshore with there fingers on there wallets begin to ask this question. “What is happening next?” invariably followed by “Can we do anything to be ready for the next event?” This is not a bad thing planning ahead is good. Saving time and money is good. Unfortunately the end result is “hurry up and wait”. The end result means that additional pressure is put on to try and be ahead of the curve and that is usually when things get missed. People have a tendency towards panic and this is a perfectly normal response to pressure. But the truly gifted person is the one that can keep there heads while all around are losing theirs. The condition of hurry up and wait only seams to last a short while. People on the rig then settle down into “nothing worse can happen” mode. The example from this week is a broken drill line. All hands are mobilized to assist with slipping and cutting a piece of damaged drill line cable. The job takes place at a sensible pace to carry out the work safely and in the background everyone is saying “what’s next?” So we start to do some work which will get us “ahead of the curve” this involves testing some tools in our case. We get so far and the crane that is being used to fix the drill line is working right overhead of where we need to set things up. We retreat into our warm cosy cabin and wait. We sit here waiting for the drill line to be fixed asking ourselves “what’s happening next?” So the question maybe doesn’t just come from the people onshore with there itchy twitchy fingers on there wallets. Maybe it comes from every individual who has been brought up to ask the question “what’s next?” from drive and ambition to get things done and the satisfaction of getting to the end of a day and being able to say “we got something done, what are we going to do tomorrow?” so maybe the example of hurry up and wait isn’t an accurate representation of what is going on. We really aren’t hurrying up to wait we are hurrying up to get things done, to have achieved something and recognize that we have achieved something. Are we really being hurried? Or are we hurrying ourselves on? Trying to achieve by rushing. This doesn’t make any sense, to rush to achieve. Better to slow down and achieve. Then the achievement can be recognized and savored.
Zen Master Scott (from the Tao of Cox)
Home from home
You arrive out to the place you will eat, sleep live and work. You expect you will never see anything as bad as the last rig you just left. When you are handed the card and the medic says “Your on nights”
“No” you reply “I am on days, didn’t my employer let you know what we are out here to do?”
“Sorry mate, lifeboat 3, the briefing is at 08:20hrs” military time suggests you respect his authoritie!
You wonder into the cabin, stow your gear, and then go to stick your toilet bag in the head. The smell meets you as you open the door. Glancing into the shower tray you see enough mildew and mould to grow potatoes in. You dump your bag and lift the lid of the toilet seat to be met by your cabin mate’s dinner. “hmmmm”, this will be what you call home for a week or two.
Scott
International Bright Young Thing
The industry is changing. Everyone wants to maximize profit and there is a shortage of people to work offshore. This usually means getting whoever will put on a hard hat. The net result of this is a truly multicultural, multilingual crew. All of whom speak varying degrees of English( the common denominator in the North Sea). It would be tremendously bigoted of me to suggest that our Serbian mud loggers have worse English than some, but yesterday he told me that his colleague had gone for meat. This said our driller from “the Broch” has his share of problems getting the message across too. With his thick Doric it is often a good thing to ask “Sorry could you repeat that please?” to be met with “am aff fir ma tatties”.
Ghengis McCann
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