Dominique Boutin, head of engineering at Sofren Group, told Iran Petroleum on the sidelines of the event that Iranian service workers in the giant offshore South Pars gas field were not sufficiently equipped.

"There are two things I have seen there. I had the impression that the workers on the site were not sufficiently equipped with personal protection gear. [Second], I'm not sure if the staff are trained to understand the HSE instructions," he said.

Boutin, who drafted the project quality plan for Sofren Group's Sofregaz to implement its flare gas gathering project in South Pars, said he would meet one-on-one with Iranian companies involved in the project to "tell them his expectations of HSE plan."

"I've drafted the project quality plan which refers to all project management documents and a document which is HSE management plan. We need to tell them our expectations of HSE plan," he added.

Boutin, however, said that the HSE system installed in Phases 2 and 3 of South Pars by France's energy giant Total seems to be well operated, and lead to "excellent results" in terms of occupational safety.

He said to assess the quality of HSE in Iran, he had to know exactly what existed on the ground before taking the following step.

"I need to know exactly the things as they are. First of all we have to be clairvoyant to see the things as they are,'" he said, adding that the next step would consist of giving "suggestion on how to be and finally to verify how they have changed and if they have met our expectations."

He reaffirmed his views on the significance of personal "behavior" and that the issue of culture may be implicated erroneously.

"Culture does not prevent us from having good results in terms of safety. That's the first thing. It's a question of behavior and not culture. Behavior in safety leads us to good results," said Boutin.

He also underscored the significance of qualified manpower, saying technology needed good service workers to succeed.

"Good tool does not make a good worker. Technology is important, but a beautiful car does not make a driver good," he said.

Decrepit Installations

ARTELIA is an independent engineering, project management and consulting group that operates in the following nine markets: environment, industry, building construction, water, energy, maritime, multi-site projects, transportation and urban development.

ARTELIA provides services to private clients (industrial groups, developers, investors, building contractors, banks, insurance companies, etc.) as well as to public clients (government departments, local authorities, public bodies, international funding agencies, etc.).

In the Oil &Gas industry sector, Artelia works in the following areas:

l  Safety Design Studies: process safety studies (HAZOP and HAZID), preliminary risk analysis, preparation of regulatory safety reports / technological risk assessments (TRA), risk modelling (PHAST, etc.), nautical QRA, QRA, etc.

l  Environmental Baseline Studies and Environmental and Social Impact Assessments: air, water and soil quality, noise, biodiversity, for offshore, coastal and on-shore environment.

l  Emergency preparedness & crisis management: preparation of Emergency Response Plans, Site Contingency Plans, Oil Spill Contingency Plans, organization of Large Scale Exercises, delivery of crisis management training sessions.

Philippe Reveau from Artelia said a lot had to be done in Iran in terms of risk assessment. He told “Iran Petroleum” that most installations in Iran's petroleum industry were outdated, this point involve a potential risk aggravation (occurrence and severity of accidents).

"For the moment, there is still too much to do. The installations in Iran are mostly ageing. And as far as risk assessment is concerned that is still a lot to do," he said.

Reveau recommends defining a common regulatory framework for all operators in terms of risk assessment. This may involve the development of regulatory texts and associated methodological framework. A "methodological guide for development of risk assessment" to be put at the disposal of service workers would harmonize the steps taken by operators in terms of risk assessment.

He noted that even the "least probable risks" had to be taken seriously, citing the example of a devastating earthquake which may strike at any time.

Reveau said that Artelia is able to help governments to adopt regulations on HSE requirements. 

Prevent 'Poor Cousin'

Terry Cooper. HSE manager of Total, highlighted the necessity of occupational safety, saying: "Don't let major risks and poor safety become the poor cousin."    

Speaking to “Iran Petroleum”, he gave a positive assessment of "occupational safety" measures at South Pars which he had visited the day before the workshop.

"They seem to manage very well the occupational safety," he said.

Cooper, however, said the "weak point" with HSE at South Pars was the lack of a "safety process management system".

He said that "elements" for such system already existed in the giant gas field, which he said needed to be integrated.

Cooper reiterated the significance of hiring local manpower in projects. He said that it was "essential" for Total to "maximize local content" in every country it operated projects.

"So if there are Iranian companies that have the capability. we need to use those first," he said, adding that weaker companies had to be helped and trained to comply with the required standards.

"Based on the standard process that we have, we design new projects to codes and standards, and international best practice, but that's not a guarantee that you know your risks and how to manage them," said Cooper.

He added that Total's risk assessment code made necessary calculations to see if there is any risk of fire or explosion.

Cooper said HSE matrices were key in risk assessment, adding: "1,000 to 2,000 scenarios [may be worked out] and so we put all those scenarios in a risk matrix."

He said the scenarios in the "green" area of the matrix showed lower risk of accident, while those in the "red" area had to be countered immediately.

Cooper said the "green" area showed the situation was under control, while the danger zone may herald a deadly accident with environmental spill.

To reduce risks, he said: "We should see first of all if the risk can be eliminated. If you can't eliminate them what measures could be put into place to reduce the likelihood of that event occurring."

He warned that thinking of solutions in the 11^th hour for reducing a risk could cost operators dearly as they would lose "big money".

Courtesy of Iran Petroleum