The need of change in complex workplaces of the O&G industry – from controlling human error to understanding the resilience of systems

Abstract

Since the first oil drilling in History, the Drake’s well in Titusville, Pennsylvania, until the present-day offshore wells, drilled in the ultra-deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the Brazilian Pre-Salt, two aspects have always been present: the notable risks of dealing with crude oil and the need of human adaptabilities in the work systems. From this adaptability, there will be two possible outcomes: the normal work, adaptive and productive, and the accident, unwanted and harmful. For the first, over a long time no attention was given, because if nothing went wrong, (supposedly) there is nothing to do, except to continue working. On the other hand, for this second, the accident, since the first occurrences, dating from the 1st Industrial Revolution, much has been developed, addressed, mainly, on the unwanted action of the human element in a linear system. However, the technological evolution of work systems has transformed linear production lines into current complex sociotechnical systems, where there are intense and dynamic interrelationships between people, machines, and processes, immersed in a distinct organizational culture. In this context, the maintenance of certain linear epistemological concepts for the analysis of risks, as well as the investigation of accidents, seems to be limited, when not mistaken, for understanding and intervening in nowadays complex workplaces. In addition, normal work, that is, work carried out without the occurrence of accidents, as it is what mostly happens, is a notable source of learning, being neglected precisely because it is normal. In view of these considerations, methodologies, and concepts capable of dealing with this, such as FRAM (Functional Resonance Analysis Method) and Safety-I & Safety-II, arises as adequate solutions. In this study, having the O&G Industry as background, some accidents with FRAM are re-examined, as well as some practices of learning from normal work through Safety-I & Safety-II, demonstrating the need of change in complex workplaces of the O&G industry, evolving from controlling human error to understanding the resilience of systems.