Our Q&A with Sean Thomas:
Offshore platforms carry hazards few other worksites match. The American Petroleum Institute built its WorkSafe Offshore safety orientation program to get new personnel thinking about those hazards before they set foot on deck. The program pairs 23 short interactive modules with four virtual reality safety scenarios. All of it is grounded in industry standards and the IOGP Life-Saving Rules.
“The objective of this program is to build that culture of safety,” said Sean Thomas, director of training and development at API.
Built at industry’s request
API is a member organization. The push for a dedicated offshore orientation came from its members. They asked for a program that addressed the unique hazards of offshore work, then guided its development and advised on newer methods for hazard mitigation.
A review of existing training turned up a gap. The latest safety guidance, particularly the IOGP Life-Saving Rules, wasn’t covered as thoroughly as industry wanted. API made those rules a foundation of the curriculum.
Modules first, then the scenario
Participants work through 23 interactive modules on topics such as confined spaces and working at heights. Each was designed to be short and impactful. After a module, they step into a VR scenario that puts the lesson to work on a virtual offshore installation.
API reviewed VR catalogs from many vendors and found mostly how-to content. Its subject matter experts wanted more. In WorkSafe scenarios, users assess the worksite as they go. They inspect their harness. They check the wind sock to judge whether conditions are safe enough to work. They look for toe guards and decide where to tether. Questions along the way tie back to the module.
A safety culture doesn’t come from step-by-step drills alone.
“You don’t really do that if you’re just doing kind of hands-on how-tos,” Thomas said.
Each VR scenario is a solo experience. Users can make mistakes safely and move at their own pace. Classroom sessions add the group dimension, with peers sharing stories and perspectives.
Thomas was clear about the limits. VR doesn’t replace job-specific or site-specific training. A worker won’t finish a virtual heights scenario and work at heights the next day. What it builds is muscle memory and a habit of checking.
“You may put that harness on a hundred times, but it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be examining it every time,” he said.
Grounded in consensus standards
The curriculum draws on three documents. API Recommended Practice 75 covers safety and environmental management programs for offshore operations. API RP T-1 lays out how to build an orientation program for personnel going offshore and what it should include. The IOGP Life-Saving Rules give workers a simplified set of actions to protect themselves and colleagues from fatalities.
API develops its standards through an ANSI-accredited process.
“These are not written by folks who sit in our offices here at API, but by industry for industry,” Thomas said.
The program followed the same model. Subject matter experts with decades of offshore experience built it. Offshore operators and contracting companies then reviewed each module to confirm it met the standards and fit their needs.
That breadth is the program’s edge over in-house training. Reviewers came from around the world and from most sectors that work on a platform, so the content isn’t tuned to a single company, Thomas said.
A complement, not a replacement
For rig managers and HSE site leads, WorkSafe Offshore is built to slot into an existing orientation or training framework. It remains subject to each organization’s own safety, operational and contract management requirements. It doesn’t replace facility-specific, job-specific or emergency response training.
API invites organizations to evaluate the program in depth before adopting it and wants their feedback. “We are responsive to industry needs,” Thomas said.
How to get started
WorkSafe Offshore comes in three formats:
- A self-paced, computer-based course through the API web store
- Virtual instructor-led sessions, with the VR scenarios run as a desktop version
- In-person classroom instruction with VR headsets
API will soon publish a directory of third-party providers offering the instructor-led version. Translations are next. Users overseas have asked for the program in their own languages, and API plans to release new translations in the near future.
API Training has operated for almost 30 years and draws on more than 800 API standards.
Thomas’s advice for oil and gas professionals is to be intentional about continuous learning and to tell organizations like API where training falls short.
“We are uniquely set up to get direct feedback from industry and we want to hear that feedback,” he said.