North Sea oil and gas operators are increasingly tapping into the services of ERM in Aberdeen following the opening of the firm’s local office at Queen’s Gardens nearly six months ago.
As part of a global professional services firm employing around 5,000 consultants, ERM in Aberdeen aims to offer clients in the oil and gas sector the best of both worlds – local service and global expertise in such areas as risk, process safety, environmental management and sustainability, combined with a broad spectrum of international experience and capability.
Many of the world’s leading oil and gas companies are familiar with the ERM brand and the level of service that goes with it. ERM projects in all parts of the world combine technical rigour with a deep understanding of the sector and its business priorities.
“It’s about understanding the importance of process safety, operational safety and environmental issues in a business context,” maintains James Davies, ERM’s partner in charge of the Aberdeen office.
To this end the ERM team is working on a range of fixed platform and deepwater projects, from early stage design, through operations to end-of-life decommissioning.
ERM in Aberdeen offers particular expertise in such areas as Operational Integrity, Process Safety Management, Risk and Formal Safety Assessment, Safety Cases and Safety Management Systems.
The office also covers Human Factors Engineering, Oil Spill Response Planning and a range of environmental services in such areas as management systems, auditing, risk assessment and assurance.
“Aberdeen remains an important centre for oil and gas exploration, development and production and as an international firm ERM is well placed to play its part,” says Davies. “We are continuing to grow the local office as well as calling on the expertise of ERM consultants elsewhere as and when they are needed.”
With the backing of ERM experts, both locally and internationally, Davies combines his own knowledge of the Aberdeen oil and gas business with extensive industry experience. Prior to living and working in the area, for nearly a decade he led the technical safety business of Atkins China Ltd, with staff in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan.
It is just another facet of the global understanding ERM brings to its oil and gas clients based in Aberdeen.
One of the strengths of ERM’s offering, he believes, is its ability to provide a fully-integrated, end-to-end risk management and environmental advisory service. In the wake of several major incidents over the last 25 years, it is a service which has played its part in what has been a fundamental shift in the industry’s approach to both safety and environmental issues.
“In the case of process safety we have seen the introduction of a Safety Case regime in the North Sea and certain other jurisdictions which puts the onus on goal-setting safety performance,” notes Davies.
“There are now calls for the introduction of ‘Safety Case’ style environmental assurance and a greater overlap between the respective safety and environmental regulatory bodies.”
Inevitably, this puts a greater emphasis on adopting a risk-based approach, with a focus on continuous improvement and individual responsibility. Operators are having to become more sophisticated in the way they explore outcomes as they seek to reduce major hazard risks to as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP).
Another key element in the ERM service offering is “Human Factors” which provides expertise in areas such as human factors engineering, safety leadership and competence assurance.
“Around 99% of incidents are due to human and organisational failures,” says Ian Hamilton, the global head of human factors at ERM.
“We have to help clients reduce the risk of potentially catastrophic incidents by supporting and improving organisational integrity.”
By the same token, he adds, the team works alongside clients to reduce the risk of human error, looking at a whole range of factors, from poor communication to a failure in support systems which could cause that error.
The upshot is that ERM Aberdeen is able to provide its oil and gas clients with a fully-integrated service in process safety, environment and sustainability. Perhaps not surprisingly as the industry reflects on a safer future, there is no shortage of uptake.
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