The North Sea oil industry could potentially save £10million over a four-year period through an online approach in safety training for 30,000 offshore workers.
Aberdeen’s Atlas Interactive will be the sole provider of a new common standard of safety training for the existing workforce in UK waters.
Minimum Industry Safety Training (Mist) has been developed by Step Change in Safety and Opito – the Oil & Gas Academy.
Mist aims to improve industry efficiency and standardise safety training.
It contains up to nine modules incorporating safety observation systems, use of hazardous substances, working at height and mechanical lifting activities. Training is via the internet, which saves time compared to other training methods and by eliminating travel costs.
The new technology underpinning Mist is a diagnostic tool called Fast Track, which works by assessing a learner’s knowledge gaps.
The course then delivered to the learner saves time by giving only the necessary training.
Atlas chief executive Jamie Bennett said: “Developed specifically for the oil and gas industry, Fast Track is very much a product for the current economic climate where a low oil price is placing pressure on employers to cut costs.
“In our industry, training can often be duplicated, costing valuable time and money while personnel are retrained on the same subjects.
“This is a groundbreaking initiative in terms of the importance the industry is placing on health and safety.”
David Doig, chief executive of Opito – the Oil & Gas Academy, said: “Following a rigorous selection process we are delighted that Atlas Interactive will be developing and delivering the e-learning provision for experienced personnel under the Mist programme. Its technical expertise, knowledge of the oil and gas business and successful track record have proved invaluable in the development of the high quality safety training package for the industry.”
Ian Aitchison, Step Change in Safety support team leader, said: “Currently, basic safety training is carried out to different depths of understanding and covers varying safety elements, lacking consistency across the industry.
“We recognise that adopting common standards and engaging the essential support to apply them uniformly across industry is a challenge, but there is a real prize out there.”
More than 350,000 people in over 35 countries are benefiting from the e-learning training provided by Atlas. The company employs around 55 people.