Record-high results with HSE campaign

Omega consultant and HSEQ Manager in DEA’s Dvalin Development Project, Jan Leskovsky, has been at the forefront of a HSE campaign that has reduced the amount of falling objects in the development of the gas field, Dvalin.

The HSEQ team on the Dvalin project. From the left: Mike Rae, Rune Berntsen, Johan Bodsberg, Bjarte Bakketun, Anne Hovda, and Jan Leksovsky. 

The gas field Dvalin was developed in 2010 and is DEA’s first self-operated field construction on the Norwegain Continental Shelf. The Dvalin Development project entered the execution phase in October 2016, and since then there has been construction of subsea structures, pipelines and topside modules on a range of fabrication facilities both abroad and in Norway. A majority of the equipment was installed offshore in 2018, and the installment will continue towards the planned start-up of the Dvalin gas field in late 2020.

In the beginning of 2018, an increased rate of falling objects were registered on the suppliers’ locations. As a response to this and to change the rate of occurance, Jan Leskovsky and his HSE-team started a campaign.

"We wanted to get «under the skin» on our suppliers at the fabrication facilities, and get them to think through their own work situation. We created a questionnaire where the personnel had to explain a little about what they thought would help prevent falling objects, in addition to coming with suggestions for improvement," Jan Leskovsky explains.

The campaign inspired many, and the team also got to run HSE workshops. Before the campaign, DEA promised a prize to the supplier that made an extra effort to work on HSE issues. By the end of the campaign, Aker Egersund was awarded the money prize, which they in turn donated to a charitable organization.

The project management in Dvalin in DEA’s management has clear goals to ensure that the project and all related work is performed in a safe manner.

"In the Dvalin-project we focus on risk evaluations and implementing solutions to secure a safe completion of the project. Per January 2019, we have registered over 3,7 million work hours on the project, and the HSE results thus far have been very good. We have not had any incidents leading to work absence or close incidents with potential for severe consequences," Leskovsky explains.

To set the numbers in perspective; if a year of work make up approximately 1 750 work hours, Dvalin’s HSE project can be compared to that of one person working with heavy industrial work in 2 123 years without encountering any incidents more severe than a couple of smaller cuts in the fingers.

"We acknowledge that these results do not happen by themselves. Even if we allow ourselves to be proud of the results, we cannot rest on our laurels. This is a fight we need to win everyday. A severe incident can be waiting around the next corner if we are not observant."

Recruited HSE ambassadors 

"The system we have built in the Dvalin project also includes HSE training of our own project people. In the HSE department we cannot be in all locations often enough, it was therefore necessary to train engineers that travel to our suppliers. In this way we managed to get 20-30 extra HSE ambassadors on the Dvalin project, and we made it a required activity to follow up on HSE when visiting the suppliers," Leskovsky explains further.

In addition, they count the number of HSE visits on the suppliers’ work locations. Through 2018, 302 visits were completed. This is in addition to the Dvalin project’s own representatives that were on specific supplier locations.

"I am convinced that a high level of visibility on the work locations is the main reason for the campaign success, since we on these visits identify improvement measures and follow up. The follow-up is documentet, and we learn from these and bring with us knowledge in our coming HSE visits." 

"Close cooperation with the suppliers is essential. In the Dvalin project we emphasize building good relations based on trust and openness. Through good relations we can cooperate on good solutions, and together make each other better."