eSea 25 - Reality Is Virtually Here by Maersk Training

eSea EM AGA ZINE FROM M A ERSK TR A INING

M A R I T I M E/OI L & G A S/ W I N D/C R A N E · NO.25/2016

Reality Is Virtually Here > Total Reality Is Here > Searching For Tomorrow’s World Today > And now for something completely different... >

The Show Must Go On > Down to Earth Ladies > Under the Earth Ladies > It’s All In The Bag >

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Cover photograph: The Power and the Glory – sunset in a Brazilian oil field by Rodrigo Dias

8 Total Reality Is Here

Reality Is Virtually Here In 1998 guests and participants stared in awe at what was the solution to a major training problem.. >

10 Change is what Kjell is all about. He heads a team of six seasoned experts, most with experience in the industry within oil majors. >

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Searching For Tomorrow’s World Today

Something different...

The Show Must Go On

Careers are a journey – for some the destination and route are determined from day one – for others circumstance, fate and opportunity are signposts that lead to unusual and unpredictable experiences. >

On December 1, in one 24 hour period, Chennai in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu had 300mm of rain – the wettest day in one hundred years. >

Down to Earth Ladies

Under the Earth Ladies

It is probably the most sophisticated simulator on the planet. It prepares a select group of people to zoom round the earth at 27,600 kph. >

The role of women in the Middle East is an emerging and changing one. When put in an oil industry setting it is a particularly challenging one. >

It’s All In The Bag It weighs about 15 kgs and looks like a squared-up hiking backpack, but for someone working in the remoteness of an offshore wind turbine, it could mean the difference between life and death. >

yesterday today tomorrow The first 15 years of the new millennium have whizzed by â&#x20AC;&#x201C; perhaps because they have been so eventful. On the world stage new abbreviations immediately create horrific imagery, 9/11, IS... in the Oil & Gas industry mention Macondo or a barrel at $147 and people shudder... in life we said hello to Wikipedia (2001), You Tube (2005) and the iPhone (2007) and goodbye to the Pyrenean Ibex and Concorde (both 2000). Osama bin Laden and the Space Shuttle (both 2011) and most recently David Bowie. In politics the US elected their first Afro-American and Germany their first woman Presidents. Looking to the near future, like within four years, it is expected weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll have a universal flu vaccine, a drug to prevent obesity and polio eradicated. Spying drones will literally be

the size of insects, we have 3D printers in our homes and the City Circle Line will open in Copenhagen. Europe gets a missile defensive shield whilst Africa gets a central bank and currency. Further down the line Uganda becomes an oil-producing nation and Nigeria loses its last piece of rainforest. If thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not enough, they expect to do the first head transplant, fairly soon. Busy and exciting on a global level, so we decided to look a little to the future as to where training and the basic set-up of our industries might sit in the next 15 years. A forward-thinking operations manager looks round the corner to predict how a classroom will operate and we talk to someone whose job it is to look into the future.

We also look back a little for the past is the foundation of the future, no matter what Henry Ford said. Frank and Sue have shared 20 career moves between them and they are still a long long way from retirement. One of the more terrifying global predictions is that California will have an earthquake of enormous power, true nature and nothing to do with man tampering with our precious environment. India is no stranger to adverse weather conditions and we see how one training centre carried on operating for the last month of 2015 despite the heaviest rain, and flooding, for a century.

Richard Lightbody rli039@maersktraining.com

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Reality Is Virtually Here The old phrase, ‘necessity is the mother of invention’ needs the rider, ‘and the grandmother of innovation’ when it comes to the on-going technological challenge of training for the oil & gas, maritime and wind industries.

here is an image which we share here. A phone handset held aloft by a piece of rope which is tied to a pipe in the ceiling. It still hangs in an un-used room in the cellar of Maersk Training in Svendborg. Around it, in an

area too clean to gather dust, two chairs face aftward in what is tech-equipped as a mini bridge. In 1998 guests and participants stared in awe at what was the solution to a major training

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An engine without oil, a pen for a spanner, an engineer probes for improved performance.

problem. Up until then there was no platform for winch operators and navigators to do what they did in real life, cooperate in anchor-handling situations. The real life result was that accidents

and damage were all too frequent on board supply vessels. WHAT’S IN THE BLACK BOOK? Simulation had been about for years in terms of relatively simple manoeuvring, but there was no

way of representing wire-scoping over the stern and the external forces it created and how it affected performance and safety. The instructors opened a ‘black book’ into which they logged all accidents and mishaps in terms

of their dollar significance – by 2006 it ran to many hundreds of millions. Dynamic Positioning was added in 2003, but it was already becoming clear that technology,

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Looking aft on the 360 degree bridge. Bridge A can be interconnected with all the simulators in MOSAIC for a multi-dimensional â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;real lifeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; learning experience.

in terms of screen resolution and graphics, were racing ahead of what the cellar-based simulator could offer. The decision was taken to create a new focus in training, a purpose-built complex with four bridges simulators, the main one being a full 360˚experience; all supplied with the most current bridge-issue equipment. Somewhere along the road the building became known as the Maersk Offshore Simulation And Innovation Centre, MOSAIC. ‘We had the offshore support vessels, but we needed the “things” they needed to support to actively interact, so we got a jack-up rig to tow around and a semi-sub rig to run anchors from. We started doing jacking training, tow mastering and dynamic positioning in an offshore environment including deepwater drilling’ says Operations Manager, Tonny Møller.

GOING GLOBAL Tonny Møller has been deeply involved for almost two decades in the project which has grown from a solution in a converted storeroom to entire purpose-built

"Virtual reality will be the big thing" complexes in Aberdeen, Houston, Dubai, Rio de Janeiro and where it all started, Svendborg in Denmark. The project which started in a cellar chasing technology was now employing it as its servant. A second MOSAIC was commissioned in order to add to the realism of the scenarios.

‘MOSAIC 2 was actually just meant to be a drilling simulator connected to Bridge A in the original MOSAIC, and it could easily have been just that. But then we added the engine room and the crane because dynamic positioning is worth nothing without the engine room support. Now we are going into dive support, subsea support where the crane is putting down ‘Christmas trees’ – here the cooperation between the crane driver and the DP operator is crucial,’ says Tonny. AND TOMORROW... So where, or what, next? Looking into the future Tonny sees technology placing training on new levels. ‘Virtual reality will be the big thing,’ says Tonny. ‘BOP for example, one client had 18 days of downtime because the BOP failed and the spare BOP wasn’t in order. With a virtual reality room they could go in and rehearse changing that gasket to totally understand what was needed, the time saved

Hanging on the phone; the old phone in the old simulator hangs in the semi darkness, silent. All the chatter is happening In the new MOSAIC.

from downtime would have paid for the investment.’ In the meantime the investment that Maersk Training has made through invention and innovation, virtually worldwide, is becoming reality. ●

Total Reality Is Here Procedural Training for Oil Production

Anyone looking in through the window of what used to be a garage and storeroom could be forgiven in thinking that Maersk Training in Svendborg had invested in a new gas or oil-fired central heating system. What they are looking at does have an oil and gas connection, but it’s for warming brain cells, not water.

artially built from components scrapped from platforms on the North Sea, the Primary Process Separator is a simulator as far removed from the electronic technology of the nearby MOSAIC complex as Donald Trump is from the dole queue. It’s all metal tanks, metres of piping and numerous pressure valves and replicates 90% of what is to be found on the platforms. ‘The ideal situation would be to train it on board, on the platforms,’ explains instructor

Per Larsen, ‘but because of the risks and costs involved it is not possible. So we wanted to create something that was as close as possible to reality so they can get the sense of hands on experience.’ The electricians, blacksmiths, anyone who gets their hands dirty in the maintenance programme will now have their awareness raised through thorough risk assessment and the planning process to carry out the identified task. As with a growing number of courses, there is also a human factors element with a specialist People Skills instructor monitoring how the participants work with each other. The venture is a cooperation between Maersk Training and Maersk Oil, who saw the need for such training and for the right equipment to do it on. The simulator is an open facility for all those in the offshore industry. ●

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Miles away from oil, but close to reality, the Primary Process Separator is the latest addition to Maersk Trainingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fleet of simulators

Searching For Tomorrow’s World Today Maersk Drilling ‘s team with the job of looking into the future

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness...” Charles Dickens – A Tale of Two Cities.

ritten 157 years ago it’s a quote used by Kjell Evensgaard to describe his current work situation, well the first twelve words at least. Anyone involved in the oil industry today, from operators to contractors will recognize that there have been better days.

Dickens wrote those words in 1859, the same year that Samuel Downer Jr patented a lamp oil calling it kerosene and on August 27, William Smith struck something black and rather wonderful, Smith is generally recognized as the first person to successfully drill for oil. After boring just 21 meters into the

earth at Titusville, Pennsylvania, he changed the world. Change is what Kjell is all about. He heads a team of six seasoned experts, most with around 30 years’ experience in the industry within oil majors. Their job at Maersk Drilling is to look to the

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"Typically all companies that do well understand what their client wants and they cater to that need â&#x20AC;&#x201C; but our industry is really bad at it"

"We work in a very conservative industry"

the practice is flawed. For decades the price of a barrel was enough to sustain pursuing it relatively inefficiently. For the oil majors those days, the best of times, as we know from today’s petrol pumps, have gone; maybe not forever, but for long enough to create an environment where change is not seen as a threat, but as a necessity.

future – their project is called Game Change. FLAWED RULES ‘We work in a very conservative industry,’ says Kjell, ‘since the days of John D. Rockefeller and his mates things haven’t really changed beyond the arrival of sophisticated downhole tools and the bigger equipment that allows you to go somewhere else. Everything else is basically the same.’

What Kjell and his team have to search for is not technological innovation. That may form part of a solution, but the grail they are seeking is a whole new way of looking at how the industry rewards itself. There are three parties in the traditional setup. The E&P (Exploration and Production) Company who own the well licence, the contractors who provide the hardware and manpower for rigs and the service providers.

It’s an industry which has turned common practice into fundamental rules, even where

As a contractor Maersk Drilling is not unlike a London black taxi owner/driver. They have invested

in the cab and The Knowledge, the training process which takes each cabbie on average 34 months to pass. The cab is hired by someone, the E&P company, and then it is up to multiple factors as to how much it will cost for the journey – weather, traffic, route, diversions, they all play parts in affecting the end price; the slower the journey the higher the numbers on the taximeter.

"We are looking for something that’s linked to value creation"

PAYING PRICE OF EFFICIENCY With drilling a well, different circumstances have a similar contributory factor, dictating the financial result, the price on the contractor’s clock. What this does is to reward misfortune and seemingly punish efficiency. In the last eSea we talked about the 62 days the Maersk Discoverer tookoff a well plan and the subsequent millions saved in the process. In the short term Maersk Drilling paid the price for the team’s ability; in the long term they might expect reward in terms of their enhanced reputation securing more contracts. The word ‘might’ is the weakness in this financial equation. So what Kjell and his team seek is to de-construct the business model itself in order to rebuild it afresh. ‘We are looking for something that’s linked to value creation, we have the inside/ out view of our industry because everyone is typically making money. You focus on your own

"What we need is an outside/in view on it, what is value for the client"

little box, but what we need is an outside/in view on it, what is value for the client. Typically all companies that do well understand what their client wants and they cater to that need – but our industry is really bad at it,’ says Kjell. Once they have taken the business model apart and

considered what value there is for the client then they can formulate a new approach to rig hire – they have two years to do it. You can look at another industry which totally rebooted its financial DNA, the airlines. The travelling public have swallowed the bitter pill of reduced pampering in favour of reduced fares. What comes out of Game Change is presently unknown, but it is highly unlikely that it will resemble a sort of Easy Drill. IN THE YEAR 2030 What Kjell does know is that the solution won’t be for all companies. ‘There’s a limited amount of clients out there that will want this, there are a limited amount of projects that fit this. You need a different type of client who is willing to pursue the dialogue, you need a client with a project that is most likely to remain repetitive so you can focus on the long-term value creation,’ he says without giving too much away.

The key word that keeps appearing is value. Technology is only a plus when it adds value and is not simply there in the name of innovation. Looking into a crystal ball he says, ‘My hope for 2030 is that we will have a big piece of our fleet, a growing fleet, working under the new set-up, we have a proven track record and the E&P companies really see us as the enabler of unique value.’ Back to 1859 – it was a very productive year. The day after Smith struck oil, the most powerful geomagnetic solar storm ever witnessed lit up the earth, day and night. They thought it was the end of the world. Apparently it wasn’t and on quieter days the first paper bags were manufactured and digging the Suez Canal started. In Odense a pharmacist, Theodor Schiøtz did more than dispense pills. He dispensed pilsner by opening the Albani Brewery. Danes have priorities. ●

"The E&P companies really see us as the enabler of unique value"

Is work today more interesting or uncertain because most are not locked into a specific job?

And now for something C completely different...

Computer programmer to pop star – Elvis Costello. Dishwasher to poet – Allen Ginsberg. Lion cage cleaner to actor/ producer – Sylvester Stallone.

areers are a journey – for some the destination and route are determined from day one – for others circumstance, fate and opportunity are sign posts that lead to unusual and unpredictable experiences. Some people freeze at the very concept of uncertainty; others thrive on not knowing what is round the corner. Here we meet two people who would never have dreamed where they would end up, or have they finished dreaming? Sue Matthews for instance, today a Business Support Administra

tor, many yesterday’s ago an RAF driver, prison warder, sail ship watch-keeper. And Frank Lamberg Nielsen, who recently at 54 qualified as a psychologist, 35 years after thinking he’d like to be a marine biologist. His personal career navigation reflects considerable change, but is he unique in today’s world? His story reflects today’s need for change and adaptation. We will have to work longer, but not, as with our grandparents, with a gold watch to mark the end of 40 years of dedication, loyalty and... and maybe, monotony. Jobs are no longer for life; careers are not even for life.

Sue’s Story I

f you are on a course with Maersk Training in Newcastle there’s every chance that your name and career background, travel and lodging, course material and certification will have passed under the gaze of Sue Matthews. Sue reflects how her latest role as Business Support Administrator brings together so many of the skills acquired in diverse three decades. What is particularly diverse with Sue is that each career change was triggered by a different set of circumstances. ‘I’m an outdoor doing things kind of person,’ she says. Her first ambition as a school leaver was to join the Royal Air Force, her father and grandfather had both served. As the personal driver to the commandant, rather like Sam

in the TV drama Foyle’s War, she ferried him all around London and southern England. At that time the RAF didn’t have married female personnel – so a change in personal status meant goodbye to the job she loved, but not farewell to driving. From staff car to lorry – Sue drove a HGV truck delivering the UK’s favourite tissues and toilet paper. Then the next in a number of unconnected career jumps, ‘because I thought I should get myself a proper job.’ Sue became a medical underwriter for an insurance group assessing people’s viability for policies and based on their health records what their lifespan was likely to be. She was part of the merger team when the company joined another major insurance group in

Sue in number one uniform the Royal Air Force Reserve

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And a few years on, dressed down, but ready for climbing the master on the tall ship Pelican

"I was listed as injured on duty and medically retired" 1996, but didn’t want to relocate from Bristol so took voluntary redundancy. SUE GOES TO JAIL Career change number four did eventually mean relocation. Joining the prison service, initially in the control room with the day-to-day running of the prison and then as a fullyfledged prison officer. ‘I loved this job, strangely it was easier to be in a men’s prison rather than in a women’s,’ she recalls, ‘the men have nothing to prove and actually gave you some respect.’ She says this with considerable

and unfortunate personal evidence. One day Sue found herself isolated and alone trying to quell a fight and she ended up, broken boned and bleeding. ‘It wasn’t aimed at me but when you are in the middle of a room with 42 female inmates the chances are you are not going to come off too well. I was so badly battered and concussed I was listed as injured on duty and medically retired,’ she says. What next? Sue decided she needed to sharpen her computer skills. So off to college – only she ended up working there. TALL TALES And now for something completely different. A newspaper ad hinted at adventure. Sue had done some sailing when in the forces so she signed on Pelican of London, a Class A Tall Ship, and headed to the Caribbean. ‘Perhaps due to my age, I was made a watch-leader,’ she says. Sue was keeping watch off the

Canary Islands when she spotted a boatload of refugees in trouble. ‘I know it is topical today, but this was back in 2007. We were at the centre of the rescue operation, exciting times.’ Home to the UK and another change; planning the logistics for a coach company. It ceased to trade. Then, helping out a friend who wanted her to teach computer skills, she somehow ended at a party in Newcastle where romance caused her to stay even after the Government sponsored courses where hit by cutbacks. Working as a temp at reception with Maersk Training developed into career number 10, Business

"We were at the centre of the rescue operation"

Support Administrator. ‘What is great is that my new role draws things from every chapter of my past, nothing has been a waste of time.’ Her journey so far through travel and logistics, roaming the world and keeping people in one secure place, are all part of Sue’s extensive learning curve and perhaps unwittingly valuable tools in her latest vital position. ●

Sue’s Career • RAF – driver • HGV – driver • Insurance Group – medical underwriter • Prison Officer • IT – college • College – IT consultant • Tall Ship Pelican – watch-leader • Coach Company – logistics officer • Maersk Training – temp in reception • Maersk Training – Business Support Administrator

Frank’s Story T

he career path of Frank Lam berg Nielsen has twisted and turned, with most of the turns triggered by Frank himself as he interpreted changes in the employment marketplace; usually just before the circumstances happened. In his time he has been an unable-bodied sailor, a navigating officer, skipper of a Viking-style ship full of juvenile delinquents and on shore controlled the shipping at Øresund as they built the bridge between Denmark and Sweden. Today he’s a qualified psychologist helping and assessing tomorrow’s officers as they move up the career ladder. Increasingly his past experience is recognised as a valuable part of his new qualification making him a fairly unique asset to have when crews are in crisis. As an 18 year-old he wanted to be a marine biologist. Following

school he travelled and then found himself in the military as a reserve officer for two years. After that he failed to get on to the course stream he wanted and ended on a type of course that was very loose and unstructured. It wasn’t for him and he left after two semesters. ‘I thought I needed to do something with water,’ Frank recalls and instead of looking into the sea for a career he decided to float on it. He went to the seafarers’ school in Sønderborg and then onto training ship Danmark as a Maersk cadet and eventually to navigation school. OUT OF THE BLUE When ready to go to sea as a navigator in a big pale blue ship, Frank had one of his last-minute path changes, said no to the posting and found himself in a ship-full of juvenile delinquents – they sailed on a voyage of hope

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Frankâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s early life in pictures

looking for ever-lasting change. It was potential change that Frank described as ‘uncertain at best’ and back home the paying public agreed and put an end to the practice; but not until Frank had been on two other boats, one, a Viking-like craft, which he skippered. More small coastal ships followed and then a stint on shore monito ring maritime traffic as it passed the Øresund Bridge as it was being built. The bridge was to play another part in changing Frank’s career. He was back at sea on a ferry in the Baltic when the opportunity came up for a new exciting type of Ro-Ro, so large it was like a floating bridge. For it Frank needed a pilot’s licence, a German speaking post. He got a tutor in Sweden, learnt little and to this day does not know how he passed the test. This is where the bridge comes back into Frank’s career path, the CEO of the ferry

company jumped from it and the giant Ro-Ro was cancelled. WRONG PROMOTIONS A keen observer of people Frank noticed how many people felt uncomfortable with his company’s policy on promotion. ‘What it did was to take people who liked doing one job, say a chief mate, and putting them in a role which they didn’t want or enjoy,’ says Frank. ‘There was a career structure up through the ranks and I didn’t think it was very good – if you feel comfortable as a mate why should you be pressurised into promotion to do paperwork. It also meant that those who wanted career advancement were frustrated because the post they wanted was filled by someone purely on seniority.’ By now in his forties, Frank was facing the most trying time of his professional life. The financial downturn of 2007-2008 had led to cutbacks. He feared

his new role as an instructor would be threatened by reduced investment in training so he went back to sea on supply vessels. However technically much had changed so he needed to step down several levels ‘I just couldn’t do it, I wasn’t the Frank of old. On an anchor handling vessel in the North Sea we had so much downtime I thought I could use it.’ He decided to study philosophy whilst working offshore and with a library of books and podcasts it was possible, turning up when on home leave for lectures. However, as Frank pointed out, ‘not many companies need a philosopher.’ He opted for psychology. ‘I was the only person in the class about to celebrate a 50th – I could have been a father to most of them. It was strange to sit in group work, you could feel the enormous gap in experience.’ Today Frank is back at Maersk Training in Svendborg, as part of the People Skills department he

takes courses and uses his new qualifications on occasions to assess the career development and hopes of others. ●

Frank’s Career • Military – 1st Lieutenant • Seafarer cadet • Government Programme – Crew and skipper on boats for juvenile delinquents • Knud I. Larsen shipping – 1st Mate and Chief Officer • Vessel Traffic Service, Dragør – operations • Ro-Ro ferries Baltic – Chief Mate • Maersk Training – maritime instructor • Maersk Supply Service – 1st Mate • University of Southern Denmark – Master in Science of Psychology • Maersk Training – People Skills, Safety, Security Instructor – Psychologist

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AQUA PLANES The runways at the international airport were 1,250mm under water; roads were canals and rivers, lakes. The participants’ hotels were running low on food and had rationed guests to one meal a day, rice or lentils. ‘Sometimes the networks would work and we could sneak in an occasional call reminding the course participants not to move out of their hotel location,’ says Satya.

‘On the second day, in the afternoon the water stopped rising, we moved out and we took a high SUV – sports utility vehicle – our business development manager has a very high SUV and went to see the participants and told them we’d run the course from the next day.’ This they did in the hotels and then ferrying the participants to the training centre for simulator sessions. PROUD TO BE INDIAN India from a Governmental administrative point of view can

sometimes be accused of failing to respond to the challenges of nature, but Satya was full of praise and admiration for his fellow Indians, ‘I have never seen anything like this weather before, never seen so much destruction, but at the same time I haven’t witnessed so much physical work, compassion, social work, volunteering in my life. There were people there cooking for others, going door-to-door collecting clothes, delivering clothes and helping in rescuing people. I was very happy that a

whole community could look after themselves.’ And his team looked after the participants on the Well Control and Danish Maritime Law/§16 courses. On completion they got them home via a 350km journey to Bangalore from where they could catch a plane to Bangkok and other parts of India. ●

Evelyn and Michele find common ground in training drill crews and astronauts

Down to Earth Ladies It is probably the most sophisticated simulator on the planet, yet its whole role is to give you an out-of-thisworld experience. It prepares a select group of people to live up in the sky for prolonged periods, zooming round the earth at 27,600 kph – that’s Copenhagen to New York in thirteen and a half minutes.

he International Space Station – ISS – isn’t built for speed, it is built for study. Those

on board are part of programmes aimed at better understanding the earth below, the sky beyond and how best to get there and back. The normal crew of six are an ever-changing international blend of scientists, technicians and within minutes of blast off, astronauts. Back on mother earth they leave thousands of support staff behind that until last November included Evelyn Baldwin and Michele Marie Blanton.

Their role took them into that very special simulator at Johnson Space Center in Houston where, surrounded by space age technology in a mockup of the ISS, they got to the hub of all effective teamwork, good communication. The size of ISS is considerable, up there, passing over us fifteen times a day, is something like twelve 40’ containers.

common bond in technology, isolation and metal in an environment that is alien. Evelyn and Michele see many similarities and many similar challenges. Soft skills are an easy target for people who either don’t understand or value them; Evelyn and Michele’s task is to create a respect so that a hard-nosed driller or astronaut, and their teams, can benefit from 20/20 communication.

TREADING SOFTLY SOFTLY It’s a very different world to life on a drillship or rig, or is it? A

Looking at her new role, Evelyn says, ‘These people are highly experienced, they’ve been

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s Michele and Evelyn, together on planet human skills

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"When dealing with international crews it is important to learn the differences between cultures and realize one way isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t necessarily better than another"

out drilling for 15, 30 years sometimes, so who am I to come in and tell them communication is important, people already seem to listen to them, so those same struggles exist. But it’s the same as NASA, the more you can get them into the simulator with smartly scripted cases and scenarios, showing them that the communications and the teamwork and situation awareness are important, the more they start to get the buy in, start to listen on how to be stronger on those skills.’ ‘When dealing with international crews it is important to learn the differences between cultures and realize one way isn’t necessarily better than another,’ says Michele. ‘If a person learns what the characteristics of a culture are it will help them to better manage communication, teamwork and lead their people. For example, if a society is used to being told or ordered what to do and not to disagree, those people in the workforce will just

follow direction whether they agree or not. They may or may not know how to perform the task they were told to do, but they will either try or pretend to do it.’ DREAM TICKET The ISS crew of six is international; Americans and Russians are usually accompanied by some Europeans, so soft skills need to include different cultures and how they respond to instruction and communication. Michele in her first few months has noted a difference,’ It’s kinda difficult coming to the oil and gas industry, they don’t use the same terminology or the protocol’s, it’s been a culture shock. The maritime industry uses a lot more because they have adopted the military protocols, largely from the navy. It’ll be a slow process to improve upon, especially with the different nationalities, different vocabulary, accents and stuff that people have.’

She sees coming up with a universal oil and gas communications protocol as the right direction to go in the drive to cut down on errors and misunderstandings – but she doesn’t see it happening overnight, ’there’s a long way to go.’ Working in NASA may seem like the dream ticket, even if you don’t get to fly, but Michele explained she was looking for something new to do and thought the opportunities in oil and gas for human skills had potential. However she soon found out that few outside of Maersk Training recognised this. Her last job at NASA was on the Orion project, the bid to get man further into space than ever before. Exciting, but the project was still in the build phase with consequently a reduced demand for training. When they said they didn’t get to fly, they did the next best thing. Evelyn explained, ‘I got to fly it several times, if you are good at

video games you can probably fly the Space Shuttle, but I’m no good at games and I actually got to land it upside down and then you hear the ambulance alarms going off . . ‘ PROFILE Evelyn and Michele were Communication and Tracking Instructors, teaching technical communication equipment and Space Flight Resource Management, the human factors items – taught lessons, evaluated flight controllers, astronauts on human factors skills. Processes and skills they are today transferring to the oil and gas industry. SPOT THE ISS If the sky’s clear you can log on and look up. http://spotthestation.nasa.gov/

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Under the Earth Ladies

Dubai women opening the door to a whole new world

There are an awful lot of people who donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really understand what the company they are working for is aiming to achieve or what the industry the company is in, is about. Understanding the playing surface is a major part in fitting in and contributing to the full, but it is a knowledge level that in certain parts of the world is aggravated by culture.

he role of women in the Middle East is an emerging and changing one. When put in an oil industry setting it is a particularly challenging one. Neela Pratap from ENSCO Dubai recognised that and looked around her at a growing number of female colleagues. A chat with

Robert Thomas, Sales Manager at Maersk Training in Dubai opened a door and Neela and nine colleagues walked through it. Maersk Training has long held Introduction To Drilling courses, where people whose only contact with the oil industry had been

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at the petrol pump, learnt the various and complex roles of those on rigs and platforms and were shown the types of difficulty they had to overcome. It’s a short sharp lesson, but one which helps tremendously in building up a respect between off and on shore.

It is a respect that globally is hampered by traditional viewpoints with regard to gender. Pretty well everywhere, oil is a man’s game, in the Middle Eastern business, oil is men’s work. Recognizing this, Neela, as a Middle East Representative for Enspire, Ensco’s Women’s

Network, had an initiative to get female staff more involved in the industry. Maersk Training ran an introductory course, but Robert sees it as a key course, one that opens minds and doors. ‘We’d like other companies to pick

up on ENSCO’s initiative, but in truth regardless of gender or cultural background, knowledge of the industry you are in is vital to enhance performance,’ he commented. ●

What happens if you are 60 metres up in an isolated offshore wind turbine and you have an accident or take ill?

It’s All In The Bag It’s something the offshore technicians are expected to take with them into the turbines, but something they hope they will never need.

t weighs about 15 kgs and looks like a squared-up hiking backpack, but for someone working in the remoteness of an offshore wind turbine, it could mean the difference between life and death – but only if your work buddy knows what is inside and how to use it. The packs are the idea of Maersk Training in Newcastle and in the bespoke bags technicians will find an advanced First Aid kit which includes an AED heart-

starter, splints, collar supports and gases like oxygen and nitrous oxide, most commonly known as ‘laughing gas.’ Maersk Training’s Sales Manager in Newcastle, Paul Parry explained that the nitrous oxide was a major difference between the pack they had created than the few already on the market. The inclusion of something to take the pain away is not universal, largely because of fears of something like morphine being open to mis-use.

in January instructors began conducting three-day courses in Belgium, Holland and the UK, introducing technicians to what’s in the bag and how to use them. The instruction is carried out at onshore locations close to the wind farms and will continue until all technicians know how to use what is inside.

‘I hope they are never used’

‘It's funny to say this but I hope these packs are never used, but if they are and they save even one life then it has been worthwhile and we will have made a significant contribution to our industry,’ says Paul.

The packs were designed exclusively for MHI Vestas and

The inspiration for the bags came from those used in soccer games

where the trainer rushes on with everything needed for immediate First Aid. ‘We noticed that they were red and blue and for the sake of uniformity we kept ours the same,’ said Paul. Colour was an easy decision, but the bags took a while to design, with weight, size and carrying power being factors which had to compete against each other. In the end the bag was tested by two technicians, one much bigger than the other. The bags are now part of the essential kit the teams carry on each job, winching them up and down to their workplace. ●

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As the first responder, how do you think youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d cope with a situation like this?

It could mean the difference between life and death

The baker, the blackbird and Hamburgefintsiv 30

hat do you think is the most solitary of positions on board a passenger ship – the person with the most responsibility resting just on their shoulders? I know because I stumbled across him the other day when visiting a vessel and it wasn’t the purser, the chief engineer or even the captain; he was a guy who works alone deep in the bowels of the ship and upon whom just about everyone on board unthinkingly relies every day. He was the ship’s baker. Somewhere on Deck 3 in an area no larger than an average house’s dining room, he pours kilo upon kilo of flour into something the size of a cement mixer, presses the on and then off button and then lifts it out by hand, to form into rolls, sticks, loaves and pastries. Each day starts the same, whilst 95% of those on board are in mid-sleep, he goes through a routine that gives them

their daily bread, ending with his most tiresome task, 1,000 Danish pastries. He is just about the only person on board who can’t delegate down, or refer up – if he gets it wrong, it stays wrong. He is also the only person on board who dictates the end of his working day – once baked, its back to bed. Well there’s not much more you can do on the Copenhagen to Oslo run. Full of admiration, I was thinking about this when this huge bird landed in the orchard outside my office window. I picked up my camera, put a long lens on and focused, on nothing. The bird had flown.

BYE BYE BIG BIRD By way of compensation for taking the camera out, I did get a blackbird. Somehow I don’t think the BBC’s fabulous wildlife department will come knocking at my door. But it was those guys I was thinking about; the men who spend huge chunks of their lives in thermal underwear, left hand on the tripod, right hand on the camera release button. The opposite end to the baker’s work schedule and expectations, they too hold sole responsibility, but unlike the baker they have an easy get out. Since nature doesn’t perform to a script they can go back to the office after six months in a hide, with a longer beard and fatter bank balance and simply say, ‘sorry guv, Mrs. Panda

had another headache. We’ll try again next year.’ I remain however full of admiration for the remarkable shots they capture and how they develop them into a story. There is no other aspect of the media that makes so much out of so little, so beautifully. Like the baker they are master craftsmen. When you come to think about it there is a huge spectrum in jobs and subsequent responsibility. There’s also an equally huge spectrum of satisfaction and a third spectrum of permanence. If you form them into a triangle and put a point along a line depending on how close or far you are from each of the corners of personal responsibility, personal satisfaction and project permanence, you end up with a second triangle which is your job profile. Try it.

the buzzard WHAT IS YOUR PROFILE? An architect for instance, because he usually goes through committees, would be high to moderate on sole responsibility, high on job satisfaction and, one would hope, high on permanence. A driller would be high on respon sibility, variable on satisfaction and low on permanence. A teacher looks back of decades of nurturing with pride, whilst a clergyman, if he believes what he preaches, would be low on responsibility, satisfaction would depend on his congregation and with regard to permanence, well he’s the only one who gets to meet the boss for an appraisal after he finally signs off. Back in the orchard was the bird of prey. He’s a bit like the baker, each day starting afresh; in his case, stomach, not oven, empty. This time I managed to get a shot of him, beak to camera, looking at me. He then flew off leaving me with some blurred images of

wing tips and feathers. However the first image was enough to establish him as a member of the Accipitridae family, which is not a widespread name around Svendborg. Hawks and eagles are Accipitridaen and this boy turned out to be a Common Buzzard. It’s funny how the naming of something colours it forever. There’s something majestic about the golden eagle, but his cousin the common buzzard, who looks as different to me as a Toyota to a Nissan, seems somewhat downmarket. I suspect I ruffled a few feathers by suggesting that the baker is the most singularly responsible person on board a cruise ferry, the person you would most want to have in your lifeboat. It’s an observation supported by history; when the Titanic went down, so too did the captain – the baker survived, but then he had been at the cooking brandy. ●

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