Oilfield Safety Training- Personal
Protective Equipment (PPE)
Introduction:
Working in an oilfield or
related to oil and gas industry domain is always not easy, especially the
working environment, adverse weather conditions, physically challenging jobs,
long working hours and workplace hazards had made this even worse.
People are often excited
about working in oil and gas industry because of high paid salaries and
work-holiday rotations, but they are not aware of various conditions they will
be exposed while working.
So it is highly advisable
to have knowledge on the safety culture practises in the industry and it is everyone’s
responsibility to follow the same.
Working safely, making
safety as priority and analysing the hazards before starting the work will
almost minimize the occurrence of incidents and accidents.
Many oilfield major
accidents like Deepwater Horizon Blowout, Piper ALPHA, BP Oil Spill and others
would have been prevented.
So remember ALWAYS SAFETY
FIRST.
Analyse your workplace
HAZARDS
Make CONTROLS in place
and JUMP INTO YOUR PPE.
Health,
Safety and Environment
should be the driving force for each and every employee in Oilfield or any
other work area. Safety related incidents are daily happening all over the
world and making working a painful activity. It’s our responsibility to
consider safety as a primary responsibility and minimize the outcome of
the incidents, and if possible to prevent this safety related accidents.
So to prevent the incidents
there is a need to learn about safety, design safety program, foresee the
incidents, learn from previous mistakes and implement proper safety plan.
In order to prevent an
incident to occur the following pattern would be implemented.
ELIMINATION
SUBSTITUTION
ENGINEERING CONTROLS
ADMINISTRATIVE
CONTROLS
PPE
PPE is Personal Protective
Equipment which helps us to minimize hazards effects on employees.
Personal protective
equipment (PPE) is anything used or worn by a person to minimize risk to
the person's health or safety and includes a wide range of clothing and safety
equipment. PPE includes boots, face masks, hard hats, ear plugs,
respirators, gloves, safety harnesses, high visibility clothing etc.
·
Hard Hat to protect HEAD
·
Safety Glass to protect EYES
·
Ear plugs/ Ear muffs to protect EARS
·
Coverall/Body Vest to protect BODY
·
Safety Shoes to protect TOES/FINGERS
·
Hand gloves to protect HANDS/FINGERS
The type of PPE to be used
will be highly depend on the job, so the term appropriate PPE is used to
describe the PPE required for a particular job.
ALWAYS
RESPECT SIGN BOARDS
Whatever
is your working location, when you are working in Offshore O&G operations,
Land operations, in a process plant, in a refinery, Chemical handling, working
in a yard, working activities like Lifting, Trenching & Excavation,
Welding, Grinding, Hammering, Chipping, working at height, chemical
transferring, construction site or any other work related activities you
should always were appropriate PPE.
Personal
Protecting Equipment includes the following but not limited to
Hard Hat (better
if you put on a reflector tape)
Safety
Glasses (Indoor/Outdoor clear of any scratches)
Ear
Plugs/ Ear Muffs (Must for all equipment operators and if sound more than 85db)
Face
shield for hammering
Cover -All
with reflector strips/ Reflector clothing (With name, blood group details
on chest, Nonabsorbent and fire protective)
Hand Gloves
(cotton/ impact, rubber gloves if handling chemicals)
Safety
Shoes with steel toe (If in damp areas or chemical handling use rubber
boots/gum boots)
Respirators/
dust masks if you are handling with chemicals, dust, mist, smoke, crystalline
silica etc.
Always
use signs/boards/ markings/ barricades while entering into the work area to
remind of wearing PPE or if any additional PPE is required to enter into the
working area, It is your responsibility to inform new employees or workers
about the uses of PPE.
Also mark
the walkways, maintain at least 2 Muster stations and always use designated
smoking areas for smoking.
PPE vary
with the job you do, but for any activities the above listed PPE is a must and
violating the above is ZERO TOLERANCE.
For
example if your work involves handling with hot work such as welding or gas
cutting you may need HOT GLOVES, Face Shield, Fire Blanket, a water hose, fire
extinguisher, and a fire watcher.
So
depending on the job always use appropriate PPE.
Always:
1.
Properly assess PPE before it is used to ensure it is suitable
2. Wear
and look after PPE
3. Keep
PPE in clean and good condition
4. Store
PPE appropriately when not in use
5. Use
PPE correctly whenever it is deemed necessary
What is
to be considered before selecting the appropriate PPE?
Consider
all the possible hazards that are likely to occur in your workplace before
selecting the appropriate PPE. Also, identify the PPE that will prevent or
reduce the risks involved in your specific task.
Once you
have selected what you believe to be the most suitable type of PPE, you should
also ask yourself:
|
YES
|
Is the
selected PPE appropriate for the conditions of use?
|
|
YES
|
Is it
compatible with all other items of PPE?
|
|
YES
|
Will it make
me more or less visible?
|
|
YES
|
Will I still
be able to hear others and be heard?
|
|
YES
|
Does it fit
properly and is it comfortable?
|
Job
Hazard Risk Assessment:
Once you
decide to work on a job, before jumping and starting the job, assess the job
for various Hazards that may turn-up while working or after completing the job,
also wear the PPE for the specified job.
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