The oil and gas sector is a gigantic driver of growth within the global economy. In fact, it accounts for almost $75 trillion of worldwide GDP each year – a staggering 3% of the global economy.

The people within the industry work incredibly hard to achieve this growth while reconciling environmental and safety issues. It’s a difficult task, though, and there are lots of dangers to personnel. Of course, safety comes above all else and it’s important that the sector works in harmony to create strong regulatory compliance and meet it.

Looking for a closer look at the safety challenges within the oil and gas sector? Here’s a closer look at those (and how Openraid helps to combat them).

Safety Structure within Organizations

Every organization within the oil and gas sector has its own hierarchy of leaders. An emphasis on safety really does have to come from the top and managers should be responsible for actively engaging in cultivating a safe working environment.

Unfortunately, there is often a disconnect in lots of organizations between the top brass and the people working on the ground. Safety is not so much of immediate concern for those professionals working in strategy and at the higher levels, which means some businesses have a tendency to neglect it.

It’s absolutely important that the leaders within the oil and gas sector are able to identify risks and hazards facing their team and work to mitigate them. Risks to the safety and health of staff should be held just as highly as risks to the business – health is the most important thing, after all.

The Effectiveness of Management Systems

Every business installs various management systems that are responsible for making sure the right results are achieved using the right methods. These systems can often become abstracted, though, and they lose the real world impact they were intended to have.

It’s important that these systems are constantly evaluated to make sure that they are effective and keep people safe. Rather than being seen as layers of bureaucracy in the way of achieving results, these systems should be perceived as useful tools in the pursuit of safety and great results.

Mitigating Risks

Every business within the oil and gas industry is aware of the various risks to the team on the ground. It’s important that these active and potential threats are properly managed according to their severity. There’s often a tendency for smaller hazards to be overemphasized which can take attention away from larger hazards.

The industry wants to place safety as a priority, and it’s currently wrestling with how to achieve this. The work is often complicated and ever-evolving, so it’s hard to stay on top of the new risks that emerge.

Industry analysts play an important role here in determining the level of threat posed by a safety hazard and how to mitigate that risk. This is an ongoing effort that needs the full weight of the industry behind it to succeed.