As oil prices rise and production increases, so do the challenges faced by EHS leaders in the oil and gas industry.
How do you cut costs, optimize performance, and reduce your environmental footprint -- all while dealing with a high degree of regulatory uncertainty and public scrutiny?
It's no small feat.
Thankfully, EHS software offers several applications that can help companies meet these growing demands.
Below, we'll look at some of the ways the oil and gas industry is using EHS software to improve safety, reduce risk, and maintain compliance:
Tracking daily tasks & activities
EHS teams in the oil & gas industry are faced with an overwhelming number of compliance demands. With so much to do, it's easy for things to slip through the cracks -- often with serious consequences.
EHS software helps organizations track tasks and activities, like regulatory deadlines and scheduled audits, in a centralized calendar.
With the power of automation, software can alert you when a new task is assigned or completed or escalate deadlines based on rules you set. That means supervisors spend less time following up on tasks and ensures things get done on time.
Incident management
Experience has shown that even minor incidents require a swift response in order to protect workers and the environment and limit damage.
The challenge for the oil and gas industry, according to a report by The International Labour Organization, “is to be able to quickly and effectively respond to potential vast and serious incidents.”
What's the best way to meet this challenge? EHS software enables organizations to proactively identify issues, create an action plan, assign actions and track them to closure, and measure the response alongside objectives. The result is a timely and agile response no matter the size of the incident.
Environmental & safety inspections
Nearly half of the 813 senior oil and gas professionals who participated in DNV GL’s "The State of Safety" survey said they believe there has not been enough investment in inspection and maintenance of infrastructure and equipment in recent years.
Without proper environmental and safety inspections, companies can miss critical risk information.
Thankfully, many oil and gas companies have recognized the potential for EHS software to bridge the gap between cost-efficiency and enhanced safety.
Instead of traveling to remote locations, audits and inspections can be assigned at the site level. Supervisors can capture findings on a smartphone or tablet -- even offline -- and sync the information to a central database.
Then, software can automate time-consuming processes like sending out alerts, generating findings, triggering tasks or corrective actions, scoring risks, and analyzing data and trends.
Ultimately, this information can help companies prioritize their efforts and reduce their risks and liabilities.
Employee observations
Despite rigorous safety precautions, the oil and gas industry remains one of the most dangerous jobs in America. Workers face numerous hazards from dangerous equipment to chemical exposure, heat, confined spaces, fall risks, vehicle accidents, explosions and fires.
That's why it's essential for employees to have a way to report safety concerns to supervisors. EHS software enables employees to capture safety and risk observations, images, and video from any tablet or smartphone.
Safety leaders can view these observations in dynamic dashboards and drill down by location or type of incident to aid in decision making.
Tracking environmental data & compliance
Not surprisingly, the oil and gas extraction industry is among the top 10 most regulated industries in the US, according to RegData’s Industry Regulation Index.
Beyond federal regulations, oil and gas companies may also participate in voluntary environmental standards like ISO 14001, which adds to data collection and reporting demands.
Using EHS software, organizations can capture large volumes of air emissions and water data at the source, perform complex calculations, and create formatted regulatory reports with the click of a button.
The bottom line
EHS software has huge potential to reduce costs and improve performance in the oil and gas industry. At Perillon, we specialize in EHS software for companies with high volumes of data. Our customers include utilities, pipelines, refineries, and more. Click here to schedule a free demo with our solutions team.
Next, learn why leak detection inspection software is essential for the oil & gas industry.
