Asset Integrity and Process Safety Management (AI-PSM)  is crucial for a sustainable future for PDO.  We are trusted to manage the risk in the oil and gas industry, one that involves operating processes of flammable materials at high temperatures and pressures. When something goes wrong, it can go very wrong.  Fortunately, we are able to work with these materials safely. We do this by establishing and maintaining barriers that act as a control against identified hazards. These barriers reduce the likelihood of incidents occurring. Barriers control risks which protect us, our neighbours, our assets, our production and the environment.
 

 

There are two kinds of barriers: critical equipment barriers and critical human barriers. Sometimes these barriers work in combination to prevent disaster. Our actions and decisions are often as important as the equipment safeguards. We can think of these barriers as walls. Any deviation from procedures, any unaddressed alarm or overdue  inspection creates a hole in the wall; a small hole, perhaps but create enough holes in enough walls and the barriers fail, which can  lead to disaster.  Barriers may fail over a period of time with only the last barrier failing shortly before the immediate incident. But the first barriers may have failed 
 

months or even years earlier without being noticed, paving the way for trouble ahead. Our goal is to minimise risks in our operations which takes the commitment of each of us.  Think about the equipment barriers that you work with and the procedures that create human barriers against an incident. Ask yourself: