If there is one thing the energy industry can do to better itself, as winter approaches and storms rage along the California coast, and freezing temperatures hit the Gulf regions of Texas and Louisiana, and the ground hardens in the Midwest, it is this: Inspect and test, to ensure the safety of all exposed equipment.
Think of this assignment as the (early) fulfillment of a New Year’s resolution for 2015, where oil and gas companies go beyond the legal requirements about compliance and workplace protection; they set a higher – and entirely voluntary – bar for themselves, starting with their year-end review of the parts and products that fuel the too-fast-to-count revolutions of a deep water drill or the perpetual seesaw motion of a field of oil pumps in Oklahoma or the Mojave Desert.
Do not, in other words, halt operations and cover your equipment with a massive tarp, as if the turn of a key or the press of a button will resume operations with barely a screech or the grinding sound (and sparks) of metal on metal.
Think, instead, of economical ways to preserve or enhance your machinery. Use this time wisely because, even if Mother Nature cuts a different path and spares you Her seasonal wrath, this “quiet time” is a chance to do your own internal audit; to treat your equipment not as a depreciable asset, but as a long-term investment that can strike oil and extract gas.
I encourage all energy companies to do likewise, particularly those engaged in hydraulic fracturing or “fracking.”
I offer this counsel based on experience, where, in my role as Operations Manager for FD Johnson, a leading supplier of high-quality lubrication pumps and systems, I honor a pledge that is the result of more than 80-years of commercial success and five simple words of integrity: “We keep your machinery running!”
But, and here I seek to remind readers that upholding the following principle is essential for the health of our economy and the sustained independence of our most important companies, there must be a genuine commitment to inspect and test the machinery that keeps the energy industry running.
Consider, too, the alternative, where it may be easy to ignore or dismiss the importance of this issue. When, for example, “good enough” becomes the unofficial governing authority of any business or industry, one or both of two things ensues: Standards decline and a cavalier attitude pervades a workforce, which, for roughnecks and those in the physically dangerous world of offshore drilling or fracking, can result in serious injuries or death.
And secondly, neglect begets complacency for . . . everything. As a result, maintenance is selective, supervision (of employees and equipment) is arbitrary and success is rare.
No business should be so presumptuous, and no industry can allow such foolishness.
The purpose of performing this due diligence is to enhance productivity and extend the longevity of (lest executives choose to forget this fact) very expensive equipment.
Make it a priority, therefore, to stockpile the right valves, pumps, and systems and monitors that keep your machinery running.
Indeed, if this task is a priority – and it should be – then there is no reason to wait for the countdown of days and the passage of one year into the next.
Begin this project right now, so everything is in place before operations resume and workers return to various jobsites.
This strategy is good for business because it is an act of common sense, fueled, so to speak, by excellence and intelligence.
Brian Robson is an Operations Manager for FD Johnson, a leading provider of lubrication parts, pumps and valve systems that are often used for fracking.
