Intruduction and scope of the
handbook:
ROBUST WORK PRACTICES
IN THE
PETROLEUM INDUSTRY
-A HANDBOOK-
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Contents
Introduction and scope of the handbook............................................................. 3
Who is this handbook for? ............................................................................... 3
How to use the handbook ................................................................................ 3
For those in a hurry… ....................................................................................... 3
Learning from things that go right ................................................................... 7
Part I Sensemaking in IO collaboration .............................................................. 11
Theme 1 Sensemaking in rig teams – interpreting a test result ............... Error!
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Theme 2 The nature of sensemaking ................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Theme 3 Uncertainty and ambiguity can save livesError!
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Theme 4 Making sense of the past and the future ........................................ 20
Theme 5 Prospective sensemaking in the operating theatreError! Bookmark
not defined.
Theme 6 Is the future a line or a tree? ............... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Part II Working with procedures and responsibilitiesError!
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Theme 7 Plans A, B and C ................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Theme 8 What do we understand by work process and work practice? ....... 30
Theme 9 Why do work practices not always coincide with procedures? . Error!
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Part III Configuring the organisation for IO ............ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Theme 10 What is divided must be reintegratedError!
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Theme 11 Technological and organisational arrangements must go hand in
hand.................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
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Theme 12 Can decisions be seen in separation from interpretation and
action? ............................................................................................................ 40
Theme 13 Decision support – or operational support? ................................. 41
Further reading....................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
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Introduction and scope of the handbook
Who is this handbook for?
This handbook is useful for anyone with an interest or stake in the topic of safety in the petroleum
industry in general, and in integrated operations (IO) in particular. This may, for example, be team
leaders and team members who to a large extent rely on multidisciplinary collaboration across
geographical distances, IO specialists, human factors specialists, people who work with the design of
work processes, HSE engineers and HSE teams, and probably many more.
Unfortunately, there are no ready-made solutions for many of the challenges of practice and safety.
Many of the topics that this handbook addresses are associated with dilemmas whose solutions are
neither generic nor given, but must be negotiated and traded off in the specific domain (e.g. drilling,
production and maintenance) and context where they appear.
We have arranged the themes into three main areas that correspond to different levels in the
organisation, from the sharper – hands on – to the blunter – organisational – ends.
Level 1: How to behave and collaborate in multidisciplinary teams in an IO setting
Level 2: How to work with procedures and responsibilities under varying conditions
Level 3: How to configure an organisation for IO
How to use the handbook
This handbook can be read as a textbook, from the first to the last page. However, to get the most
out of the book, we suggest that it is used as a discussion book in group settings. These settings could
be workshops or courses, ongoing discussion forums, or other occasions for learning and exchange of
ideas.
Each theme ends with a discussion topic that can trigger conversation about the particular theme
and what it means to you, your team, your organisation or your company. Each theme also
constitute a separate chapter and may be read independently from the others. However, the themes
are often closely related, and hence added value is obtained when seeing each theme in relation to
the others. To illustrate this, we have provided some of the themes with signposts to direct you to
other themes within this handbook or other relevant publications.
For those in a hurry…
This handbook summarises central findings from the project Sensemaking and resilient work
practices in the IO Center's programme 3. It is based on studies of collaborative work between
onshore and offshore organisations in an IO setting, and of surgical teams at hospitals. In this
handbook, many complex issues relating to IO are presented in an easily comprehensible manner.
Many of the issues are presented as dilemmas that IO teams and organisations are facing. The book
is meant to help the teams and organisations to find solutions to these dilemmas that work well for
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them. The handbook does not provide quick fixes or one-size-fits-all solutions. It is meant to be a
resource in the work of taking stock of IO in varying disciplines, areas, and under varying conditions.
IO implies that many issues that previously were resolved locally are now resolved by distributed
teams. We address these issues and dilemmas as they unfold in practice, and we do so mostly from a
perspective of promoting desirable outcomes rather than preventing unwanted outcomes (page 5).
All the issues and dilemmas addressed can be related to experiences from everyday work, for
example the work of performing and interpreting a formation integrity test (FIT; page Error!
Bookmark not defined.).
Part I: Sensemaking in IO collaboration (page 9).
Multidisciplinary, collaborative work involves a great deal of sensemaking, and this handbook
establishes a link between sensemaking and safety. Sensemaking, e.g. in a rig team, is not something
that takes place only inside the skulls of individuals. It is a social process that it is triggered by
uncertainty or ambiguity, it is ever ongoing without a beginning or an end, and it is more associated
with plausibility than accuracy (page Error! Bookmark not defined.). Uncertainty and ambiguity can
be the first weak signals (page Error! Bookmark not defined.) of a danger, and paying attention to
uncertainty and ambiguity by making sense both of the past and the future (page 20) can save lives,
for example by enabling teams and organisations to think of the future in terms not of a line, but of a
tree (page Error! Bookmark not defined.).
Meeting arenas for onshore and offshore operational units that have a collective responsibility for
carrying out projects with heavy integration across operating companies and vendors are examples
of arenas where these themes are highly relevant.
Part II: Working with procedures and responsibilities (page Error! Bookmark not defined.)
Preparing for plans A, B and C (page 28) is a natural consequence of thinking of the future as an
event tree. Sometimes plans are enshrined in more generic and standardised work processes. Work
processes and work practices may refer to the same thing, but it is not always so (page 30). It is
important to be aware of these nuances in order to facilitate work practices that may be evaluated in
terms of robustness and not blind compliance (page Error! Bookmark not defined.).
Planning of projects with heavy integration across operating companies and vendors represent
activities that will benefit from taking these themes into account.
Part III: Configuring the organisation for IO (page 35)
Another distinction which may seem obvious, but has not been much discussed in IO, is the
distinction and relation between division and reintegration of labour and actors. An important point
here is that what is divided has to be reintegrated (page 36). To manage this, technological and
organisational arrangements and developments must be treated as interdependent (page 38). In
addition, the intimate – and perhaps inextricable – relationships between interpretation, decisionmaking and action must be acknowledged (page 41). As a consequence, it may be more adequate to
talk of operational support than decision support (page 41).
Addressing these themes will strengthen the robustness of the organisation's strategic and practical
work with IO solutions, organisational development and change management in general.
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