“OFFB offers the best solution for emergency preparedness, both in terms of experience and breadth of services. OFFB was therefore a natural choice for us, when we start drilling our second own-operated well on the Norwegian continental shelf this summer, in the Copernicus prospect off Brønnøysund in Nordland county,” says Marek Woszczyk, general manager of PGNiG Upstream Norway.
The Norwegian company is wholly-owned by Polskie Górnictwo Naftowe i Gazownictwo SA, which is the biggest petroleum exploration and production company in Poland. PGNiG was listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in 2005, and the Polish state is its biggest shareholder.
PGNiG Upstream Norway has been active on the Norwegian continental shelf since 2007. The company has expanded through a series of successful investments and acquisitions. In 2021, it acquired INEOS E&P Norge.
The main objective of PGNiG Upstream Norway is to secure the supply of gas and oil to the PGNiG Group. The hydrocarbons will be transported to Poland through the Baltic Pipe. Together with its partners, PGNiG Upstream Norway has participated in the drilling of more than 50 exploration- and production wells, resulting in significant oil and gas discoveries such as Ærfugl, Shrek and Warka.
PGNiG Upstream Norway holds shares in nine producing fields on the NCS today. These are Skarv, Morvin, Vilje, Vale, Gina Krog, Skogul, Ærfugl, Kvitebjørn and Valemon. It also has shares in seven projects with plans for development: Ærfugl phase 2, Gråsel, Duva, Tommeliten Alpha, King Lear, Alve Nord and Shrek. The company holds shares in a total of 60 licenses on the NCS.
PGNiG Upstream Norway’s head office is in Stavanger.
Managing Director of OFFB, Ole Jacob Haug, and general manager of PGNiG Upstream Norway, Marek Woszczyk.
Peter Wessel Cupen er Norges største håndballturnering og arrangeres hvert år i Larvik. Her konkurrerer de beste lagene i aldersgruppen 12 til 16 år fra hele landet.
KFUM Stavanger J07 stilte med to lag. KFUM Håndball Stavanger – 1 spilte finalekamp mot Årsta AIK HK og vant 17 – 14. Andrelaget hadde også en strålende innsats og ble nummer to i sin pulje – etter å ha blitt slått ut i sekstendedelsfinalen etter en jevn kamp.
OFFB har vært stolt sponsor av laget siden oppstarten og OFFBs HMSK/HR-leder var hovedtrener for laget de fem første årene. Jentene trener fire dager i uken, i tillegg til kamper.
Operatørenes forening for beredskap (OFFB) har hatt kontinuerlig beredskap for operatører på norsk sokkel siden mars 2010. Ved en hendelse mobiliserer vårt beredskapslag innen en time til vårt beredskapssenter på Forus – 24/7-365.
Beredskapslaget består av seks personer som hver har sitt arbeidsområde; beredskapsleder som har kontakt med operatøren i 3.linje og stabsleder som har kontakt med plattformsjefen i 1.linje. I tillegg består beredskapslaget av myndighetskoordinator, logistikkoordinator, personellkoordinator og informasjonskoordinator. Det er i dag etablert seks vaktlag, hvert lag har vakt hver sjette uke, i tillegg til bakvakt uken før de selv går på vakt.
Vi ser for oss at du kan gå inn i rollen som stabsleder og at du har motivasjon og kompetanse til å vokse inn i rollen som beredskapsleder på sikt. Alternativt har du rett bakgrunn og kompetanse for å kunne gå direkte inn i beredskapslederrollen.
Ansvar
Vi ser etter deg som vil jobbe med profesjonell 2. linje beredskap og være med å videreutvikle vårt sterke beredskapsmiljø. Du vil inngå i et team som bidrar til vedlikehold og kontinuerlig utvikling av beredskap i tett samarbeid med ledende operatørselskap på norsk sokkel og andre relevante beredskapsaktører. Du vil være en av seks medlemmer i et av våre seks vaktlag.
Rollen som stabsleder og beredskapsleder innebærer imidlertid langt mer enn det å gå beredskapsvakt. Vi jobber hele tiden med å øke våre medlemmers kompetanse innen krise- og beredskapshåndtering. Vi har eget kompetansesenter hvor medlemmene mottar kvalifisert kompetanseheving i form av kurs, trening og videreutdanning. OFFB gjennomfører mer enn 130 trenings- og øvingsaktiviteter hvert år.
I tillegg vil du også få rollen som operatørkontakt mot ett eller flere av våre medlemsselskaper, og også et fagansvar knyttet til ditt kompetansefelt.
Vi ønsker først og fremst å styrke oss innen krisekommunikasjon, men annen kompetanse vil også bli vurdert. F.eks. luftfartsfaglig kompetanse, ytre miljø og/eller beredskapsplanlegging.
Videre vil du også delta i generell drift av OFFB.
Hovedoppgaver
På vakt som stabsleder
mobilisere vaktlaget ved hendelser
være beredskapsvaktlagets hovedkontakt opp mot 1. linje under en hendelse
koordinere det mobiliserte beredskapsvaktlaget
gjennomføre praktiske oppgaver knyttet til vakten
inngå i ett av seks vaktlag
På vakt som beredskapsleder
leder og beslutningstaker for beredskapshåndteringen
være beredskapsvaktlagets hovedkontakt opp mot operatøren i 3.linje under en hendelse
gjennomføre praktiske oppgaver knyttet til vakten
inngå i ett av seks vaktlag
Utenom vaktfunksjonen som stabsleder/beredskapsleder
fagansvar knyttet til egen bakgrunn og kompetanseområde
øving og trening i beredskapsfunksjonen
som operatørkontakt ha en helhetlig oppfølging av operatørselskapene i forhold til beredskap
bistå operatørene med opprettelse og videreutvikling av beredskapsplaner og beredskapsorganisasjon
planlegge, gjennomføre og evaluere trening og øving i samarbeid med operatør
bidra til at operatørens beredskapspersonell har nødvendig opplæring og trening
noe reise- og offshoreaktivitet
Kvalifikasjoner
du har god kjennskap til, og operativ erfaring innen krisehåndtering
det er ønskelig at du har beredskapskompetanse og erfaring innen operativt planarbeid
det er ønskelig at du har relevant utdannelse på bachelor eller mastergradsnivå
norsk og engelsk må beherskes skriftlig og muntlig
vi ønsker først og fremst å styrke oss innen krisekommunikasjon, men annen kompetanse vil også bli vurdert. F.eks. luftfartsfaglig kompetanse, ytre miljø og/eller beredskapsplanlegging
Egenskaper
du er engasjert, initiativrik og liker å jobbe i team
du er fleksibel, positiv og løsningsorientert
du jobber godt sammen med folk med ulik fagbakgrunn – og skaper relasjoner og nettverk
du liker å sette deg inn i, og utvikle, nye løsninger og holder deg faglig oppdatert
du er utadvendt, energisk og har et drivende ønske om utvikling
du er robust og tåler å stå i krevende situasjoner også over tid
Vi tilbyr
utfordrende arbeidsoppgaver i et profesjonelt beredskapsmiljø
muligheten til å jobbe med noen av de mest spennende operatørselskapene på norsk sokkel
gode muligheter for faglig og personlig utvikling innen et viktig samfunnsområde
gode forsikrings- og pensjonsordninger
Vi er opptatt av og mener at mangfold er en styrke. Vi ønsker medarbeidere med ulike kompetanser, fagkombinasjoner, livserfaring og perspektiver for å bidra til at vi sammen blir enda bedre.
Hvis du har spørsmål, ta gjerne kontakt med Mercuri Urval v/Tone B.F. Berthelsen tlf 975 59 040. Du kan også kontakte OFFB v/Daglig leder Ole Jacob Haug tlf 900 80 418 eller Nestleder/HMSK-leder Marlén Jünge tlf 450 351 21.
Vis interesse for stillingen ved å laste opp din CV og søknad på www.mercuriurval.no snarest, og senest innen 5. mai 2022. Alle henvendelser til Mercuri Urval behandles konfidensielt, om ønskelig også overfor oppdragsgiver.
“It is essential to meet in peacetime, as we call it, to connect with those responsible for planning and executing various tasks in crisis situations, and to secure a common, complete understanding. This makes it easier to find each other when it really counts,” says Pål Erland, Neptune Energy’s point of contact and emergency response manager at OFFB.
This is not the first time OFFB and Neptune Energy assemble collaborating actors for an emergency preparedness gathering in Florø. But the pandemic has made it more difficult to meet in person.
Erland is very pleased that 30 people from Neptune Energy, A/S Norske Shell, Avinor, Kinn municipality, Securitas, Quality Hotel, the police, Equinor, Bristow and Sintef were able to dedicate this day to get to know each other better, to discuss professional issues and enhance their skills.
This year’s assembly was particularly focused on collaboration at the operators’ centre for evacuees and next of kin (OSEP) in Florø. Kinn’s municipal chief physician Kjell-Arne Nordgård and Truls Eide, professionally responsible doctor at Neptune Energy, presented their own roles and gave advice on how to interact.
Against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine and the threat level in Norway, representatives from Norway’s oil and gas industry were also introduced to ways of handling these challenges.
“Neptune Energy, Avinor, the police, Equinor and research director Maria Bartnes at Sintef all gave valuable input on various topics, and suggested tools we can utilise in our coming emergency planning activities. The key points are to prepare oneself, and to exercise and practice together with relevant actors,” Erland says.
“When does a crisis actually end?” professor Odd Einar Olsen asks, rhetorically.
For those affected, it may never end. For those who have an operative role in handling the crisis, the answer is: When the fire is extinguished and everyone’s gone home.
But putting out the fire does not necessarily mean that the crisis is over.
“Politically speaking, the crisis is not over until trust is restored. Which implies that people must have faith in the crisis management, accept what has happened, and believe in the involved parties’ representation of the events. It also means that people are willing to accept the findings of the investigations,” Olsen says.
A credible ending may therefore be the result of a long-lasting process.
A neglected topic in the literature on crisis management On February 23, OFFB assembled emergency response personnel, from the second-line operational and third-line strategic levels, for a workshop on strategic emergency management beyond the initial phases of a crisis. The workshop took place at the OFFB’s offices at Forus outside Stavanger, and was initiated and chaired by the Competence Centre’s staff.
Odd Einar Olsen gave a though-provoking presentation of the political dimension of crisis management, and the art of ending a crisis. He was followed by Øistein Johannessen, vice president of communications at Equinor, who shared Statoil’s learnings from the handling of the helicopter accident near Turøy island, North-East of Bergen, in 2016.
Olsen is a professor of risk management and societal safety at the University of Stavanger, and has researched and written a number of textbooks on crisis management and media coverage of crises. In addition to this, he has 20 years of experience from relief work, crisis handling, development aid and technology transfer in 18 countries, working for the United Nations and the Norwegian Refugee Council.
He believes the closing of a crisis is a neglected topic, both in textbooks and political documents - despite the fact that it will affect how the crisis is understood and explained in the future, and the reputation of those responsible for handling the events.
“The focus of the literature on crises, is first and foremost on preparedness and the handling of a crisis itself. When it comes to ending a crisis, it mostly concerns the debriefing of staff and the learning afterwards. Very little is written about the political closing of crises, and the risks involved when this is handled in a poor manner,” Olsen says.
Big crises do not end by themselves. Someone will have to declare them being over. Professor Odd Einar Olsen would like to see a clear and well-considered strategy.
Clear and well-considered strategies wanted This is a subject that should be addressed, he believes. Big crises do not end by themselves. Someone will have to declare them being over. By then, both operational and political tasks should be completed, preferably in parallel. At the same time, the public – the media included – should perceive the crisis to be over. When an ending is declared too soon or in the “wrong” manner, big problems will loom in the aftermath.
Classic examples include the offshore platform Alexander Kielland capsize in 1980, the plane crash near Mehamn in 1982, and the ferry disasters Scandinavian Star in 1991 and Estonia in 1994, he argues.
“The common features of these incidents were: Many casualties and massive attention at the time. Many were left with the impression that not all the facts were included in the investigations, and new information not taken into consideration later on. The identification of scapegoats was disputed, and the events attracted a lot of media attention,” Olsen points out.
Could these discords and problems afterwards have been avoided? It is difficult to say for certain. It is also difficult to produce a consistent scenario for how to achieve an acceptable ending, he admits. Each incident will have its own distinctive characteristics and challenges.
Doing the right things is not enough, Olsen adds. Credibility is also about form, content and trust. The closing process also involves other actors than those engaged in operational tasks. The real acid test is whether the general public accepts that the crisis is over.
“I would like to see a clear and well-considered strategy for how this can be achieved,” the professor says.
“Do not underestimate the follow-up work” Øistein Johannessen, vice president of communications at Equinor, was invited to share experiences from the way Statoil’s emergency response organisation handled the helicopter crash at Turøy, which happened on April 29 in 2016. Two pilots and eleven passengers lost their lives in the most serious accident within the Norwegian oil and gas industry since the turn of the millennium.
“Do not underestimate the follow-up of next of kin,” he advises.
Crises and serious incidents will leave a deep imprint on the organisation for a long time afterwards, Øistein Johannessen says.
Be sure to have clearly defined roles, tasks and reporting lines. Prioritise those directly affected, and the people closest to them. Do not underestimate their insecurity. Have sufficient staff available. Put internal resource personnel to use. Be consistent in your communications. And exercise!
“Crises and serious incidents will leave a deep imprint on the organisation for a long time afterwards, both on a human level and on the company’s security efforts. Serious incidents are both epoch-making and defining events,” Johannessen says.
Continuous improvement and progress The Operator´s association for emergency response (OFFB) is working continuously to improve and develop itself. It is constantly seeking new knowledge – both from academia and from other organisations’ handling of real incidents.
The workshop is part of a goal-oriented effort to further develop work tools and training- and exercise concepts for crisis management beyond the initial phases. This is a focus area for OFFB in times to come.
Whenever offshore personnel need to be evacuated to shore, an extensive system is mobilised to meet and look after it in the best possible manner. Persons with physical injuries are of course transported directly to hospital.
Everyone else is taken care of in a dedicated centre at the nearest airport, which is also the meeting point for next of kin in need of information, assistance, care and someone to talk to.
The operator´s association for emergency response (OFFB) has established such centres for evacuees and next of kin at several locations along the Norwegian coast: In Stavanger, Bergen, Florø, Kristiansund, Brønnøysund and Hammerfest.
In Florø, OFFB has an agreement with Nordic Choice Hotels. In all other cities, agreements are signed with Thon Hotels.
Should an incident occur on board the Petrojarl Knarr FPSO, operator AS Norske Shell will mobilise its centre for evacuees and next of kin in Florø. The same OSEP will be used by Neptune Energy, if an incident should occur on the Gjøa field.
All centres are required to carry out regular exercises, and to keep their expertise and systems updated. The corona pandemic has occasionally made it challenging to gather many people for this type of exercises. When an opportunity to do so is offered, it should therefore be taken advantage of.
On November 30, personnel from OFFB, AS Norske Shell, Petrojarl Knarr FPSO’s owner Altera Infrastructure Production, Neptune Energy, Nordic Choice Hotels and Securitas met up for a guided tour of the hotel’s facilities. There was also a plenary review and discussion of the plans and guidelines for handling a possible incident, and the way key actors should collaborate in crisis situations.
The meeting was followed by an exercise on December 1, involving representatives from AS Norske Shell, Altera Infrastructure Production, Securitas and staff from the hotel.
Beredskapskonferansen, som er et samarbeid mellom Petroleumstilsynet, Norsk olje og gass, Industri Energi og OFFB, har siden oppstarten samlet personell som jobber med beredskapsfaglige spørsmål i petroleumsnæringen og akademia, organisasjoner, politi og forsvar til å dele kunnskap og erfaring.
I år gjennomføres konferansen på Clarion Hotel Stavanger 1. og 2. desember, med en «ice breaker» om kvelden 30. november.
Programmet er delt inn i fire tema:
Beredskapshåndtering og læring etter hendelser
Kostnadskutt – hvordan håndterer vi beredskapen
Strategisk krisehåndtering
Digitalisering og beredskap
– Beredskapskonferansen er en viktig møteplass og arena hvor trepartssamarbeidet i næringen får anledning til å møtes, dele kunnskap og lære av hverandre. Vi har også i år fått med oss svært gode foredragsholdere og det er fortsatt mulig å melde seg på, sier Ole Jacob Haug, daglig leder i OFFB og medlem i programkomiteen for konferansen.
“Gas leak on platform. Red helicopter deck. Work permit for three persons in the area. Several detectors triggered. General alarm activated. All personnel mustered in lifeboats, except the three persons mentioned. Resources underway.”
The initial dispatch to the 2nd line emergency response manager is short and concise, and leaves no room for doubt: The emergency response team must be mobilised immediately. As well as the search and rescue (SAR) helicopter at the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre and other SAR’s in the vicinity, and a whole range of supportive resources.
“Three persons found, severely hypothermic. Two persons in the task team complain about respiratory problems. Remaining personnel mustered in lifeboats. Resources underway.”
As soon as the emergency response team is in place, and the most important initial actions taken, the emergency response manager decides to go ahead with the first meeting.
The entire process is based on proactive methodology.
Proactive methodology in practice In the initial stages of an incident, the window of opportunity is wide open. At the same time, there is little information available. The question is: Should I push the big, red button and muster all resources? Or: Should I wait and see how things develop – and risk having too few resources in place, too late?
The principles of proactivity give clear guidance:
The principle of certainty-uncertainty: If uncertain about whether resources should be mobilised or not, you are in reality certain that it should be done.
The principle of moderate overreaction: You should mobilise as many resources as to be sure of an overcapacity, to avoid the risk of undersizing the effort.
The principle of first information: You should always aim to be the first provider of information about the emergency situation. And the information provided must be correct.
What is the worst case scenario implied in the dispatch? What is the potential outcome to people, the environment and material assets? What do we do? What does the plan look like? And what about other factors, such as weather conditions and forecasts?
Long-term investment Emergency response manager Geir Haakonsen usually has a well-trained team at his disposal. On November 1st, a team of master’s degree students of societal safety at the University of Stavanger had a go at handling an emergency situation.
Afterwards, Haakonsen’s colleague, emergency response manager Magnus Klem Huseby, presented the findings from a similar exercise —based on the same scenario — a few days earlier.
OFFB has gradually built a long tradition of inviting students from the University of Stavanger, to demonstrate and explain how an emergency response organisation thinks and acts. Managing director Ole Jacob Haug acknowledges the great value of imparting insights to the crisis handlers of the future, by showing how theoretical knowledge can be put into practice inside the emergency room.
“We believe young academics can help us develop, and contribute to our continuous improvement. They visit us and get a glimpse of how we work. They observe and write papers and articles, which help us to advance as an organisation. As such, we see this as a long-term investment,” says Haug.
Total defence is a collective term for Norway’s military defence and civilian emergency preparedness.
By the Directorate for Civil Protection and Emergency’s definition, the term implies mutual support and collaboration between civilian and military actors — to prevent, to plan for and to handle crises during peacetime, security policy crises, armed conflicts and war.
During the cold war, total defence was mainly about utilising the civilian society’s resources to support the military in times of crisis. This has changed since 1990. Now, the main idea is rather that the military’s resources and capacities should support the civilian society.
One key condition for a successful collaboration, is that everyone involved in emergency preparedness — be it in the voluntary, public or private sector — is familiar with one another, and knows how best to collaborate in handling future crises.
This is also the starting point for the latest issue of NATO’s ‘The Three Swords’ magazine, published by the Joint Warfare Centre. Norway’s total defence system is the main theme of this edition.
Among articles about the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre, the Norwegian Cyber Defence Force and Norges Lotteforbund, OFFB is presented to the international public as a unique collaborative organisation.
This year’s issue 3 of the Norwegian scientific journal ‘Magma’ is dedicated to exploring how strategic thinking and management are affected by the pressure from the coronavirus pandemic.
The subject is discussed in four peer-reviewed articles. One of these is «Håndtering av langvarige beredskapshendelser: Læringspunkter etter covid-19-utbrudd på West Phoenix» (The handling of long-term emergency incidents: Learning points from a COVID-19 outbreak on board the West Phoenix drilling rig) is written by safety researcher Riana Steen and Alf Inge Molde, head of the strategic crisis communications team at OFFB.
Article summary
Today’s emergency preparedness plans are founded on traditional risk and vulnerability analyses. These include frameworks and procedures for the handling of defined situations of hazard and accident (DSHA). Turbulent changes, increased mutual dependency across organisations, as well as rising uncertainty, create challenges beyond the boundaries of a traditional emergency preparedness approach.
The handling of emergency incidents linked to the corona pandemic, highlights the way uncertainty, time pressure and escalating consequences strengthen the need for resilience in emergency preparedness work.
Through this study, the authors are taking learning points from the way the COVID-19 outbreak on board the West Phoenix drilling rig in August 2020 was handled at an operational and strategic level.
Based on method triangulation, the article explores the roles of the oil companies’ emergency preparedness organisations, and the manner in which they handled the outbreak. Analysing the empirical findings, the authors underscore that the key to resilient emergency response lies in coordination and the ability to improvise, together with openness, collaboration and trustful communication between the actors involved.
The full article is available at Magma’s website (In Norwegian only). External link..
Further reading at OFFB.no:
Research: New modelling method enhances emergency preparedness
In order to close the gap between emergency response plans and the way tasks are carried out in real life, far more factors and aspects must be mapped and included in the planning, Riana Steen believes. In a new research paper written in collaboration with the Operator's Association for Emergency Response (OFFB), she explains how this can be done.
Sharing experiences from the coronavirus outbreak on West Phoenix
A close dialogue, a focus on details and the ability to improvise were some of the key factors in the handling of the COVID-19 outbreak on board the West Phoenix drilling rig in the beginning of August 2020.
HSE-work is facing a paradigm shift, safety scientist Riana Steen believes. She now sets out to study the way principles and models in resilience engineering and Safety-II may strengthen crisis response and coordination inside the emergency preparedness room. (Article in Norwegian).
