Text: Alf Inge Molde
“It is actually quite unique for operating companies to meet in this way and to share knowledge between each other – about what has worked well and what hasn’t. There is plenty of room for openness and honesty,” says Dag Normann Aasjord, the forum’s secretary.
Aasjord has held this position since 2012, and he is also a second line on-duty emergency response manager and head of OFFB’s competence centre. The forum’s leadership circulates among its members.
The forum’s purpose is to provide an arena for exchanging knowledge and expertise within the field of emergency preparedness and response for OFFB’s members. It is also an advisory body to the emergency response organisation’s managing director.
Topics ranging from plan development, training and exercise, courses and expertise, to the handling of actual incidents, organising emergency response tasks, and the standardisation of solutions to common problems, are being discussed within the forum.
Learning beyond and across
At the 50th meeting, Gassco, Wintershall Dea, DNO, Shell, OKEA, Sval Energi, Aker BP, Wellesley and Neptune Energy were represented, together with several members of OFFB’s staff.
In addition to an update on OFFB’s operations and work in progress, the technical forum got a review of how one of OFFB’s members handled an incident last winter which triggered mobilisation. The expectations and challenges related to a collaboration agreement within the industry on how to handle major oil spills were also presented and discussed.
The latter resulted in a separate working group now being established to ensure a common approach among OFFB's members.
“Working groups have already been established in several other areas, including human resources, communication, CIM and now also action management,” says Aasjord.
Different, but with common challenges
There is no hiding the fact that the operators constituting the emergency response collaboration are different, both in terms of size, ownership, culture, activity and organisation.
“Nevertheless, there are many common features, and everyone has something to learn from each other, whether we are big or small. There is no requirement that we should all be the same,” Aasjord clarifies.
Kåre Olav Oftedal, HSE advisor at Gassco, has been a member of the technical forum since 2016 and its leader since 2021. He believes it is important to meet the other operators on a regular basis.
“This year, it has been exciting to get Aker BP in as a new member of OFFB and in the technical forum, and there are always current issues to discuss with each other. It is useful to bring the professionals of OFFB and the members together,” says Oftedal.
Further development
Managing director of OFFB, Ole Jacob Haug, praises the effort that has been put into the technical forum since its inception in 2010.
“The advice and feedback from our members have been, and are, very useful in ensuring that the administration develops its emergency preparedness and response in a way that works well for all members, regardless of size and activity,” says Haug.
