Process Risk

According to the process manual, a readiness review meeting shall be held with key personnel to review all relevant concerns related to the project, and a checklist must be constructed to provide a short report of the business readiness. Findings from the case study shows that in six of eight projects this is done. The candidates from the interview elaborated that the checklist is outdated and not relevant for all projects, but it gives an indication of the important tasks in the projects. The result of missing checklists or poorly fulfilled checklists can be explained by the fact that candidates lack an understanding of the checklist’s usefulness. The checklist refers to outdated documents and is not directly adapted to the projects in Norway, which is unfortunate as it could be a useful tool making sure every parts of the project is ready before mobilization.

The checklist should therefore be revised and updated. Another candidate pointed out that although the process manual describes what is to be done, the customer’s contract and their requirements are often emphasized the most.

The checklist is to ensure progress in the project and takes the user through critical things that must be in place before the operation starts, and if there are any outstanding items these should be actioned or mitigated. The candidates further elaborated that the routines before mobilization is perceived as good, and the customer sometimes require multiple crossings of the checklist.

Further it is explained that the time is an important role when it comes to how thorough the review is conducted. Again, time is a dependent factor in how the company operates on RM, but in this case it might not be as crucial if the Risk Register is regularly updated.

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According to the process manual, if the readiness review checklist is not performed, a pre-execution RM can be conducted as an alternative. In two of the projects where the readiness review checklist was not performed, there were no evidences that an alternative RA had been performed instead. A cause might be that some of the personnel have not familiarized themselves well enough with the process manuals, as one of the candidates was not familiar with the alternative option. Another reason may be that there is no formal way of documenting whether you have performed an RA instead of the usual Readiness Review Checklist, which may be the reason why the authors could not locate any alternative RA’s. Therefore, the result for the case study may differ from reality, but on the other side, one of the candidates outlined that they often proceed even though the Readiness Review is not completed or insufficiently done, which reinforces the results from the case study. Another challenge might be how the company manages the risk transfer, if the checklist is not implemented. The results clarify a need for, first and foremost, revise and update the project manuals and then familiarize all personnel reading this topic.

Each project shall be subjected to a RA study before start-up of operations and according to the process this should be either HAZOP, HAZID or HIRA. Nevertheless, the process does not describe which one to use and the results from the case study shows that there is a variety in which of the RA’s that are conducted. In some of the projects, several RAs have been carried out with a corresponding report, while in others, only one RA has been performed and in some cases the report is missing. This shows that there is no clear and consistent way of performing this although it is performed in alignment with the process. Further on, the RA’s are filed in DMS and are often included in the Risk Register which enables the project team to follow up the risk throughout the project.

The candidates from the interview verified the findings from the case study, and also adds that which RA that is performed is often depending on customers requirement. Another candidate states that DNV guidelines describes which risk methods to use and it is very clear how to proceed, as well as the customers are well familiar with it. Using the same methods and terminology as the customers may improve the risk transfer and understanding between the two parties. The use of DNV guidelines provides a good approach to the ISO 31000 standard that the company has used as a basis in its processes, and by implementing these policies and descriptions in their processes, it can improve the understanding of how the risk should be managed. The basic idea behind a precautionary principle is to be up to date on the development

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and knowledge of what a solid risk management is. By implementing the new and improved ISO 31000 standard, Offshore AS will comply to the precautionary principle.

On-Site RA is usually referred to as SJA analysis along with a tool-box talk and the impression from these activities is that they work for their purpose, except that they do not contribute to continuous improvement as they are rarely sent onshore. As previously discussed, these should be filed in a system so that the onshore team can access them.

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