By: Paulo Moritz

Human Factors and Crew Resource Management (CRM) are generating buzz in the drilling industry. Defined as the “interaction of individuals with each other, with facilities and equipment and with management systems” (IOGP 502, 2014), Human Factors are already embedded in the aviation industry. The concept of CRM has been growing in other high-risk industries such as health care, firefighting and maritime. The battle against human error is not new to the drilling industry, but a CRM approach brings a focused way to address it.

CRM focuses on techniques to enhance crucial non-technical skills to provide the knowledge, skills, and motivation to:

• Be aware of our limitations and learn to work together to account for it
• Perform effectively as a team
• Reinforce and practice the ‘speak up’ culture
• Create a safer work environment

1. CRM is not a soft skill - Although a standalone course to introduce the concepts and emphasize the importance of non-technical skills is recommended, the tools and techniques should be inserted in existing courses and blended with the technical training. (I.e., apply situation awareness tools and elements to HMIs and system monitoring.)
2. CRM is a safety issue - A broad study made by the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) found that over 80% of the investigated accidents in UK, Australia, and Canada were “directly associated with the occurrence of human error”. An increasing number of catastrophes have been caused by poor situation awareness, leadership and decision making. The same study identified poor situational awareness, communication, and failure to cope with performance shaping factors such as stress and fatigue as major root causes for human errors incidents. (ABS 2004 - Maritime Accidents and Human Performance: The Statistical Trail).