Member involvement in IADC initiatives crucial to association and industry success

By Stephen Colville, IADC president and CEO

By now you have likely heard about IADC’s Red Thread, our narrative that describes IADC’s journey toward greater collaboration within the drilling community to ensure its license to operate. It is how we define who we are as an association, what we do and how we do it.

IADC is about providing global leadership for the drilling industry’s efforts to eliminate injuries, prevent incidents and drive up efficiency.

To address this, we have developed an impressive list of initiatives. These are the programs and projects that will help us reach our goal of catalyzing improved performance for the industry by enhancing operational integrity and championing better regulation. The momentum behind each of these initiatives is enormous. IADC members have stepped up to the plate to provide the expertise and leadership to see these projects to completion.

The IADC Lexicon was born out of a request from the European Union to develop a resource that they could consult when developing regulations affecting our industry. The Lexicon, currently under development, is a repository of terms that have been defined in legislation, regulations, standards and guidelines with application in the drilling industry. We anticipate that its benefits will reach far beyond the EU, with usage as a dictionary or a quick resource for identifying a relevant standard, guideline or regulation.

The Lexicon is also designed with Wikipedia-like editing capabilities in mind. As technologies evolve and regulations keep pace, our members will have the ability to edit the Lexicon to reflect those changes and keep the terms relevant and up to date. Providing the tools to develop sensible and fair regulations assists in IADC’s effort to champion better regulations around the world.

Work on the IADC KSA project is nearly finished, with a September completion date set. The KSAs will set competency benchmarks and detail the skills and expertise required for success for virtually every position on a rig. Additionally, they will provide a foundation of information for the industry to demonstrate the qualifications of its personnel. This important initiative ties back to our efforts to enhance operational integrity. Defining expectations, and ensuring that each team member receives the training and education necessary to perform their roles, will ultimately lead to a safer workplace.

We are committed to realizing our global potential. As such, we’ve hired additional regional representatives for the Europe and North Sea region, with plans to add staff in Brazil in the near future. IADC has recognized that having troops on the ground is the most effective way to have a positive impact. You can expect to see our regional representatives at your chapter meetings. You will be hearing more about their collaboration with drilling regulatory authorities as they work on your behalf to advocate for legislation that is both fair and reasonable.

Our teams continue work on updating drilling process guidelines, with work progressing on the IADC Drilling Manual, HSE Guidelines and the Deepwater Well Control Guidelines. These critical guidelines help ensure that everyone on a rig has on hand the instructional tools and critical information they need to perform their jobs.

IADC’s Workforce Attraction and Development Initiative is also under way, with exciting partnerships being developed to raise awareness of our industry as a desirable work environment.

Our current initiatives and projects, and those we may pursue in the future, are each tied to our goals of enhancing operational integrity and championing better regulation. They address the needs of our members to operate more efficiently, with less nonproductive time and fewer incidents.

IADC is growing. Just as the industry is evolving, IADC is stepping up to keep pace. We are laying the foundation to ensure our industry has simple, tried and tested, secure solutions available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. With a focus on improving industry performance, IADC’s initiatives aim to reduce both costs and incidents, a goal valued by all.

I believe we all share a vision of the future of our industry, wherein every person on every rig is given the education and materials they need to succeed.

Better performance builds trust. Trust within the industry, trust with regulators, trust with the public. Building that trust burnishes the reputation of our industry while ensuring the drilling community’s license to operate.

This is at the heart of all of IADC’s initiatives.

I invite you to get involved. Our chapters, committees, conferences and communities all offer opportunities to share knowledge and expertise. All of the work under way at IADC is by you, our members. This work will ultimately benefit the entire industry. The crucial nature of your collaboration on this work cannot be understated. The initiatives under development are critical if we wish to achieve our goal of catalyzing improved performance for the industry. They can’t happen without you. Your input is crucial to the success of our association.

You are IADC.