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SystemHSE, Process Safety & OT Security

Competence Assurance

Competence assurance that checks each seat on the next crew change against its role, its rig and each day to the flight home.

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Follow one crew change from 10:20 to 10:49 ↓
The problem

The offshore crew change competence check that stops at today’s date

The training matrix asks one question: is the certificate in date today? On the afternoon the helicopter manifest closes, that is often the only check a crew list gets. A well control ticket that runs out on day twelve, with its renewal booked for the week after the hitch, still shows green.

What decides whether someone can do the job on this rig sits elsewhere: a logbook whose last drill was on another rig’s push-button panel, an assessor who wrote re-observe, a banksman card sent as a photo with the date lost in glare. Nobody reads it all before the flight, so the gap turns up offshore.

Built forCompetence coordinatorsDrilling superintendentsContractor competence leadsWorkplace assessorsInternal auditors

The Problem Today

Crew lists clear on a training matrix that looks at certificates for one day, while competence sits in logbooks and assessor notes.

4,368
hours a year to read each seat’s evidence by hand our estimate
26
crew changes a year for each bed, two weeks on and two off our estimate

Checked by hand today

  • Certificate
  • Logbooks
  • Assessments
  • Rosters
  • Lapses found on boardA certificate that ends mid-hitch shows green today
  • Experience is rig-specificA drill on another rig’s panel looks the same in a matrix

The Solution

  1. Each document readCards, scans, logbooks and assessor notes, each value tied to its page
  2. The whole hitch checkedEach requirement tested from the flight out to the flight home
  3. This rig’s own equipmentExperience counts only on this rig’s BOP panel and crane
  4. A person decides the swapAgents find a relief fit to the flight home; the superintendent decides

Built-in controls

  • Whoever proposes cannot approve their own
  • Contractors see only their own people
  • Each record opened is logged

What You Get

Each seat is answered for the whole hitch before the manifest closes, and each gap has an owner and a day.

  • Gaps caught before the flightFound while a relief can still fly with the crew
  • Audit answers as it stoodEvidence for a past night, as it was in force then
  • Courses fitted into time offRenewals proposed before they can lapse on board
One crew change, by the clock

10:20 to 10:49: the competence assurance process on one crew change

Thirty-four seats fly to a platform rig at 07:40 tomorrow, and the helicopter manifest closes at 16:00 today. Here is how the competence coordinator and the drilling superintendent spend the morning on it.

demoRig, crew, employers and numbers are all invented for the sample.

  1. 0110:20

    34 of 34 certificates green, and the matrix has looked at one day

    Competence coordinator

    The seat plan draws the crew as a seating chart: day tour on the left, night tour on the right, roles down the middle. Under each name the hitch bar is still grey. Across the top sits all the training matrix knows: 34 of 34 certificates in date on the day before the flight. Nobody has read a logbook, an assessor record or the roster.

  2. 0210:21

    218 requirements on 15 days: 29 ready, 4 with a condition, 1 not yet

    Competence coordinator

    The check reads 286 documents and tests 218 requirements on each of the 15 days: 14 on board and the flight home. Each seat’s bar now shows its own hitch, day by day. One seat is not yet, the day assistant driller. Four carry a condition drafted for her to propose. The answer bar says to find a relief before 16:00.

  3. 0310:23

    Green on the employer’s matrix, lapsed on day 12 of the hitch

    Competence coordinator

    She opens the assistant driller’s seat and the certificate behind the finding. Well control, Level 3, surface BOP: not valid from day 12. His employer’s matrix shows green because the renewal is booked for after he flies home. A certificate must hold until the flight home, and no condition can cover one that lapses on board, so the seat stays not yet.

  4. 0410:24

    His last drill on this rig’s touch panel: 18 months 28 days before the flight

    Competence coordinator

    The second citation opens his personal drilling logbook, as the reader transcribed it. Recent drills are all on the other rig’s push-button panel. His last one on this rig’s touch-screen driller’s panel came 18 months 28 days before the flight, against a rule of 12 months. Alone, that gap would be a condition: a familiarization drill on arrival, signed by the toolpusher.

  5. 0510:26

    Three reliefs side by side, and one holds to the flight home

    Competence coordinator

    The relief finder reads the contractor’s relief roster, updated at 08:15, and lays three assistant drillers against the same requirements. One holds each of them to the flight home, after 28 days off. One is blocked: 3 days off against the 14-day rest rule, and the rules allow no shorter rest. The third has the same gap on this rig’s panel.

  6. 0610:30

    Approve stays grey at 3 of 4 pages opened

    Drilling superintendent

    The coordinator proposes the swap with the reason code certificate lapses during the hitch, and cannot approve her own proposal. On the superintendent’s screen the approve button opens only once he has opened all four pages himself: both certificates and both logbooks. At three of four it is still locked. An opening counts only while the record behind it is unchanged.

  7. 0710:38

    A banksman card photographed in glare, opened before he accepts

    Drilling superintendent

    He approved the swap at 10:32 and now works the four conditions. Each accept button stays locked until he opens the page behind it. For the night roustabout that page is a phone photo of a renewed banksman and slinger card, its expiry lost in glare. The condition keeps him off banksman duty on the deck crew list until his employer confirms the card.

  8. 0810:47

    Thirty ready seats signed after he opens three drawn at random

    Drilling superintendent

    Ready seats are confirmed by sample. Three are drawn at random with the seed logged, and only the signer’s own openings count, so the coordinator’s earlier looks do nothing here. He opens a mud logger, a floorman and the rig safety advisor. With 3 of 3 opened since the last change, Confirm 30 ready seats goes live.

  9. 0910:49

    Released at 10:49 with the relief in the seat and four conditions owned

    Drilling superintendent

    Release opens once nothing is left undecided. The plan reads 30 ready, 4 with a condition, 0 not yet, and the crew list goes to logistics as the record stood at 10:49, with the relief in the assistant driller’s seat. Each of the four conditions keeps its owner and its day on board. None is met yet: those observations come later in the hitch.

Three conditions a green training matrix would have let through quietly

Each came from a record the matrix does not hold, and each now has an owner and a day.

An assessor wrote re-observe

The night driller was assessed competent on shutting in the well, with a note that he hesitated lining up the diverter and should be re-observed within 30 days. The assessor now watches him at the day 2 drill.

A floorman under six months on the job

His first hitch on this rig, with no induction on file. He gets the rig induction on arrival and a named mentor on each tour.

A crane assessment past its limit

The day crane operator was last assessed on this platform’s pedestal crane 26 months ago, against a limit of 24. The assessor observes his first two lifts within 48 hours, and he lifts with her present until then.

demoSample data, from the working solution.

Around the crew change

Crew competency evidence as the assessor, contractor and auditor see it

The same crew from eight other desks: the inbox, the assessor, the look-ahead, the contractor, the crew member, the rig profiles, the trail and the auditor.

Evidence inboxCards and scans clear at 92% and above are filed. The rest waits for a person, marked unreadable, name mismatch or low confidence.
Assessor checklistsPrepared from the unit and her past notes; she judges. An observation set for the day 2 drill cannot be recorded before it happens.
Renewals in time offOver 90 days, 9 items expire inside a planned hitch. Course dates go into time off, and a booking clears nobody.
The contractor’s viewThe drilling contractor’s competence lead sees 21 of 34 seats, his own people only, with the operator’s requests to acknowledge.
A crew member’s own recordThe assistant driller sees he is off this flight, why, when his renewal moves into time off, and who can open his record.
Requirements by rigSample profiles per role. The assistant driller’s BOP drill counts on this rig’s touch-screen panel only; a change needs the superintendent’s signature.
Audit trailAgent steps, decisions with reasons and each record opened, in order. The swap approval lists the four pages behind it.
Evidence as it stoodFor a question about a past night tour, the file holds the versions in force then, for that tour’s people only, built with a logged reason.

demoSample data, from the working solution.

The coordinator proposes and the drilling superintendent releases

Nobody approves their own proposal, and each person sees only what their job needs.

Competence coordinator
Sees
The seat plan, each finding with its page, and the evidence inbox
Signs
Proposes swaps, conditions and course moves, and verifies assessor records
Drilling superintendent
Sees
Each cited page, opened by him before approve or accept goes live
Signs
Swaps, stand-downs, conditions, the sampled confirmation, release and rule changes
Contractor competence lead
Sees
His own company’s people and the requests sent to them
Signs
Answers evidence requests and confirms course bookings
Workplace assessor
Sees
Assigned people, with checklists built from the unit and past notes
Signs
The outcome of each observation, with a note
Internal auditor
Sees
Seats and roles; names open only inside an evidence file asked for with a reason
Signs
Nothing; reads decisions and builds evidence files
Crew member
Sees
His own record and the list of who can open it
Signs
Can disagree with a finding, which reaches the coordinator
The agents

Seven agents read the crew’s files, and none decides who flies

Each reads, matches or drafts, and hands what it cannot settle to a named person.

Evidence reader

Reads certificates, card photos, assessor forms, logbook pages and training matrices, citing each page with a confidence.

  • Never guesses an unreadable date
  • Never accepts a name that does not match
Requirement matcher

Builds each seat’s requirements from the role and the rig: its BOP control system, its crane.

  • Never drops a requirement; changes need a signature
Hitch checker

Tests each requirement on each day from the flight out to the flight home, and the rest rule before it.

  • Never checks only today
  • Never clears a lapse with a condition
Experience checker

Reads logbooks and drill records for recency on this rig’s equipment, and assessor notes for follow-ups.

  • Never counts another rig’s equipment as this rig’s
Swap finder

Finds reliefs in the employer’s roster and checks each for the whole hitch and the rest rule.

  • Never contacts a person, books travel or changes the manifest
Refresher planner

Fits renewals into time off before they reach a hitch.

  • Never books a course; requests go out only when the coordinator sends them
Evidence file builder

Builds a pack as the evidence stood at a past date and time, for the people in the question.

  • Never includes people outside the question
  • Never shows a later version as the one in force

Who sits in which seat stays with the drilling superintendent

The agents mark each seat ready, with a condition or not yet. The rest is decided by named people.

A lapse on board has no conditionA certificate that expires before the flight home makes the seat not yet. No rule can count a certificate valid after it expires.
Swaps and stand-downs are decided by a personThe coordinator proposes and the superintendent decides, after opening the pages behind the proposal.
Relaxing a rule takes two signaturesA change that relaxes a check lists the seats it would change and waits for a second signer, the HSE manager.
Nobody browses everyone’s fileContractors see their own people, each person sees their own record, and each record opened is logged.

What drilling superintendents ask about competence assurance

What is competence assurance?

Competence assurance is showing, with evidence, that each person can do the job they are rostered for. Here it runs on each crew change: agents read certificates, logbooks, assessor records and contractor files, and test each seat’s requirements on each day to the flight home. The coordinator proposes; the drilling superintendent decides.

How does it sit beside our competency management system offshore?

It reads from it. The learning system, the contractors’ training matrices, the rotation roster and the scanned files stay where they are. What it adds is the question asked seat by seat, for this job, on this rig, for this hitch, with each finding tied to its page.

What happens when a certificate runs out during the hitch?

The seat is not yet. A condition cannot cover it, and a renewal booked for after the hitch does not count. The coordinator proposes a relief or a stand-down, and the superintendent decides after opening the pages.

Can a contractor see another company’s people?

No. A contractor’s competence lead sees their own employees and the requests sent to them. Each crew member sees their own record. Auditors see seats and roles, and names open only inside an evidence file asked for with a reason.

How are ready seats signed without opening each file?

By sample. A few ready seats are drawn at random, with the seed logged, and the superintendent opens each one himself. A look by the coordinator earlier in the morning counts for nothing.

What does a competence assurance program load first?

Its own competence standard and its own copies of licensed standards. The role profiles on the screens are samples, and the operator’s roles, units and validity periods replace them.

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