How are Operators Addressing Contractor Management Under SEMS?- SEMS Workshop Recap

Posted by: Amanda Brightwell

Home/ Blog / How are Operators Addressing Contractor Management Under SEMS?- SEMS Workshop Recap

On February 20th, ERM and 360factors held a SEMS workshop at the Mays School of Business in Houston, Texas. It was a great turnout, and there were some interesting questions and discussions brought up by the attendees based on the presentations given. The topic of the workshop was the following: how are operators addressing contractor management under SEMS?

 

The first panelist was Darren Englebaugh who is an EHS contractor and auditor for ERM with over 10 years of EHS experience in the private, commercial, government and non-profit sectors with a focus on organizational liability and risk exposure. With a humorous introductory video about herding cats, Darren went on to discuss the results of a case study conducted on the contractor verification process. ERM developed the Contractor Verification Process (CVP) to access SEMS compliance for contractors working in the Gulf of Mexico. The CVP was tested in a pilot program assessing 10 contractors servicing Operator facilities in the Gulf. His findings were quite interesting.

The next panelist was Ken Smith, a partner and expert of 360factors. Ken has over 25 years of experience in the safety, environmental and regulatory compliance fields with a primary focus on Safety and Environmental Management Systems (SEMS) development, implementation, and management. In his presentation, Ken discussed what is expected of operators under SEMS in regards to contractors. Then, he brought up the changes that will occur under SEMS II which include: stop work authority, ultimate work authority, employee participation plan, and reporting unsafe work conditions. Ken believes ultimate work authority will be the most challenging aspect to implementation. In the end, Ken addressed the different challenges that arise with contractor management.

Chris Duden, 360factors COO

Chris Duden, 360factors COO

 

Our final panelist was Christopher Duden, the COO of 360factors who has over ten years of experience in the compliance industry with a strong regulatory compliance automation background. Chris shared how you automate the processes that Darren and Ken talked about to increase efficiency, productivity, and reduce risk. The specific pain points he discussed were safety performance reporting, management of change, and training. The need for software depends on the size of the company. With a larger workforce comes higher complexity and higher risk. Smaller companies have a smaller workforce and less risk, so they have less need for automation. Predict360 has an intelligent incident reporting and analysis module that can help with safety performance reporting as well as maintain strong communication between operators and contractors. The management of change process is made easier with Predict360’s unique mapping and Requirements Knowledge Base that stays up to date on all changes that occur within the standards and regulations. In addition to alerting you of the changes in requirements, the solution also alerts you to update or review anything that is mapped back to that specific requirement whether it is documents, policies and procedures, training, etc. Finally, with Predict360’s Learning Management System and Risk/Audit Management System, companies are able to keep track of training of the contractors as well as create mock audits to assure continuous compliance.

Overall, the SEMS Workshop was a success, and we look forward to hosting another similar event in the near future. If you are interested in more information about this workshop please feel free to email me at [email protected]. In getting ready for the next workshop, what do you think should be the topic of discussion?

Request a Demo

Request a Demo

Complete the form below and our business team will be in touch to schedule a product demo.

By clicking ‘SUBMIT’ you agree to our Privacy Policy.

Stay Informed About Upcoming Webinars & Events!