The interesting thing about the OSHA Oil & Gas Safety and Health Conference 2014 – Exploration & Production, held December 2-3 in Houston, is how much of the programming would benefit far more safety and health pros than the sell-out crowd of more than 2,000 oil and gas industry professionals who attended. The event, held every other year, is sponsored by OSHA and the University of Texas at Arlington Division for Enterprise Development. This was the fourth biennial conference.
The two days in Houston were jam-packed with breakout workshop sessions, each 45 minutes. Eleven sessions focused specifically on behavior-based safety, with topics such as “Influencing Culture by Motivating Behavior,” “Complacency in the Workforce,” “Active Listening,” “Sustaining BBS for the Long-Term,” and “BBS: How to Get Your Employees to Buy In.” That last topic was presented by a representative from ConocoPhillips. The first by XTO Energy. Most were delivered by consultants.