WellSharp®, IADC’s well control training and assessment standard, recently surpassed its 100,000-certified milestone. Launched in March 2015, the WellSharp program now comprises 10 drilling operation and well servicing courses, more than 500 instructors, 160 accredited training providers, about 1,100 test proctors, and is offered in 5 languages in 37 countries.
“As a member of the IADC WellSharp Advisory board, it is exciting news to know IADC reached over 100K-certified in the program,” says Fritz Golding, Director of Learning and Development at Noble Drilling. “This is a great accomplishment for the industry as we strive for safer operations and knowledgeable personnel.”
IADC’s President, Jason McFarland, emphasizes that “IADC WellSharp has provided our industry with robust, well-rounded well control training since it was instituted more than three years ago.”
The WellSharp Plus course represents a new shift in well control training as it integrates specific aspects of crew resource management (CRM) throughout technical training. In addition, IADC and the industry has now embarked on the next step in this well control standard—a new venture to measure baseline knowledge retention, facilitate continuous learning, and reduce knowledge decay between renewal cycles.
The increasingly comprehensive list of courses is intended to encourage companies to send their personnel to the course that is specifically designed for their position on the rig.
With the goal of improving the program’s credibility and effectiveness, IADC committees and workgroups are using a research- and data-driven approach to improving content delivery while continuing to refine course content and testing protocols.
Matt Parizi, Well Control Training Advisor at Chevron, explains that “reaching this milestone is a significant accomplishment towards Well Control competency and fluency in the Drilling and Completion community across the oil and gas industry. This is the true meaning of an industry-driven effort for well control training.”
Golding added that “WellSharp was developed with the help of industry representatives who saw a need to improve curriculum and delivery standards. Today, the IADC WellSharp program is stronger than ever and I look forward to the next milestone as we see industry fundamentals improving.”
“The overwhelming success of this program is directly attributable to the hundreds of hours of work contributed by IADC members and subject matter experts to revamp our approach to well control training,” explains McFarland. “The industry is certainly safer as a result, and I congratulate all of those who have successfully completed the program.”
The Drilling Industry thrives on hard work, toughness, and self-sufficiency, and the transition to WellSharp certainly called upon those qualities. This effort emerged from two goals: to reduce well control incidents and to “self-regulate”. Over several years, hundreds of volunteers contributed their time and expertise–their sweat-equity, their passion for the industry—to make WellSharp a success.
