In the latest issue of Drilling Contractor magazine, Wayne Bauer, Chairman of the IADC Southern Arabian Peninsula Chapter (SAPC), discusses how the oil & gas industry’s investments in technology help keep personnel safe.
With a professional history in mining, construction, and oil and gas, Bauer has had a front-row seat to the innovations industries have made in safety.
According to Bauer, who currently serves as VP of QHSE and Sustainability at Vantage Drilling,
“We’re probably one of the best industries out there with regards to safety innovations. We’re always trying new things. We’ve got anywhere between 120 and 200 people living on a steel platform in the middle of the ocean, in the middle of nowhere. We have to ensure the initiatives are in place to prevent those people from injuring themselves. But where I see the big difference is in the quality of those new technologies. We’re not afraid to spend money on innovative safety solutions.”
As the article continues, Bauer discusses the industry’s use of generative AI systems, a form of AI that uses generative models to produce text, images or other data. The pattern recognition capabilities of generative AI could have a significant impact on safety in the oil & gas and drilling industries.
Apart from investing in new technologies, Bauer also remarks that communication and collaboration are essential elements of the industry’s push towards greater safety. At Vantage Drilling, there is an open-door policy with personnel, which allows senior management to better understand the needs of the workforce.
Bauer explains,
“One of my guys told me recently that, in all of his years working in the drilling industry, he had never met his VP of QHSE before he came to Vantage. Now he sees me almost every week. We really have to work closely with our operations teams and the guys on the rig to determine what works and what doesn’t work out.”
Bauer also discusses his role as Chairman of the IADC Southern Arabian Peninsula Chapter, a position he’s held since 2020. In this role, he prioritizes listening to the Chapter Members.
He says,
“My role as Chairman is supported by a fantastic group of individuals, so I want to make it a fun environment for them, so that they want to stay and contribute. They can be creative. They can be innovative. As Chairman, I encourage them to develop ideas that will benefit our membership. Our mantra at the chapter is to ensure that everything we do adds value to being a member of the IADC SAPC.”
