Integrated operations (IO) embraces modes of working which make heavier demands on collaboration across the organisation and between sea and land. This also has an impact on the working environment.
IO can be defined as new work processes which use real-time data to achieve greater integration between disciplines, organisations, companies and locations in order to take safer, better and faster decisions.
This means that everyone concerned on land and offshore collaborates with the aid of modern information technology to arrive collectively at a decision base.
The move to IO can cause major changes in the working environment for those involved. It could mean, for instance, that employees are less exposed to unfortunate physical conditions because more work can be done at locations remote from actual operations.
At the same time, new modes of working may cause uncertainty and burdens which could present a risk to the psychosocial working environment.
Creating a balanced process of change which takes account of human, technology and organisation (HTO) aspects has been a key element in our strategy for adopting IO.
Such a balance provides the best guarantee that IO's value-creation potential will be exploited to the full while safeguarding the working environment of employees.
In practice, elements in this commitment to a balanced HTO development include ensuring a good ergonomic configuration of new workplaces and tools.
Among others are good training programmes and easily-available information, and good descriptions of new work processes and organisational structures.
Various analyses and measurement parameters are utilised when adopting and implementing IO solutions in order to identify and monitor the HSE effects of new operating modes.
IO also provides us with completely new tools for protecting employee health. A good example is the commitment to telemedicine, which has permitted close collaboration between health personnel offshore and duty physicians and specialist resources on land.
This also makes it possible to bring sick or injured offshore personnel under knowledgeable specialist treatment far earlier than before, via a modern videoconferencing and computer network.
