The International Drilling Associate of Contractors (IADC) introduced the newest well control training and assessment program WellSharp at this week’s Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston.
 |
|
Polk, Denkowski, and Radulovic at OTC. Image from IADC Twitter. |
WellSharp is the predecessor to WellCAP, which debuted in 1995 and was the main program used to train about 50,000 people a year, globally. It provides the training and knowledge needed to prevent incidents and respond quickly and appropriately to unforeseen incidents.
“WellSharp is of the industry, by the industry, and for the industry,” Mark Denkowski, IADC executive VP, operational integrity said. “We redesigned the entire way the program functions. “We made it all better and answered all of the concerns of the industry when we created the WellSharp program.”
Better learning objectives were built into the learning objectives to reinforce the human factor side of well control training with more process integrity built into the system, Denkowski said.
“WellSharp is taking well control training to the next level,” Brooke Polk, IADC executive VP, competence and learning development specialist. “Industry participants have come together and put aside their competitive advantage and work in a non-competitive space to make sure that we’re drilling better together, that we’re moving the industry forward together.”
Following WellCAP, which was a three-level program, WellSharp is a five-level program, a significant change to the program, and focusing each level on role-specific training. The five levels include: an expanded awareness level training for office staff to personnel that have little responsibility for well control; an expanded introductory level; drilling level; supervisor level; and a new level for engineers.
In addition to the electronic testing database, higher level of instructor level qualifications to prove that they have the knowledge and skills to effectively deliver training to industry employees, Polk said.
Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. is about 10 days away from deploying its first WellSharp course for the first time, Petar Radulovic, Diamond Offshore director of learning and development said.
“The transition from WellCAP to WellSharp an important transition,” Radulovic said. “The gap that WellSharp is effectively closing is assessment part, in my opinion. The new method of assessment provides us with the ability to not only assess the employees, but also train and providers around the world.”
The new program will be able to identify weaknesses, which will effectively and consistently alter the curriculum to close the gaps on a global level, Radulovic said.
Subscribe
