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Over 26,000  key industry personnel visited Aberdeen over four exciting days to enjoy the exhibition and the high level conference. The event at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre featured more than 1,400 exhibitors from 34 countries.

During the show CSSL, (Cogent Sector Services Ltd) awarded Derrick Services Ltd, (DSL), their OPITO certificate, following sucessful audit and approval of their Competency Management System. This compliments their existing accreditations to Drilling Structures which includes API 4F and ISO 9001:2000. This is the first recognised qualification associated with the Safety Critical Tasks & Inspection carried out in Drilling Structures.

DSL's program has taken 18 months to come together during which time significant internal and external training and competency assessment was provided. DSL has invested over $500,000  in dedicated training facilities including a class room, a 70’ high training derrick and the associated training infrastructure. 

CSSL’s Gareth Cooke said, “ I’m pleased that Derrick Services Ltd has received this approval, and delighted that CSSL Chief Executive David Doig was able to present them with the certificate at Offshore Europe. The OPITO accreditation  demonstrates DSL’s  high degree of commitment and investment into the process.  DSL have had to meet stringent approval criteria during our audit of their competence management system, and our work and our relationship with DSL has helped us to refine our own processes.   I hope that DSL will reap the business benefits that will flow from this accreditation.”

Timing of the accreditation could not have come at a better time  for DSL which is  experiencing a significant upturn in business, requiring a further  40 plus rig builders in addition to their other offshore construction personnel. New recruits are now being put through the training and competency assessment syllabus with a view to full time employment with the company.

Mike Smith, MD and owner added: “We are very pleased to achieve the OPITO accreditation to our Competency System as it not only identifies the qualification of our personnel with an Industry recognised Organisation but it now gives us industry accreditation to every aspect of our business going forward, and further reinforces our commitment to the safety of our people and our customers”.

OE 2005 is organised by the Offshore Europe Partnership - a partnership between Spearhead Exhibitions Ltd and the Society of Petroleum Engineers that has seen Offshore Europe grow in size, strength and stature since the partnership was formed a decade ago. Offshore Europe has a formidable list of supporting organisations, which has been further strengthened for 2005.

photo: l-r, CSSL Chief Executive presents DSL HSE Adviser Andy Cann with the OPITO certificate.

The SSA process is central to driving up the UK’s productivity. Behind the acronym lies a strategy and programme of activity designed to put employers’ skills needs at the heart of the economic agenda.

The SSA process will drive the future education and training provided by schools, colleges and universities, as well as private training providers. It represents a strategic plan designed to ensure the UK’s education and training infrastructure is demand-led.

Cogent CEO, Joanna Woolf (pictured) said: “Very often the providers of learning have been the very same bodies or institutions to determine the actual provision. The SSA process will put employer skills needs first and provide them with the opportunity to have a full say in what is designed and offered.”

To make getting involved at the first stage convenient Cogent has launched an online questionnaire which is open to every company in its footprint. This supplements over 200 face-to-face interviews with individuals within companies, which are taking place over the next month.

Joanna Woolf said: ” The questionnaire is part of a market information gathering exercise which will contribute to a joined-up skills strategy that will involve all the key stakeholders - including the all-important funders of education and training.”

The questionnaire takes around 30 minutes to complete and the data inputted remains confidential. It will ultimately ensure that the Cogent sectors have the necessary range and level of skills to enable them to compete in an aggressive global market-place.

Joanna Woolf added: “We know from our research that many of the companies in our footprint are making great strides in workforce development. This process will help them to get even greater value from their investment in time and money.”

The questionnaire can be accessed at:

http://www.cogent-ssc.com/home_SSA_Questionnaire.php

The draft strategy captures the key issues and sets out the NDA’s proposed approach to tackling them. It details:

• Its suggested approach to decommissioning, clean-up, and nuclear waste storage and disposal
• Suggested timescales and final site status for all of the 20 sites
• How it will adopt an open and transparent approach to all work and in particular how it will engage with all stakeholders

During the consultation period, NDA staff will be hosting or attending meetings and events to explain its thinking and answer questions. This will include holding its first National Stakeholder Group meeting in October, as well as presenting to the 20 Site Stakeholder Groups during the consultation period. The NDA is also happy to consider any requests by stakeholders for further meetings.

After taking into account responses, a final proposed Strategy will be presented to the Secretary of State and Scottish Ministers in December 2005. The Government’s deadline for approval is the 31 March 2006.

The NDA wants to stimulate a wide ranging public debate and welcomes all comments about its suggested approach. Full details of the various ways in which comments can be sent are included in the draft strategy and on the NDA website.

Catalyst Science Discovery Centre in Widnes, Cheshire, has received a grant in excess of £650,000 from the Millennium Commission’s ‘ReDiscover’ fund, to create a state-of-the-art Virtual Reality Theatre and a new Discovery Laboratory.

Construction of the new facilities, designed to create an exciting, interactive environment for science learning, starts this month, with an official opening planned for January 2006. The funding will also be used to further Catalyst’s careers initiative, "A World of Opportunities."

Dr Tony W. Bastock OBE, CChem, FRSC, Chairman of the Trustees at Catalyst, commented, "This grant will bring a remarkable and unique facility to Widnes, as well as providing a marvellous opportunity for people of all ages, but especially children, to discover the wonders of science. My thanks goes to Millennium Commission, our industrial sponsors, the Northwest Regional Development Agency, Halton Borough Council and Nat West for their support, but especially to the staff at Catalyst, who worked tirelessly, through difficult times, to turn this vision into reality."

Director of Catalyst, Julie Burgess-Wilson, added, “We are all delighted with this fantastic news for Catalyst. The last year has been very hard work and the whole team has contributed to this success. I look forward to the launch of these exciting developments and the regeneration of Catalyst.”

Launched in July 2002 as a joint venture between the Millennium Commission, the Wellcome Trust and the Wolfson Foundation, ReDiscover recognises the importance of promoting public understanding of science and offers opportunities for science centres and museums to regularly renew and refresh their exhibits.

The photo above shows an artist's impression of the Virtual Reality Theatre.

They commenced an induction course at the refinery prior to starting at Pembroke College on the 7th September. Recognising a need for trained, skilled process operators familiar with refining operations, Pembroke Refinery is operating the apprenticeship scheme in partnership with Pembroke College using the Cogent National Occupational Standards as a basis for the course.

The apprentices will spend their first year in full time education before arriving on the plant in the summer of 2006. Apprentices will spend two years at Pembroke Refinery with day release back to the college to complete their National Certificate in 2008.

Apprentices on the scheme will be trained to the Cogent Level 3 National Occupational Standards in Refinery Field and Control Room Operations with a view to becoming process operators at the plant.

Des King, General Manager at Pembroke Refinery commented: “A trained and skilled workforce is the lifeblood of all businesses and we hope that this scheme will encourage young people to consider the opportunities that a modern apprenticeship affords”

The breakthrough means the site has now destroyed two-thirds of the 1500 tonnes of sodium that was used as coolant in the Prototype Fast Reactor, which ceased operations in 1994.

Earlier this year the sodium disposal plant set a new world record for the destruction of 770 tonnes. Following a period of routine maintenance, the plant is now fully operational again and passed the 1000-tonne milestone on August 22.

The fast reactors developed at Dounreay were unique in the UK for their use of liquid metals to transfer the heat from the core to steam generators to produce electricity. At the time of its closure in 1994, PFR had an inventory of 1500 tonnes of liquid metal.

Safe disposal of this metal required the construction of a dedicated plant in the facility’s former turbine hall at a cost of £17 million. The plant reacts small quantities of sodium with large quantities of aqueous sodium hydroxide which, following neutralisation with hydrochloric acid, produces salt water. The salt water passes through an ion exchange column to remove any radioactivity before it is discharged to sea in accordance with the site’s waste disposal authorisation.

Tony Wratten, head of reactor decommissioning group at Dounreay, said: “This is another historic milestone in the restoration of the Dounreay site on behalf of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. This is a commendable achievement and one the staff are entitled to feel very proud of.”

Neil Mclean, manager of the sodium disposal plant, said this significant milestone is a credit to everyone involved. “Removal of major hazards from our plants is crucial to enable the decommissioning programme to proceed. UKAEA staff and contractors have worked extremely hard to ensure the safe and successful operation of the plant and the results speak for themselves.”

The organisation has been working with several colleges in the East Midlands to provide training for Blow Moulding, Extrusion, Injection Moulding, Polymer Composites and Sign Making, directing the use of regional development agency funding.  These centres are now well-established and providing training services in the region.  In addition, PSD feels it is necessary to keep up with the latest learning technologies and is also establishing an e-learning programme for sector employees.

E-learning is ideal for providing training in companies that do not have the resources either for staff cover or for the travel and accommodation costs involved in attendance at traditional training courses.  In addition to the cost benefits, the PSD programmes allow company staff to work towards and achieve a qualification certified by SASL, the Awarding Body for the polymer sector. 

As Nicola Jones of PTL, PSD’s project managers, explains: “Adoption of e-learning will enable sector companies to implement more effective and efficient qualifications systems in their workplaces.”

The programmes mirror the e-learning programme already available for Injection Moulding and are accessed by logging onto a dedicated website.  Independent evaluations have been carried out on the Injection Moulding programme on behalf of the Department for Education & Skills, which show the e-learning programme has been well received by sector companies.

The PSD learning programmes will cover each of the modules included in the standard NVQ, ensuring the learner gains a well-rounded understanding of each particular process area.

Companies will be able to run in-company tests for learners at a date and time suitable for them, following an approval visit from SASL.  The test is taken online, with results being fed directly back to the Awarding Body for moderation and, where successful, the issuing of VRQ (Vocationally Related Qualification) certificates.  In order to gain a full NVQ the learner simply has to complete the practical elements of the qualification.

Cogent Polymer Skills Adviser Brian Manning fully endorses and supports this method of learning. “Cogent fully supports the development of e-learning and online assessment material for the industry and believes this will impact positively on productivity and competitiveness throughout the whole of the polymer sector footprint.

“The distinct advantage, as originally requested by industry, was to enable operators to increase their knowledge and understanding of a particular processing discipline, releasing instructors and key technicians within the workplace to concentrate on the practical aspects of training.”

Programmes in development include Blow Moulding, Extrusion, Rubber Processing, Polymer Composites and Sign Making.  Anyone interested in taking part in the pilot of the programmes is invited to contact PSD.  Further updates will be provided on release dates of the programmes in the near future.

www.psdltd.org.uk

The performance of the firms sampled in the study was rated using a Company Performance Index which captured the way in which firms blend strategy across five key areas: Customers and Markets; Shareholders and governance; Stakeholder relationships; Human resource practices; and Creativity and innovation management.

The key findings of the study identified that top performing companies tended to enable rather than drive performance, relied on simple processes, were not risk adverse and ensured that procedures allowed them to change direction quickly. The study identified that successful organisations were usually characterised by a sense of pride and possessed a vigorous determination not to be left behind.

"We are both delighted and a little surprised to be identified as one of the UK’s top performing companies, said Raymond Clarke, Chief Executive of PTL. "When asked to become involved in the research we had little idea of its significance, and we are really very pleased that the journey on which currently PTL is embarked has attracted such positive attention. Over the past two years, PTL has increased revenue per head by in excess of 30%, significantly improved profitability and undergone a major cultural change, moving from a civil service based culture to one in which the focus is commercial sustainability. The PTL team is keen to seek new opportunities and with the growing sense of empowerment and self-belief that is clearly evident in the organisation, we are looking to the future with considerable confidence."

Speaking for the Work Foundation, Will Hutton said, "the economic future of the UK depends on companies becoming successful, sustainable and highly productive. The report is a huge step forward in helping us understand how companies succeed; we should absorb these lessons and act. The progress that PTL has made in recent years is an example of what can be achieved when companies focus on cracking the performance code and I would like to congratulate its management and staff on the progress that has been made."

PTL is an international resource centre for the polymer industry, specialising in training, further education and providing support for product design, materials selection, company and product incubation, tool trialling and prototyping.Owned by the industry through an educational trust, PTL in its various forms has over thirty years’ experience of supporting the polymer sector and specialises solely in polymer related activities.Recognised as a Centre of Vocational Excellence by the Learning and Skills Council, industry led and a member of the British Plastics Federation, PTL is a leader in its field.

Further details of the study are available from Denise Houston at the Work Foundation 020 7004 7224 and information on PTL is available from Wendi Beamson 01952 587020.

However, the increasing decline in students taking Physics remains a concern and Cogent is working with industry as well as its stakeholders in education to improve the attractiveness of science subjects overall.

Britain is short of maths and science teachers because many pupils opted out of studying these subjects in the 1980s and 1990s.  A research report into young people’s attitudes towards science commissioned by Cogent earlier this year revealed that for young people, science has often been a social turn-off and that careers advice is often poor or non-existent.

The report, Reputation, Perceptions and the Vanishing Workforce, was commissioned by Cogent to look at how perceptions of the oil and gas and nuclear sectors were impacting the pursuit of science education and careers. 

Most of the focus group participants stated that they had felt positively towards science subjects early in their school careers. However, by the time of GCSEs this appeal had been eroded - either through the content or the manner in which science is taught. 

Cogent Chief Executive Joanna Woof said: “We are working with employers in our industry sectors and those who shape our education system on strategies designed to increase the uptake of sciences at A level. The future success of the critical industries in our sector footprint relies on a continued stream of high-calibre science students.”

Cogent has welcomed the development of the new Science curriculum for GCSEs which will be implemented 2006-2008 in secondary schools. The pilot of this programme in 2004/5 proved very successful in improving the interest of both pupils and teachers in science and the interest in sciences at A level, especially for girls. The EnergyForesight project which developed teaching materials and provided teacher training for the programme was funded by NWDA, Cumbria LSC and industry partners. It is now vital that the funding can be found to extend EnergyForesight through the full implementation of the new curriculum.

Cogent was disappointed earlier this year that Sir Mike Tomlinson’s proposal, set out in his report, of an overarching diploma which would merge vocational and academic routes, was rejected.

Joanna Woolf said: “This proposal would have injected a real, and in our view highly beneficial, innovation to the all important 12-19 learning phase. However, we are working both with our partners in training and education and with employers to make the new vocational diplomas a success and to support young people in their career choices. “

She added: “Vocational education is not a second-class. And education must give young people core skills which are needed in the workplace and which equip them for the modern, technologically driven world in which employers operate.”

The provisional statistics, which also reveal that there were 48 major injuries during the reporting period, are contained within the Offshore Safety Statistics Bulletin 2004/05 which was released last month by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

The Bulletin sets out the headline health and safety statistics for the offshore oil and gas industries and provides an important indicator of health and safety performance in the sector. It is prepared specifically for the offshore workforce and their safety representatives and is available to all via the HSE website.

Commenting on the statistics, Taf Powell, Head of HSE's Offshore Division, said: "The annual statistics bulletin is now, in effect, an 'end of year report' on progress towards the industry ambition to make the UK continental shelf the world's safest offshore sector by 2010. The statistics show that we are heading in the right direction, but, in my view, not fast enough. There is a lot of activity to align industry resources behind the 2010 goal but there are a number of critical challenges".

Powell added: "The key issues for the industry in a maturing offshore province, such as the North Sea, are upgrading ageing facilities and accommodation, and delivering the high performance technical solutions that Britain expects. This requires commitment and investment. A large number of companies, including, encouragingly, smaller independent operators are demonstrating such commitment and I take this as an indicator that the 2010 goal is attainable".

John Taylor, Chairman of the Inter Union Offshore Oil Committee said: "The recent statistics show an overall improvement in safety offshore, which the trade unions welcome, and this is as a direct result of all stakeholders working in partnership to achieve a safer working environment. This success should bring new focus to ensuring that the targets the industry agreed can be achieved before 2010. It is our hope that some of the new initiatives on which, all sides of industry - HSE, trade unions & employers - have been working closely together, within Step Change and OIAC, will continue to bring improvements on safety offshore."

Gary Luquette, President and Managing Director, Chevron Upstream Europe and Chairman of Step Change in Safety, said: "Whilst the statistics support the industry's view that safety is improving, as long as we continue to experience injuries in our industry we still have more work to do. Step Change in Safety has refocused its strategy to engage the whole of the workforce, from MDs to the drilling floor, to accelerate the pace of improvement in offshore safety performance.”

Cogent Sector Services works closely with Step Change in designing its standards and other pan-industry initiatives which affect the workforce. This supports its philosophy that input of the workforce is vital if the industry is to have standards which reflect the real needs and the hazards in the workplace.

Copies of Offshore Safety Statistics Bulletin 2004/2005 can be viewed on the HSE website at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/statistics/stat0405.htm

For the period 1 April to 30 June 2005 there was one incident at a nuclear licensed installation that met the reporting criteria. On 20 April 2005 British Nuclear Group Sellafield Ltd, (BNGSL), the licensee, discovered a leak which had occurred within the THORP Head End Feed Clarification Cell. HSE's Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) was informed of the leak later the same day.

The relevant plant and operations including fuel shearing were promptly shut down by BNGSL. Some downstream parts of the plant were subsequently restarted, after discussion with Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII), in order to drain other tanks in the same cell which had liquor held within them when the plant was shut down.

After the incident, Managing Director of British Nuclear Group, Sellafield, Barry Snelson said: "Let me reassure people that the plant is in a safe and stable state. Safety monitoring has confirmed no abnormal activity in air and there has been no impact on our workforce or the environment. I have asked for the front end of the plant's reprocessing operations, including shearing, to be closed down. The plant is in a safe, quiescent state.”

On notification of the event, NII set up an internal review group to consider the adequacy of the actions taken to recover the situation. NII was kept fully informed of recovery plans and monitored the situation closely to ensure that safety remained assured.

The cell has built-in equipment for the recovery of any leaked liquor back into primary containment tanks and all the leaked liquid has now been recovered this way. NII is satisfied that the plant remains in a safe state and that there have been no harmful effects to people or the environment. Liaison was maintained throughout with the Environment Agency. BNGSL evaluated this event as INES category 3, because of the significant release of radioactivity into the secondary containment.

Subsequent to the completion of the 'make safe' operations, an NII team commenced an investigation at the site. The preliminary findings led NII to issue two Improvement Notices on 17 June to ensure that BNGSL promptly rectified deficiencies in compliance with nuclear site licence conditions relating to the operation of the THORP Feed Clarification Cell.

The Improvement Notices compel BNGSL to improve compliance in the areas of leak detection, operating instructions, record keeping and maintenance and testing of safety related equipment.

Barry Snelson said: “By their very nature Boards of Inquiry seek to get to the root cause of an incident. The report produced is written in a no-nonsense style, to ensure that we learn real lessons from whatever has happened. We will systematically address and resolve every issue raised in this report. There is no room for complacency in our industry and I will personally be ensuring that these recommendations are implemented in Thorp and across Sellafield.”