IWCF / IADC Well Control Courses

Drillers Education & Evaluation Program (D.E.E.P)

 

Understanding Competency Based training for Drillers
“There are Drillers and there are Drillers’ they say. Not all being at the same level, this being a product of the amount of experience that one has been exposed and/or knowledge gained through strong mentoring from ones’ supervisors. Due to this inconsistency, it is well known throughout the industry that there is a need to identify and address this disparity. To understand how this works, first let us look at what is out there in the oilfield, in this industry that an Assistant Driller has available to help him prepare for his next promotion to Driller level. An Assistant Driller being promoted to Driller is generally promoted after an unspecified period within the role of Assistant Driller and having gained exposure to the direct tasks of a Driller during this period.
Who is qualified to decide when or if an Assistant Driller is ready for promotion? Often, it’s not an even playing field and one Assistant Driller gains promotion over another Assistant Driller for a variety of reasons. Mentoring is also a very important component in an Assistant Drillers progress and yet mentoring can range from ‘very strong to very weak’. Now we are dealing with drillers who are at various levels of competency, yet they are ‘the Driller’.

 

Competency based training emphasises what a person can do in the workplace as a
result of completing training or through relevant experience and learning that has
taken place in the workplace or elsewhere. Competency includes the capacity to:
• Perform individual tasks
• Manage a range of different tasks
• Respond to contingencies, emergencies or breakdowns.
• Deal with responsibilities of the workplace.

 

Competency standards define the skills, knowledge and attitudes required by
industries for effective performance in the workplace. Competency standards can be broken down into smaller units of competency and each unit of competency describes a specific workplace activity. Once a person has been assessed as successfully completing a unit of competency, the assessor issues a Statement of Attainment. Units of competency can progressively build to a full qualification.

Through D.E.E.P, Assistant Drillers and Drillers are now exposed to this form of competency based evaluation and assessment. A 5-day shore-based course is given with an initial 50 question pre-test evaluation then followed by two 10 questions papers and relevant presentations per day along with simulation exercises where the candidate is exposed to normal day to day surface problems as well as significant downhole problems. All this being constantly monitored by a Certified Assessor/Facilitator who has previously been Offshore Installation Manager. This will then present an unbiased and true indication of ones down hole knowledge along with an assessment of how general drillers tasks are managed and their trouble-shooting ability. A & B are the standards that Candidates should be assessed at and any lower such as a ‘C’ requires the candidate to return to his place of work in the same position but with a development plan that he under the guidance of his mentors, must successfully address through the following twelve-month period. He then returns to be re-assessed at a D.E.E.P Assessment course.

We can also offer offshore assessments with the candidate in his own working environment and with his own crew and this is usually 4 to 7 days given the operations at hand. This has its drawbacks however as the BOP’s must be in place so the drillers skills, etc., can be assessed through his normal daily operations.

 

Onshore Assessment on a full-size simulator is by far the most intense with simulated down hole scenarios, theoretical and practical knowledge clearly and thoroughly assessed.

 

Bi-annual Well Control re-certification does not properly assess a drillers skill set as with his limited time on a simulator, the Assessor focuses only on the drillers ability in detection, securing the well and monitoring pressures. D.E.E.P Competency Assessment, predominantly being a Drilling Simulation Assessment course, has the driller revealing his strengths and weaknesses throughout the 4-1/2 day course.
An end-of-course meeting (one on one) is held, regarding his performance throughout the week, highlighting both his strengths and weaknesses. A detailed report along with a development plan (if needed) ,is also sent to the Rig Performance Manager.