Development of a safety management system (SMS) for drilling and servicing operations within OSHA jurisdiction area of Texas

Workers of oil and gas extraction industries are exposed to multiple safety hazards, resulting in high fatality rates. Texas has the highest employment and fatality of oil and gas industries. Current regulations that apply to the industries in Texas require no safety management system (SMS) and inadequately address the safety hazards associated with drilling and servicing operations. The objective of the study is to develop a SMS to improve safety performances of Texas drilling and servicing operations. First, current SMSs in the United States, i.e., Process Safety Management (PSM), and Safety and Environment Management Systems (SEMS) were studied to determine if they can be directly extended. According to analysis of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) incident data, development of a new SMS is a better solution rather than extension of the two SMSs. A new SMS has been proposed by identifying and categorizing causal factors of incidents. The SMS has been developed to integrate both process and personnel safety and was designed right for Texas drilling and servicing operations. Industries can use the management system as a framework to establish their safety programs.