ZI Award goes to Mittelplate driller

RWE Dea staff member Marco Köpsel, driller on the Mittelplate drilling and production island, developed a new system for improving safety at work, winning top honours with an internationally recognised award.

The so-called “ZI Award” by the Centre for Idea Management is conferred each year. For implementing his innovative idea, Köpsel won first prize in the category of “Best Idea in Occupational Safety and Health Management”. The award, which was made in this category for the very first time this year, was presented as part of the ZI conference held in Hamburg.

This award was a distinction for a computer application Köpsel had programmed that uses a special job safety analysis to evaluate the safety of activities within the scope of drilling projects, as well as to achieve and document uniform standards. In this way, work procedures are optimised and the level of safety is enhanced. In addition to determining potential hazards, suitable protective measures are likewise defined. The programme supports the analysis process by means of an occupational safety card for instance, by hazard signs or by automated suggestions for protective measures.

“As access is possible from each and every local computer, the employees involved can analyse the work after completing their tasks and describe improvements that are included in the database. As a result, the workflows of the following similar jobs are updated and improved all the time,” says Marco Köpsel in explaining the programme.

Köpsel suddenly had this bright idea after one of his 14-day shifts. “As part of my idea, I wanted to optimise the work procedures on the Mittelplate drilling and production island as part of the Employee Suggestions programme,” says Köpsel. Occupational safety enjoys top priority at RWE Dea. In the course of the Mittelplate project, the use of state-of-the-art technology, multiple safety checks for all workflows and experienced, responsible specialist staff members has resulted in an internationally acknowledged safety package for oil production in the Wadden Sea tidelands of Schleswig-Holstein, providing reliable protection of the environment and of all employees operating in this field.

Following further development work and an extensive test phase, the tool was successfully deployed on RWE Dea’s two drilling rigs as early as 2013. RWE Dea is currently studying its introduction at additional operating sites. “The proposal by Marco Köpsel has a positive impact on workflows and certainly is highly justified in being commended as the best idea around,” says Dirk Warzecha, COO of RWE Dea, in praise of Köpsel’s work. “Especially because the topic of safety has been assigned such a high status at RWE Dea, we are delighted to have such dedicated and creative staff members who are able to improve the safety of workflows thanks to their valuable experience,” Warzecha added.