UK oil and gas skills standards could soon become commonplace around the world as a result of a bold ambition by OPITO which will also firmly establish Aberdeen and the North Sea as a global centre of excellence in oil and gas skills development.

The UK oil and gas industry’s skills organisation recently announced a major restructure which will see OPITO – The Oil & Gas Academy continue to deliver its skills agenda in the UK and a new entity, OPITO International, formed to deliver standards to improve workforce safety and competency around the world.

David Doig is spearheading this international drive and has taken up the new role of Group Chief Executive of OPITO Strategic Limited, the holding company for OPITO – The Oil & Gas Academy, The Offshore Training Foundation and OPITO International.

He said: “In the last five years we have succeeded in introducing OPITO standards to improve safety and competence of the indigenous and transient workforces in 29 countries.  Every year over 115,000 people around the world are trained to those standards, developed in the North Sea.

“Under this new structure, we now have the resources and the infrastructure to significantly increase this, with the ultimate goal of all offshore workers anywhere in the world being trained to common industry standards.

OPITO International will initially have three business units focused on Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, and the Americas. It will work with Governments, national oil companies, multi-nationals and contracting companies to meet their skills needs.

“OPITO International will provide independent advice and guidance on the effective management of workforce skills development in key areas of emergency response, occupational standards and qualifications and quality assurance of training delivery.

“Many of these markets are not as mature as the UK and therefore the skills offering has to be different. We have separated our business to reflect this and provide a distinct offering for each province.

“As UK innovations are exported and emerging markets evolve, OPITO wants to be at the forefront in serving these markets - recognised for its proven expertise in improving workforce safety and competency.

“The UK industry currently invests around £12million per annum in OPITO and we are year on year delivering a tangible return on that investment. By going global, we will ensure that this investment continues to grow and is not just an investment in the UK but in the global workforce.”

OPITO has undergone significant change in the last few years, moving from a training standards organization to the industry’s skills body.

“Gone are the days when OPITO was just perceived as the training standards police,” explained Doig. “In 2006, the industry tasked us with identifying and implementing real and rapid solutions to the short and long term skills needs. The concept of the Oil & Gas Academy arose through our work in responding to the skills shortages.”

In 2007 OPITO – The Oil & Gas Academy came into being with the aim of delivering initiatives which ensure a competent and safe workforce supply for the UK industry.

Wholly owned by employers and trade unions, it is an independent body that works closely with industry to identify specific skills needs and then meet those needs through the development of initiatives with schools, universities, colleges, training providers and government bodies.

The Academy manages the UK’s most successful Modern Apprenticeship scheme and has recently managed the introduction of the biggest change to UK offshore training since the introduction of basic survival training in the nineties. The new Minimum Industry Safety Training (MIST) will be applied to every existing and new offshore worker by 1 January 2011.

Doig added: “The Academy will continue to engage meaningfully with industry to develop and deliver initiatives that meet the challenges of emerging skills agendas in the changing energy industry in the UK. A new Chief Executive for the academy will be announced shortly.”

Now that the Academy is up and running successfully, OPITO is focused on spreading its message around the world.

“With a global network of training providers and partnerships with governments in 29 countries, we have already made significant progress in establishing competence standards frameworks that have resulted in thousands of people being trained to the globally-recognised OPITO standards in basic offshore training, specialist emergency response duties and technical occupations for the first time.”

Such is the high regard in which the organisation is held, independent operators and foreign governments actively seek out OPITO’s expertise to help assist oil and gas provinces around the world develop the high standards adopted in the North Sea.

“We use the very robust audit processes and competency based qualification framework that has been so successful in the North Sea,” explained Doig. “Employers agree that safety standards around the world have improved as a result of what OPITO does. What is amazing is that no one is legally required to meet these standards. They choose to adopt OPITO standards because they are recognised by employers globally as the best for the oil and gas industry.”

The goal is for OPITO International to introduce and promote products and services developed for the UK by the Academy into the international marketplace.

“The turbulent economic climate which has impacted on oil and gas activity around the world has, to a certain extent, masked the skills issues. But they still remain and, as activity levels pick up, the same skills gaps will come back to bite us.”

“While you can rest assured that the industry will use every method at its disposal to meet the increase in demand for equipment and plant, we do not always see the same use of pan-industry solutions developed to meet the skills shortages.

“The solutions developed by the academy seek to provide mechanisms to bring new people and skills to the industry rather than just re-circulating the finite pool of resources which is not sustainable. We can share these with other countries so that we not only have common global training standards but also common solutions for the global offshore workforce.

“Our overall aim is to ensure that an investment by the industry in OPITO is an investment in the global workforce.”

www.opito.com