Training

THE CHANGING WORLD OF EMPLOYEE TRAINING

The oil and gas industry has already become adept at communicating with employees on remote operations. As such, the changes to staff training made necessary by the COVID-19 pandemic should be easily adapted by employers, Georgia Lewis reports.

THE COVID-19 pandemic has changed so many aspects of how companies work and do business across all industries − and the oil and gas industry is no exception. One aspect of the workplace which has changed is employee training. The new era of social distancing and travel restrictions has severely limited face-to-face and classroom-style training, as well as attending industry events.

To respond to the new limitations, one sector which has experienced an upward surge is online training. E-learning is not new but it has truly come into its own since the pandemic took hold. While there will always be value in face-to-face training, the benefits of online alternatives are here to stay, particularly because of the significant cost-savings and environmental benefits.

Figures from an Open University study conducted in the US suggest that using elearning cuts energy consumption by 90 per cent and reduces carbon emissions by more than 85 per cent, compared to traditional face-to-face learning where travel is involved.

Companies have been quick to make the pivot to online-only training. Astutis, which runs health and safety training for African oil and gas companies, moved all courses online in March this year. Meanwhile,

The realities of the COVID-19 pandemic have brought e-learning to the forefront across many industries.

Norwell Engineering, a drilling firm based in Aberdeen, Scotland is exploring how its new online training programme could

E-learning could cut energy consumption by 90 per cent and carbon emissions by more than 85 per cent compared to traditional training.”

benefit East Africa’s oil and gas operations as part of a trade delegation to Uganda and Tanzania, two exciting new markets for African oil and gas.

Mike Adams, Norwell Engineering’s new ventures manager, said: “We have seen first-hand the need to improve training opportunities for oil and gas personnel around the world. This is especially the case in emerging markets such as Uganda and Tanzania where improving affordable access to the best industry training, without people having to leave their home country, would have a major positive impact.”

The Energy Institute has also been pushing the benefits of online learning with a series of four- and five-day courses scheduled for this year on topcis such as LNG, oil and gas industry economics and mergers and acquisitions. These courses differ from the self-paced elearning modules in that they will take place in real time in virtual classrooms so that participants can interact with the tutors.

The e-learning sector has solid growth prospects and, as employers see cost and carbon savings, it is set to continue long after lockdown is over. 