• Job Safety Training (JST) was developed to "take a day out for safety". All employees associated with a new drilling operation meet to discuss safe work procedures and the importance of teamwork in eliminating accidents in the workplace.
   
• Job Safety Analysis (JSA) is at the forefront as teamwork builds through the hazard recognition process, especially when incorporated with the Rig Safety Management Team process.
   
• Rig Safety Management Team (RSMT) holds weekly RSMT meetings which tie in regulatory requirements with safety initiatives through team participation. 
   
• Rig Safety Inspection – The Safety Captain has certain responsibilities such as daily inspection of key operation and safety components, greeting visitors to location, and sponsoring the weekly RSMT meeting. This position rotates through the crew.
   
• Responding appropriately to a Near Miss (NM) promotes team participation, through formal Root Cause Analysis, to determine the cause(s) of the incident, determine steps to mitigate the cause(s) and take steps to prevent recurrence.
   
• Behavior Based Safety (BBS) focuses on employee actions or behavior in the workplace to determine their level of knowledge, participation and leadership in the company's safety programs. BBS programs include steps to observe employee actions, recognizing unsafe acts or conditions, and providing immediate feedback to help prevent recurrence. In addition, identification of safe acts provides immediate positive reinforcement to the employee. The following programs are utilized by NDUSA employees:
  • Safety Training Observation Program (STOP^®)
  • Safety Management Audit Training (SMAT^®)
     
• Rig Manager (Toolpusher) Meeting(s) are scheduled to provide Rig Leadership with the knowledge and tools to improve safety at their worksite.
   
• Rig Safety/Training Meeting(s) are scheduled to provide Rig employees with the knowledge and tools to improve safety at their worksite.

The most important factor in the development of our Safety Program was to discover the commonality pertaining to safety between the company and our customers. The idea is to provide a bridging mechanism between companies which still allows our employees to receive consistent training from one rig operation to another, thereby, eliminating confusion between programs and increasing awareness at all levels.

The HPI Program is a method designed to permit incident analysis at any level (STOP^® & SMAT^® observations, NM incidents, non-recordable or recordable incidents, equipment and/or property damage, environmental events, etc.) to determine the potential severity of an incident. Potential Severity is defined as, "what could have been the most likely severity for an incident had a single reasonable circumstance been changed". The focus of the HPI Program will be on the potential outcome rather than relying solely upon the actual outcome of the incident or OSHA recording criteria.

Recognition of the potential severity of any incident provides management with the opportunity to investigate fully the events leading up to the incident, to conduct a complete Root Cause Root Action Analysis to determine incident cause(s) and develop action plans aimed at prevention of recurrence and/or escalation of the actual severity, and provide communication to employees to involve them with NDUSA's incident/accident prevention programs to further develop a safe workplace.

The NDUSA Crew Top Ten Award Program is administered on a quarterly basis and recognizes rig crews which operate for the quarter with no OSHA recordable accidents and who receive an absolute performance rating in the top 10% of all rigs in the division as described in NDUSA Rig Manager Incentive Program.

The Safe Rig Milestone Award recognizes NDUSA rigs/yards which complete full revenue year(s) without incurring an OSHA recordable accident.

The Safety Achievement Award Program is administered monthly and rig/yard employees earn certificates that can be redeemed for company logo merchandise or other catalog goods. This program has two types of certificates: a Safe Team Certificate and an Attaboy for individual rig employee recognition for exemplary safety attitude.

• Equipment Standardization: Utilizing statistical data and workplace hazard assessment to research alternate equipment for rig operations based on safety improvement.
   
• Best Practices: Development of rig-based Best Practice Manuals incorporating safe work procedure for employees at the rig site.
   
• Training and Development: Research and development of employee level training to augment recommendation by other committees and to help develop a safety culture.
   
• Operations and Maintenance: Standardization of rig operation and maintenance procedure incorporating safe work practices.