Oil and Gas Training Course | Video

Jennifer Joas | 1/9/2013

North Dakota has the second highest rate of work-related fatalities in the nation. So OSHA created a new hazards course geared towards the oil and gas industry and the first class is right here in Bismarck.

Oil and gas exploration can be dangerous work. And if a fire breaks out, you can`t just call 911 and expect rural fire departments to respond within minutes. That`s why the oil industry is embracing this hazard training course.

Bill Wuolu, ND Safety Council Training Consultant - (42:02) "With the remote locations like that, we have to from a safety and emergency management standpoint, we have to train our people and educate them on how to be self sufficient out there," said ND Safety Council Training Consultant Bill Wuolu.

Wuolu is a student in the first class, but plans on teaching it in the future. He says the challenge in the Bakken is training people that have never worked in the oil and gas industry before. "It`s not unintelligent people. It`s people that don`t have the experience or the background. I had a gentleman a couple of months ago who was a pharmacist. And now he`s going to be working out on an oil rig. It doesn`t transition. So we need to have a chance to give them the opportunity to be safe out there,"

Another challenge in the Bakken is how quickly oil rigs need to be set up and torn down, or the frack crews moving in and out.

"You`re doing very complex work in a matter of days. So it`s not like the counterparts in refining or the counterparts in heavy industry where you`ve got months and even years to set up the work environment," said Joan Smith with the Rocky Mountain Community Center.

OSHA hopes this new training course will reduce the number of fatalities in North Dakota, as oil production continues rising.

OSHA worked with the oil and gas industry to develop this new program.

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