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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Upstream Safety Specialist

💰 $ - $

SafetyUpstreamOil & GasHSE

🎯 Role Definition

The Upstream Safety Specialist is a subject-matter expert focused on preventing incidents, protecting people and assets, and enabling safe oil & gas exploration and production operations both onshore and offshore. This role provides technical leadership in process safety management, wellsite safety, operational risk assessments, regulatory compliance, incident investigation, and safety assurance activities across upstream drilling, completions, and production operations. The Specialist partners with operations, engineering, drilling, contractors, and HSSEQ leadership to embed safety-by-design, continuous improvement, and industry best practices (HAZOP, LOPA, HAZID, Bow-tie, MOC) across the asset lifecycle.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • HSE Advisor / HSE Officer with upstream operational exposure
  • Process Safety Engineer or Drilling Engineer transitioning to safety
  • Offshore/Onshore Operations Supervisor with safety responsibility

Advancement To:

  • Senior Upstream Safety Specialist / Lead Process Safety Engineer
  • HSSEQ Manager or Global Upstream Safety Manager
  • Director of Safety, Asset Integrity, or Operational Excellence

Lateral Moves:

  • Well Control Specialist / Well Operations Lead
  • Risk Management / Asset Integrity Engineer

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Develop, maintain and deploy upstream-specific safety standards, procedures and work instructions for drilling, completions, and production operations to ensure compliance with internal safety management systems, ISO 45001, API, NORSOK and local regulatory frameworks.
  • Lead and facilitate HAZID, HAZOP, LOPA, and Bow-tie risk assessment workshops for well designs, production facilities and modification projects to identify gaps, recommend protective layers and define risk reduction measures.
  • Conduct detailed process safety reviews and safety case inputs for new field developments, well interventions, and brownfield modifications to ensure inherent safety and ALARP risk acceptance.
  • Provide technical expertise for permit-to-work, hot work, lifting, confined space and isolation systems for upstream operations and ensure consistent implementation of control measures at wellsites and offshore platforms.
  • Serve as the incident investigator and lead root cause analysis (TapRooT/5-Why/FTA) for significant upstream incidents and high potential near misses, driving corrective actions, lessons learned, and follow-up verification to prevent recurrence.
  • Develop and deliver targeted safety training, toolbox talks, and competency development for operations, drilling crews, and contractors including well control awareness (IWCF/WellCAP), permit systems, and emergency response procedures.
  • Monitor and audit contractor safety performance, pre-qualify vendors for high-risk activities, and embed contractor HSE requirements into contracts and work scopes to ensure consistent upstream safety standards.
  • Oversee critical safety equipment checks and verification (e.g., BOP, choke/kill systems, gas detection, fire & gas systems) and coordinate with maintenance and integrity teams for certification and testing schedules.
  • Champion barrier management and safety critical element (SCE) programs for wells and production systems, ensuring monitoring, testing, and management of barriers through their lifecycle.
  • Support drilling and well operations teams on well construction design, casing and cementing integrity strategies, and operational practices that mitigate subsurface blowout, loss of containment and uncontrolled hydrocarbon release.
  • Provide on-call safety support for operations and drilling campaigns, respond to onshore and offshore safety escalations, and integrate incident command inputs into emergency response and crisis management.
  • Coordinate regulatory reporting for upstream incidents, spills, and near-misses; prepare documentation and interface with regulators, classification societies and third-party auditors during inspections and statutory reviews.
  • Lead safety assurance programs and periodic field safety reviews, including behavioral-based safety observations, compliance audits, inspection rounds and management of change (MOC) for operational modifications.
  • Integrate environmental protection measures into upstream safety plans, addressing spill prevention, produced water handling, flaring reduction and biodiversity considerations during field activities.
  • Support design reviews with engineering and project teams to ensure safety-by-design principles, operability, maintainability and safe access are incorporated into facilities and wellsite layouts.
  • Maintain and analyze upstream safety performance metrics, leading trend analysis for incidents, near misses and leading indicators and propose proactive interventions to improve safety metrics.
  • Provide technical input to capital projects, ensuring Safety Integrity Levels (SIL) requirements and safety instrumented systems (SIS) strategies are implemented and validated for well control and production safety systems.
  • Develop and maintain emergency response plans, oil spill response strategies and muster/evacuation procedures and lead multi-disciplinary drills to validate readiness and identify improvement opportunities.
  • Support financial and operational decision-making by assessing residual risk, providing safety input for work authorizations, go/no-go decisions and readiness-to-drill/work assessments.
  • Collaborate with corporate HSE, asset teams and cross-functional stakeholders to harmonize upstream safety practices globally, share lessons learned and implement continuous improvement initiatives across fields and regions.
  • Advise on regulatory interpretation and permit compliance for well licensing, abandonment, and decommissioning activities to reduce legal risk and ensure safe, compliant execution.
  • Drive culture change initiatives to improve safety leadership, speaking up behaviors, and frontline accountability through coaching, mentoring and visible safety engagement with operations teams.

Secondary Functions

  • Support targeted risk modeling and consequence analysis for blowout, fire and explosion scenarios and coordinate with technical specialists to refine mitigation strategies.
  • Assist in the development and deployment of digital safety tools, incident management systems and real-time monitoring dashboards to improve upstream safety visibility and decision-making.
  • Provide subject matter expertise during procurement and technical evaluations to ensure purchased equipment and services meet safety, reliability and regulatory requirements.
  • Participate in project HSE planning meetings, review contractor method statements and construction phase safety plans during installations and tie-ins.
  • Support ad-hoc technical safety reviews for evolving operational challenges such as unconventional reservoirs, extended reach drilling and chemical injection operations.
  • Contribute to community and stakeholder engagement activities by communicating safety approaches and mitigation plans during local consultations where upstream activities interact with stakeholders.
  • Help develop competency matrices and role-specific training plans for upstream safety roles to ensure workforce capability matches operational risk profiles.
  • Assist in budgeting and resource planning for safety-critical programs including training, audits, emergency response equipment and inspection campaigns.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Process Safety Management (PSM) — demonstrated experience implementing PSM elements in upstream oil & gas including hazard identification, operating procedures, management of change (MOC), and incident investigation.
  • HAZID / HAZOP / LOPA facilitation — proven ability to organize and lead formal risk workshops and translate outcomes into actionable safety improvements.
  • Well Control and Subsurface Risk Understanding — competency in well construction risk, BOP systems, choke/kill strategies, cementing and casing integrity with familiarity of IWCF/WellCAP principles.
  • Barrier Management & Safety Critical Elements (SCE) — experience developing barrier registers, verification plans and lifecycle management for upstream installations and wells.
  • Incident Investigation & Root Cause Analysis — skilled in TapRooT, 5-Why, or other RCA methodologies with track record of delivering effective corrective actions and learning loops.
  • Regulatory Compliance & Reporting — knowledge of offshore/onshore regulatory regimes (local regulator, BSEE, NOPSEMA, HSE), statutory reporting, and permit systems.
  • Emergency Response & Crisis Management — ability to develop, exercise and lead emergency response plans, oil spill response and incident command support.
  • Safety Case and Safety Case Inputs — experience preparing or contributing to safety cases, justification of ALARP and risk acceptance documentation for upstream projects.
  • Safety Assurance & Audit — proficiency in planning and executing safety audits, compliance checks, and follow-up verification to close non-conformances.
  • Technical Risk Assessment and Consequence Modeling — working knowledge of QRA tools, dispersion modeling, and fire/explosion consequence analysis.
  • Competency Development & Training Delivery — experience designing and delivering role-based HSE training, toolbox sessions and coaching front-line supervisors.
  • Wellsite and Offshore Operations Familiarity — practical understanding of drilling rigs, mobile offshore units, production platforms and associated safety systems and routines.
  • Permit to Work and Isolation Systems — capability to design, review and enforce permit workflows, isolation strategies and energy control procedures.
  • Safety Instrumented Systems and SIL — knowledge of SIS, safety PLCs, and SIL verification where applicable to upstream control systems.
  • Data Analysis & KPI Management — ability to interpret safety performance data, create dashboards and recommend interventions based on leading and lagging indicators.

Soft Skills

  • Strong communication and stakeholder engagement — communicate complex safety concepts clearly to operators, engineers, contractors and regulators.
  • Leadership and influence — ability to lead cross-functional teams, influence operational decisions and drive safety compliance without direct authority.
  • Problem-solving and analytical thinking — methodical approach to diagnose root causes, quantify risk and propose pragmatic mitigation.
  • Coaching and mentoring — develop capability in others through coaching, feedback and structured training.
  • Decision-making under pressure — calm, decisive action during incidents and high-risk operations.
  • Collaboration and teamwork — work effectively with operations, engineering, procurement and commercial teams to deliver safe outcomes.
  • Attention to detail and follow-through — ensure documentation, audits and corrective actions are completed and verified.
  • Cultural sensitivity and adaptability — work across global upstream teams and embrace diverse working environments both onshore and offshore.
  • Continuous improvement mindset — proactively identify opportunities for process improvement and cost-effective safety gains.
  • Time management and prioritization — balance emergent incident response with longer-term safety programs and project demands.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (Petroleum, Mechanical, Chemical), Safety or Environmental Science, Geoscience, or a related technical discipline.

Preferred Education:

  • Master’s degree in Safety, Engineering, or Risk Management or equivalent professional development in process safety.
  • Professional certifications such as NEBOSH International General Certificate/Diploma, IOSH, Certified Safety Professional (CSP), or equivalent.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Petroleum Engineering
  • Chemical / Process Engineering
  • Occupational Health & Safety
  • Environmental Science
  • Mechanical Engineering

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 5–12 years of progressive upstream oil & gas experience with demonstrated responsibility for safety in drilling, well operations or production.

Preferred:

  • 8+ years in upstream HSE/Process Safety roles with offshore and onshore exposure.
  • Proven track record of leading HAZOP/LOPA workshops, incident investigations and barrier management programs.
  • Certifications or training in well control (IWCF/WellCAP), emergency response, and recognized safety qualifications (NEBOSH, IOSH, CSP).
  • Experience working with multinational teams, contractors and regulatory agencies in complex upstream environments.
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