Offshore project at Allseas’ Pioneering Spirit

In order to further optimize shift work performance, health, and safety and to reduce fatigue related risks Night Fit was implemented at Allseas’ ‘Pioneering Spirit’ in 2017. In January and May the frist phases of the project took place at the Maasvlakte at Rotterdam. In November the third phase of the project took place offshore at the Black Sea near Russia/Turkey. In total 350 shift workers participated in the interactive workshops. Pioneering Spirit is the world’s largest construction vessel, designed for the single-lift installation and removal of large oil and gas platforms and the installation of record-weight pipelines.

We learned the psychological and biological background of sleep and fatigue. For me better sleep results in more focus, energy and awareness.  – Mechanic Pioneering Spirit

Presentation at International Association of Drilling Contractors in Amsterdam

September 2017. Drillingcontractor.org: Last week Koos Meijer gave a presentation at the IADC HSE&T Europe Conference & Exhibition in Amsterdam. Poor quality of sleep can lead to lowered concentration, slower performance and difficulty thinking clearly. In turn, this can lead to increased risks for human error, lower productivity and more downtime on the rig. In this video from the 2017 IADC Drilling HSE&T Europe Conference on 28 September in Amsterdam, Koos Meijer, Founder of KM Human Factors Engineering, discusses a light treatment that focuses on the timing, duration, intensity and color of light exposure to activate and deactivate the brain.

Click here for our latest project at AZ Alkmaar

Work Hard, Sleep Hard workshops at ADO Den Haag

In November two interactive workshops ‘Work Hard, Sleep Hard’ were provided at Dutch football club ADO Den Haag. Enhanced sleep efficiency will help the athletes to maximize their physical and mental recovery. Better sleep will lower perceptions of effort and fatigue and enhance strength, endurance and accuracy on the field. Overall, optimizing sleeping patterns will help athletes to perform at their full potential. Click on the immage for an interview about the project. Please note, the video is in Dutch.

What I’ve learned from the workshops is that sleep is very important for athletes for physical recovery. The blocking of blue light helps me to fall asleep more easily. – Lex Immers midfielder ADO Den Haag

Guestblog at CGE Risk Management Solutions 

Guest blog at CGE Risk Management Solutions. This blog explains the main  issue with night work (i.e. circadian misalignment) and how light treatment can further enhance performance and process safety in high-hazard industries.

Presentation at the ATCE of the Society of Petroleum Engineers San Antonio Texas

KM Human Factors Engineering was selected to present its innovative method ‘Proactive Fatigue Countermeasures in the Petroleum Industry’ at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition in San Antonio, Texas, USA. The presentation focused on our case studies conducted in the Dutch offshore industry. Findings show that key-factors in sleep and fatigue such as light exposure and sleep hygiene can be optimized helping to enhance shift work performance, health, and process safety. The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) is the largest individual member organization serving managers, engineers, scientists and other professionals worldwide in the upstream segment of the oil and gas industry.

Science Paper at the OnePetro library of the Society of Petroleum Engineers 

The findings our latest offshore projects were presented at the OnePetro library of the SPE in October 2017. In collaboration with Martin Robb and Jasper Smit the following paper was created ‘Shift Work Fatigue in the Petroleum Industry: A Proactive Fatigue Countermeasure’. The paper show why managing the risks associated with shift worker fatigue must be an ongoing activity of O&G organizations. The system described in this paper specifically addresses offshore locations where off-shift rest is taken offshore. Enhancing offshore sleep quality will result in improved focus and concentration among the workforce and will reduce human error risks. This helps the workforce to make high quality and split second decisions.

The paper is available at https://www.onepetro.org/conference-paper/SPE-187048-MS.

See the guest blog at CGE Risk Management Solutions for a summary of the paper.

Presentation at the IADC Human Factors Conference and Exhibition at Galveston Houston

By Kelli Ainsworth IADC 2016. The reduced concentration, slower reaction time and impaired decision making that result from insufficient sleep can have serious repercussions for process safety, Koos Meijer, a Human Factors Consultant with KM Human Factors Engineering, said at the 2016 IADC Human Factors Conference in Galveston, Texas. Because the brain produces hormones to make us feel alert or tired based on light, night-shift workers – who can be found on every working drilling rig – are particularly vulnerable to poor-quality sleep. “Our body finds it hard to completely adapt to night work schedules because of these inconsistent light cues,” Mr Meijer said in his presentation on 4 October.