“Coming together is a start, staying together is progress, and working together is success.”
-Henry Ford
In many lines of work, having a real team, where members put their own interests aside for the good of the team, is mandatory to keep each member safe.
Oil drilling jobs are a perfect example of where teamwork is at the heart of workplace safety.
If a member is careless, if a member allows their ego to get in the way, there can be dire consequences. But when each team member truly knows their role and does it professionally, they are ensuring the well-being, safety, and often the very life of their co-workers and themselves. The level of security at work is multiplied enormously when each member dedicates every move she makes to the well-being of the group. This is critical for oil drilling jobs where the safety of every rig worker is in the hands of every single crew member.
Nowadays, it seems like we hear about teamwork, team building, team spirit and being a team player more and more in reference to the workplace than sport.
Perhaps we are drawn to this concept of a team, because we have seen the success that athletes enjoy, even from a very young age, when they act as a team. The old saying, “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts” is demonstrated daily by major and minor league sports teams around the world. Baseball, football, hockey, and soccer players alike have experienced the benefit of putting their individual good or desires before the best interest of the team.
Oil drilling jobs are no different. An efficient and coordinated division of labor is mission critical on a platform. Losing the game on this playing field could mean losing a finger or worse. Working together on one platform, in sync like a well-oiled machine, means everyone involved can work, win, and play another day.
Experienced oil rig workers know that matching each crew member to the job they do best can make the job easier and safer for everyone.
And one thing is for sure, on a platform there is no place to pretend you know or guess because the platform can be unforgiving and sometimes brutal to those who bite off more than they can chew.
The right crew member in the right place at the right time is what drives a safe and productive drilling crew. In other words: teamwork.
The security and commitment of any workforce should be the yardstick used to measure success in any line of work. CanElson Drilling Inc. is a great example of a company where safety is top of mind for all staff members. President and CEO Randy Hawkings says, “The kind of people we’re trying to attract are the people who want to play on a team, who want to work safely, who want to come home to their families with all their fingers and toes…”
There is no question that teamwork plays as important a role, perhaps even more important, in the success of our personal and work lives than it does in sports. Oil field or ball field, teamwork rules.