Monthly Reflections January 2026
by Steve Norton, IOGP Health, Safety, Security & Wells Director
Monthly Reflections January 2026
Dear Colleagues,
Earlier this month the IOGP Human Performance Subcommittee published a new Report. The Human Performance Framework provides guidance for integrating human performance into everyday operations.
The Report has taken many months of hard work by the Subcommittee and I would like to thank them for sharing their experience and knowledge to make the preparation and publishing of the report possible. Special thanks to the Chairs of the Subcommittee for their leadership of the team, initially Ajay Shah of Chevron and latterly Lamberto Nonno of Baker Hughes.
I am very encouraged by the positive response to the publishing of the Framework. The IOGP Bookstore had over 150 downloads on the day of publishing and over 700 in the first week. A fantastic response and a clear indication of the desire within the industry to take advantage of this great work and guidance. Like all IOGP Safety publications the Framework is free to download so if you haven’t done so already please go to the IOGP Bookstore and get your copy.
Human Performance represents a fundamental shift in how we design and lead our organisations, recognizing people not as problems to control, but as the source of insight and resilience. By focusing on human performance we initiate a shift from blaming individuals to improving systems.
A few years ago, IOGP encouraged the industry to adopt and standardise on the 5 Human Performance Principles because they create a culture where people feel safe to speak up. The Human Performance Framework helps organisations build the 5 Principles into their everyday operations and guides leaders on how to make the shift in their leadership behaviours to embrace the Principles. I believe this will improve safety and reduce incidents and will enhance system learning to support more reliable and resilient operations.
As well as publishing the Human Performance Framework the Subcommittee is refreshing the IOGP Human Performance website and adding new materials to aid adoption. With the Framework published the focus is shifting to supporting implementation and over time more guidance and references will be added to the site as they are prepared and become available. I recommend bookmarking the site.
The Safety Leadership Academy program has just wrapped the second pilot – hosted in Bahrain by Bapco Energies. The next cohort will take place in Houston, hosted by Baker Hughes. Contact your VP HSE or your Head of HSE learning to express interest in joining.
Shariq Abassi, Shell Global Manager Learning Safety, captured the highlights in his Linked In post extracted here. “It was truly inspiring to learn alongside participants from across the energy and service sector — exchanging experiences, reflecting deeply on safety leadership, and building connections that will continue to strengthen our collective impact.”
The Safety Leadership Academy is a niche program created by the industry for the industry where cohorts of up to 30 participants are selected by their companies – operators and service companies – from operations and HSE functions. Together, with advanced pedagogical techniques, a collaborative space, deep knowledge of real daily challenges and barriers, they experience learning conditions that result in their returning to their roles more powerfully equipped to raise their safety leadership capabilities and accelerate their organisation’s commitment to safety culture.
You can learn more at https://www.safetyleadershipacademy.org/, or email Johana Dunlop and Muriel Barnier at Programdirector@safetyleadershipacademy.org.
I would like to close this month with promotion of this year’s SPE International Health Safety Environment and Sustainability Conference, 7-9 September 2026 in Abu Dhabi and hosted by ADNOC. The Conference is a great opportunity for HSES professionals to come together to share ideas that enhance learning and support continuous improvement. The Call for Paper Proposals is currently open and runs until 20th February. Many of us on IOGP staff and committees are actively involved in building this conference produced for the industry by the industry.
Kind regards,
Steve
