“For all of us, a crew change means a laborious work transfer process which covers everything that has happened and the progress made. This is followed by a pre-start meeting with the new crew. We discuss what we are going to do using the Q-Aid form. We use it to write everything down and everyone can immediately see the results on the display screen. If work permits are required, we make them straight afterwards. Before you know it a meeting like this has taken up half an hour. Finally we print out the form and everyone signs for it. That is the big difference with before when it was all talk with nothing being committed to paper. Sometimes it went a bit too fast quickly, especially for non-Dutch-speaking crew members. This method avoids that problem.”
Clarity
The result of this approach is that there are fewer misunderstandings. “From the beginning it was clear to everyone what was going to happen, what their tasks were and how they should approach them. That definitely increases work safety.” Bram Geluk is happy to share his enthusiasm with his colleagues, either in a telephone call or by email. The lines of communication between the masters are short. Paul Schouwenaar, master of the Colbart, now always begins with the daily pre-start meeting as well. “It creates a lot of clarity and offers room to introduce safety points based on what you have seen and suggestions for improvements. In this way our guys can carry on working on a NINA basis, day after day.”