ASSE recognizes oil and gas practice specialty

The oil and gas safety community has established its own practice specialty within the American Society of Safety Engineers.

The process took a couple years, starting out with a meeting of four people over dinner. This resulted in the formation of an oil and gas branch that was sponsored by ASSE’s transportation practice specialty.

The oil and gas branch actively recruited members and sustained steady growth despite the distractions of active hurricane seasons that brought Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustave, and Ike to the Gulf of Mexico.

The ASSE Council of Practice Specialties gave its blessing to an oil and gas practice specialty after the oil and gas branch had grown to more than 500 members by Oct. 31, 2008.

In June 2009, the oil and gas practice specialty scheduled an organizational meeting during the ASSE safety conference in San Antonio. Organizers say the practice specialty covers a large, diverse group of businesses including:
--Drilling, exploration, and development
--Gathering
--LNG production, storage, transportation, and distribution
--LPG operations
--Offshore operations
--Oil and gas equipment and services
--Oil and gas pipelines
--Refining and marketing