At our Sayre, Pennsylvania field office, an unassuming building serves as the backbone of the office’s safety program. Within the building is our Marcellus training facility — a comprehensive equipment setup that allows new employees to understand Chesapeake’s facility design, operational standards and processes from well to pipeline.
“We’re not going to allow an employee to perform job duties that they have not demonstrated that they can perform safely,” said Josh Lawrence, Chesapeake Manager – Operations, Marcellus. “Having this training center allows us to be confident in an employee’s abilities and for the employee to be best prepared for their Chesapeake field work.”
The facility features the equipment an employee is likely to encounter in the field, each piece labeled and in a controlled environment. The setup is particularly helpful for the increasing number of short service employees (SSE) — those with less than six months of experience — joining the oil and gas industry.
In our Marcellus operations, each SSE is assigned a mentor who helps the new employee navigate the indoor training program and daily field duties. The program is competency-based and SSEs must demonstrate proficiency in critical tasks, many of them safety, environmental and compliance-oriented, before performing field work on their own.
The center launched late last year and has completed training of five new employees. Recently, the facility also welcomed lease operators from Chief Oil & Gas following Chesapeake’s acquisition of the company. Even though these lease operators are experienced, participating in the indoor training program allows them to better understand Chesapeake’s facility design, protocols and operational standards.
“The indoor training facility serves many purposes, but none as important as making sure everyone on our sites understands and abides by our strict safety standards,” said Lawrence. “Having a place for hands-on learning, where everyone learns processes and operational procedures the same way, is critical to maintaining our strong safety and environmental performance.”
“We’re not going to allow an employee to perform job duties that they have not demonstrated that they can perform safely,” said Josh Lawrence, Chesapeake Manager – Operations, Marcellus. “Having this training center allows us to be confident in an employee’s abilities and for the employee to be best prepared for their Chesapeake field work.”