Between 2009 and 2016, the Society of Petrolem Engineers (SPE) facilitated a series of global sessions to develop ideas for the advancement of health, safety, and the environment (HSE) in the industry. These sessions brought together more than 850 leaders representing diverse disciplines from across the oil and gas industry, government, and academia to discuss a simple question: How can the oil and gas industry achieve zero harm? The diverse group of participants generated many valuable ideas for a "step change" in performance, and they precipitated alignment around a vision of safety, specifically the expectation of zero harm. The participants agreed that achieving zero harm was possible, but given the oil and gas industry's varied cultures and risk tolerance, it was necessary to collaboratively identify the methods for attaining zero. It was widely agreed that the effort must begin with the industry's most valuable resource, its people, and the elements of human factors in particular, including the factors that influence the interaction of people with each other, with the facilities and equipment, and with the management systems and working practices used to organize and manage the way work is carried out within the industry. This report is a compilation of the discussions from the SPE sessions, and serves to expand on these discussions to identify and evaluate those elements that may aid the industry in removing obstacles to achieving the expectation of zero harm by exploring current thinking and views, understanding experiences and learnings from other industries that are mature in the application of human factors, and suggesting next steps for both the industry and individual companies.

In July 2012 the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) held a two-day summit on human factors to create a common understanding of the strategic challenges for the oil and gas E&P industry, to identify what is known and unknown in the field, and to explore possible actions to accomplish the needed change indicated by the U.S. National Commission on the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling report. This Technical Report is based on discussions and conclusions at the summit and is intended to provide guidance on the human factors risks in E&P operations and what can be done to reduce those risks and increase safety. The changes required in the industry involve moving to an organizational culture in which process safety is as well managed as personal safety is currently managed in the industry. In civil aviation, a series of major accidents led to the introduction, mandatory requirement and acceptance of human factors methodologies called Crew Resource Management (CRM). Similarly, the nuclear power industry identified and acted upon the concept of its safety culture after a small number of major incidents. The challenge is whether the E&P industry can achieve a similar breakthrough by confronting the human factor as an issue in process safety both onshore and offshore.