Risk management in ensuring the safety readiness of students at oil and gas enterprises

Dolinina Irina Gennadievna ORCID: 0009-0002-3055-2159 Doctor of Pedagogy Professor; Department of 'Life Safety'; Federal State Autonomous Educational Institution of Higher Education 'Perm National Research Polytechnic University' 29 Komsomolsky Ave., Perm, Perm Region, 614000, Russia professordolinina@mail.ru Mukhamatulina Alina Rinazovna ORCID: 0009-0008-2812-5274 Postgraduate student; Department of Life Safety; Federal State Autonomous Educational Institution of Higher Education Perm National Research Polytechnic University 29 Komsomolsky Ave., Perm, Perm Region, 614000, Russia mukhamatulina@list.ru

Gordeev Andrey Alexandrovich ORCID: 0000-0002-9157-3634 Postgraduate student; Department of Life Safety; Federal State Autonomous Educational Institution of Higher Education Perm National Research Polytechnic University 29 Komsomolsky Ave., Perm, Perm Region, 614000, Russia asrock@list.ru

Introduction

Education depends on society, and society depends on education — this old truth emphasizes the role of vocational education and pedagogy in accordance with global trends and developments in the field of teaching in order to ensure industrial and technosphere security, contributing to the strengthening of society for sustainable development and the well-being of society as a whole.

The process of risk management in the field of occupational safety and industrial safety at oil and gas industry enterprises is a sequence of interrelated stages in the education of future specialists, each of which requires the use of specific methods and tools ^[9]. To do this, it is necessary to include risk management methods in the training of graduates of the oil and gas field already at the stage of training students in the specialty 02/21/03 "Construction and operation of gas pipelines and gas oil storage facilities" ^[10].

Materials and methods

The organization of methodological practice-oriented research is based on modern principles and approaches of professional pedagogy: selected principles: integrativity, subjectivity, humanity, individuality, partnership; implemented approaches: systemic, activity-based, competence-based.

Additionally, the methodological basis of the study is the andragogical principles of adult education, which are of particular importance when considering professional development and retraining systems for employees of oil and gas enterprises.

We apply a relatively new concept for pedagogy – risk management, based on risk theory, originally presented in technical sciences and management.

Based on the regulatory framework of the Russian Federation, we believe that risk management (risk management) is a comprehensive system of measures aimed at identifying, assessing and minimizing negative impacts on a team or organization when conducting professional activities ^[14]. This system includes the following main components::

1. Monitoring potential threats;

2. forecasting potential risks and their consequences;

3. development of measures to reduce and eliminate potential risks;

4. formation of a culture of safe behavior.

Understanding how the modern concept of risk management was formed is necessary for students to adequately perceive and consciously understand the requirements that large industrial companies place on their specialists. Accordingly, we will present the basics of a retrospective analysis of classical, neoclassical and modern risk theory.

Classical risk theory. The main provisions of the classical theory of risk were formulated in the 19th century in the works of N.U. Senior and J. Mill ^[5], who considered risk solely as a possibility of damage. Representatives of this school identified a special component in the structure of entrepreneurial income — a risk fee intended to compensate for potential losses. However, this approach was one-sided, as it did not take into account the possibility of obtaining additional benefits from risky decisions.

Neoclassical theory. In the 30s of the XX century, A. Marshall, A. Pigou and Fr. Knight developed the foundations of neoclassical theory. It was Frank Knight who, in his famous work "Risk, Uncertainty and Profit", for the first time drew a clear distinction between the concepts of "risk" (which can be measured statistically) and "uncertainty" (which cannot be quantified) ^[5]. According to this theory, an entrepreneur should be guided by two criteria when making a decision: the size of the expected profit and the magnitude of its possible fluctuations.

The modern stage. Today, risk management in occupational safety and industrial safety is based on a systematic approach. The work of Jens Rasmussen and Nancy Levenson has shown that accidents and incidents are the result not just of individual errors, but of uncontrolled interactions within a complex sociotechnical system ^[5]. This approach is reflected in the regulatory documents of leading Russian companies, which consider risk management not as an isolated function, but as an element of a common management system.

When considering training assignments, students not only know, but also understand that risk management involves a set of measures in which potential threats are reduced to the minimum allowed by standards and regulations.

Acceptable risk represents an optimal balance between: 1) safety; 2) requirements for products, services, and processes; 3) factors determining consumer profitability, cost effectiveness, and more ^[6].

As established in GOST R 51898-2002, acceptable risk is "a risk that is considered acceptable in a given situation with existing social values" ^[6]. Making decisions about risk tolerance is impossible without taking into account the two-dimensional combination of events, their consequences and associated uncertainties, as well as the costs and benefits associated with a particular risk. Economic factors are manifested in the cost effectiveness of implementing protective measures, the development of production and the stability of the technological process, while consumer factors are related to operational requirements, product reliability and compliance with warranty obligations ^[9].

The timeliness of the assessment is reflected in Figure 1, which shows a scheme of educational actions for determining the acceptable risk by students in training in risk management in the formation of safety preparedness at an oil and gas enterprise.

Figure 1 – Scheme of determining the acceptable risk by students in training in risk management in the formation of safety preparedness at oil and gas enterprises

Based on the understanding of E. A. Gvozdev and A.V. Sorokin, risk assessment is defined by students as "a set of procedures for identifying factors, causes of its occurrence, analyzing the possibilities and consequences of the manifestation of risk" ^[5]. The assessment can be both qualitative and quantitative ^[1].

To a large extent, the methodological basis of our research was the work of A.V. Prychinin, which reveals the idea of risk management of educational design for students of pedagogical university training areas. This definition is interpreted as "... an integrative quality of a person who understands responsibility for possible risks of educational design, who knows the logic of identifying and reducing the consequences of possible risks in the process of creating and implementing projects in substantive and cultural-pedagogical aspects based on value-based thinking, risk-oriented thinking, self-improvement and readiness to ensure the achievement of pragmatic design objectives". Due to the results of the development of a risk management system for educational projects, A.V. Prychinin suggests supplementing the content of training at the bachelor's and master's levels by including elements of risk competence in the teaching material of pedagogical disciplines, which contributed to a significant increase in the level of risk management of educational projects in experimental groups of Udmurt State University ^[12].

The idea of integrating elements of risk competence into the educational process can be seen in the PhD thesis of O.V. Kushnareva (scientific supervisor I.G. Dolinina), where students master integrated meta-subject and subject educational material that contributes to the formation of risk competence, provided through the introduction of modules "Risk identification", "Risk assessment", "Forecasting and risk management" in the content of the disciplines "Examination of working conditions", "Systems of ensuring working conditions" ^[10].

E.V. Savenkova considers it important for university students to adapt to conditions of uncertainty and the ability to make decisions in different spheres of life through the inclusion of elements of risk-based thinking development in professional training. The author introduces the concept of "risk-based thinking" as reflecting the need to constantly identify and analyze risks and prevent undesirable effects from their impact, therefore, it allows analyzing risk-forming factors that can lead to deviation from planned results and develop measures to manage them ^[15].

Therefore, based on the application of the methodology of A.V. Prychinin and O.V. Kushnareva, the views of E.V. Savenkova, in the educational process of the specialty 02/21/03 "Construction and operation of gas pipelines and oil storage facilities" introduced elements of industrial risk analysis (qualitative and quantitative methods of risk assessment), allowing to form a risk competence that has a beneficial effect on the formation of readiness to ensure the safety of students of the oil and gas field.

The terms "risk management", "risk-based thinking" and "safety preparedness" are not well-established in the traditional theory of risk management, but they are all undoubtedly related to the ability to analyze production risks. The willingness of students of the polytechnic College to ensure safety, which our research focuses on, is the result of education and upbringing, expressed in a well-formed system of value-semantic orientations and knowledge on labor protection, skills and abilities to prevent industrial risks.

The relevance of the research is determined not only by the need to form risk competence at the stage of basic professional training, but also by the need to ensure the continuity of this process at all stages of the professional activity of a specialist in the oil and gas industry. As O.V. Berezhnaya and A.L. Kobleva note, effective adult education is based on: reliance on existing professional experience, practice-orientation, awareness of learning, subject-subject interaction and reflexivity ^[2]. In the context of continuous advanced adult education, which is being developed at the scientific school of the K. Minin National Pedagogical University, the key principle is the personalization of educational trajectories, which allows taking into account the individual profile of professional deficits and established patterns of behavior in the field of safety ^{[8, 11]}.

In the current practice of vocational education, there is a significant gap between the basic training of specialists in the framework of basic educational programs and the systems of advanced training (PC) and professional retraining (PP). The latter, as a rule, function separately from the main educational process, representing the "target product" of professional activity, focused on established norms of behavior, established models of responsibility and established (often inert) approaches to risk assessment and management. This isolation, as will be shown below, acts as a significant barrier to the formation of a stable readiness of specialists to ensure security.

Current trends in the development of additional professional education in the oil and gas industry indicate a growing attention to the integration of a risk-based approach into corporate training systems. Thus, the advanced training programs implemented at Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas (NRU) include modules on quantitative risk analysis, risk mapping and risk management based on the flow of events, which directly correlates with the methods used in the framework of this study ^[13]. Similar trends can be traced in the joint programs of Tyumen Industrial University and Gazprom Neft PJSC, where practice-oriented industrial safety training is based on the integration of corporate standards into the educational process ^[18].

However, as the analysis of industrial practice has shown, these programs often remain institutionally and meaningfully separate from basic university education, which leads to a gap in the formation of risk competence at different stages of professional development of a specialist in the oil and gas industry.

Analysis of the results

During the qualitative assessment, various types of risks are identified and students are diagnosed with the factors and causes that determine them. Its result is a developed and systematized list of risks specific to a given type of activity or facility.

The first step is for students to identify potential sources of harm. At this stage, data is collected on the activities of the facility, technological processes, equipment used, materials, raw materials, as well as on previous incidents and accidents. Sources of information studied in the classroom:

• legal and regulatory requirements;
• labor protection instructions;
• technical documentation (technological regulations, equipment passports);
• reports on special assessment of working conditions;
• archives of accidents and occupational diseases;
• insurance companies' data;
• scientific articles, reference books, databases.

Understanding the factors and causes of risk is no less important for students. E. A. Gvozdeva and A.V. Sorokin make an important distinction between factors and causes of risk. "Risk factors are considered as conditions contributing to the manifestation of the causes of risk. ^[5]. Risk factors are divided into external (political, socio-economic, environmental, scientific and technical) and internal (related to the organization of production, management quality, and equipment condition).

The causes of risk are unplanned events that can occur and cause a deviation from the planned outcome. Among them are the spontaneity of natural processes, random factors, conflicting trends, incompleteness of information, and so on.

One of the most visible tools of qualitative analysis for students is risk mapping ^[1]. The risk map is a graphical and textual description of certain types of risks in the form of a rectangular table, where the severity (significance) of the risk is indicated on one axis, and the probability of its occurrence on the other. The main value of the map is not to determine the exact values, but rather the relative location of risks and their positioning relative to the boundaries of tolerance.

Quantitative assessment consists in measuring the probability of risk realization and analyzing the nature of its impact on production performance. The transition from qualitative to quantitative analysis requires the use of mathematical tools.

The probability of a risk event is calculated using the standard formula: P = N/n, where N is the total number of possible cases, and n is the number of cases in which risk exposure is observed ^[16].

To interpret the obtained values, an empirical probability scale is used, according to which the following risk levels are distinguished: minimum 0≤P≤0.1; low 0.1

In many cases, especially when assessing unique or rare risks, statistical data are missing or insufficient ^[3]. In such situations, expert assessment methods are used, such as scenario analysis.

GOST R 58771-2019 "Risk management. Risk assessment technologies".

For example, an adapted method of the standard "scenario analysis" is used to teach risk management to students majoring in 02/21/03 "Construction and operation of gas and oil pipelines and storage facilities" at the Polytechnic College (Table 2).

Table 2 – Training of students in risk assessment and risk management in pipeline transport ^[7].

The table demonstrates the logical ways in which experts can make decisions in risk management by understanding the causes of an adverse or dangerous event when identifying and assessing the significance of risk.

The inclusion of secondary vocational education in the educational process of the specialty 02/21/03 "Construction and operation of gas oil pipelines and gas oil storage facilities" on topics related to training in industrial risk analysis had a positive impact on the level of students' readiness to ensure safety (Table 3).

Table 3 – Results of experimental work at the Polytechnic College.

The data obtained at the ascertaining and formative stages of the experiment prove that as a result of the introduction of training in industrial risk analysis methods into the educational process, the number of students with a low level in EG decreased by 3.56 times, and the proportion with a high level increased by more than 3 times.

The integration of risk management into academic disciplines on technosphere safety contributed to an increase in the number of polytechnic University students with a high level of risk competence in the experimental group by 2.83 times, in the control group by 1.16 times (Table 4).

Table 4 – Results of experimental work at the university.

Consequently, the introduction of industrial risk analysis methods in higher and secondary vocational education has a beneficial effect on improving occupational safety, the formation of professional competence and responsibility of graduates, reducing occupational injuries and diseases, as well as on the quality of specialist training.

An important aspect of the formation of security preparedness is the consideration of economic and consumer factors in the process of assessing acceptable risk. As the analysis showed, the students' initial ideas (at the ascertaining stage of the experiment) were dominated by a narrow technical understanding of risk solely as a possibility of damage, which corresponds to the classical theory of risk ^[5]. In the process of learning risk management methods, students in experimental groups have developed a more complex, systematic understanding of acceptable risk, including the realization that acceptable risk represents an optimal balance between safety, product/process requirements and consumer benefits ^[6]; understanding the role of economic factors (cost effectiveness, production development, investment opportunities) in determining the acceptable level of protective measures ^{[4, 8]}; taking into account consumer factors (operational requirements, product reliability, compliance with warranty obligations) when developing risk mitigation measures.

The formation of students' safety preparedness in the oil and gas industry cannot be limited only to the basic training stage. It is necessary to build a continuous trajectory of risk education, including:

1. coordination of the content of the main educational programs and PC programs/PP in terms of methods of risk analysis and management. As the experience of integrating the educational programs of TIU and Gazprom Neft PJSC shows, the joint development of content with the participation of corporate experts makes it possible to ensure continuity and relevance of training ^[18];

2. the use of unified methodological approaches (qualitative and quantitative risk analysis, scenario analysis, risk mapping) at all stages of professional development ^{[1, 7, 16]};

3. the inclusion of tasks in the PC and PP programs aimed at reflecting established norms of behavior and transforming the attitude to risk among experienced professionals. The andragogical approach involves the use of active teaching methods (business games, case analysis, project work), which confirms its effectiveness in the practice of corporate training ^{[2, 8]};

4. integration of risk management elements into corporate systems of training and development of personnel of oil and gas enterprises. Modern digitalization trends implemented in Gazprom Group companies, including the introduction of micro-learning and a single Interaction platform, create new opportunities for the continuous formation of a safety culture ^[4];

5. personalization of educational trajectories in the vocational training system based on the diagnosis of professional deficits and the formation of risk competence. This approach, developed within the framework of the scientific school of continuous advanced adult education, makes it possible to ensure targeted and effective learning ^{[8, 11]}.

Conclusions

The developed and implemented methodology of pedagogical influence on future specialists of the mining and oil industry will have a significant impact on the readiness to ensure the safety of students through training in risk management.

The pedagogical theoretical foundations are embodied through the implementation of selected methods to create the conditions for a purposeful educational result focused on the integration of disciplinary material with practical tasks and educational and industrial practice.

Experimental work has shown how the modern concept of risk management, studied in theory and in practice by students, has evolved in their professional training from a simple understanding of risk as a possibility of damage to an integrated systematic approach that takes into account both potential threats, ways to prevent man-made hazards and the possibility of obtaining benefits and benefits from production.

The increase in the proportion of students with a high level of readiness in the college's EG from 12% to 47%, and in the university from 16.7% to 47.2% confirm the effectiveness of introducing risk management methods into the educational process. However, as the results of the control groups show, without a systematic extension of this approach to the stages of PC and PP, the achieved results may not gain a stable foothold in the real professional activities of graduates.

The mastered methods of risk assessment in the workplace, including qualitative and quantitative analysis, make it possible to effectively identify and minimize potential threats to production activities.

Therefore, the introduction of ideas and components of risk management in the process of training specialists in the mining and oil industry is a prerequisite for ensuring safety in industrial production when performing professional activities in the future.

The article is published in its final version as approved following the last positive peer review recommending acceptance for publication. It incorporates revisions made by the author in response to prior negative peer review reports that did not recommend publication. All peer review reports, including initial negative reviews, are published in open access alongside the article. All versions of the author’s revisions are archived in the publisher’s repository and may be made available upon reasonable request in accordance with Elsevier’s editorial policies and applicable data availability requirements.
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