Challenge

At Dolphin Drilling, we have always maintained a strong safety culture and an established safety observation programme across our offshore drilling fleet. However, although valuable frontline safety information was being captured, our reporting process relied heavily on paper-based observation cards, limiting visibility and efficiency.

The reporting process placed a significant administrative burden on rig personnel. During particularly busy periods, this could mean processing a large number of individual submissions per day, taking valuable time away from frontline safety initiatives.

The manual process also made it more difficult to analyse trends, identify recurring risks, monitor corrective actions, and ensure consistent follow-through. Across our active rigs, which had differing levels of digital maturity, we needed a solution that would provide greater visibility of safety performance while making better use of the information being reported by our workforce.

Solution

To modernise our safety observation programme, Dolphin Drilling implemented Fennex BBSS™ across the working offshore assets at the time. By moving the observation process online, personnel could record and submit safety observations directly from mobile phones, tablets or computers, regardless of offshore connectivity limitations.

Ease of use and accessibility were key requirements, ensuring both our personnel and contractor workforce could adopt the system quickly without changing the way they worked.

By replacing paper-based reporting with a connected digital workflow, we improved the way observations are captured, analysed, and acted upon. Automated action management, real-time trend visibility, and closed-loop communication now ensure that safety observations are not only recorded but translated into meaningful action.

Outcome

Since implementation, more than 22,800 safety observations have been submitted through the platform. Reporting levels have continued to be strong, but the greatest improvement has been our ability to gather more quality, standardised and actionable safety data.

The removal of manual data entry has reduced administration time by an estimated 30-60 minutes per day, saving more than 1,000 hours annually and allowing HSE personnel to focus more on workforce engagement, coaching, and proactive risk management.

With real-time insight into frontline observations, our teams can identify trends and emerging risks more effectively and take action before incidents occur. Automated feedback keeps personnel informed when actions are completed, helping to maintain engagement and confidence in the process.

Future

Digitalising our safety observation programme has enabled Dolphin Drilling to move beyond simply collecting safety information and towards using it as a practical operational decision-making tool. Safety observations now provide meaningful insight into workforce concerns, emerging risks, and opportunities for improvement across our offshore operations.

Following the successful implementation of the platform on Blackford Dolphin and Paul B. Loyd Jr., we have now extended deployment to Borgland Dolphin during its Special Periodic Survey, ahead of its planned return to operations in November 2026. This will establish a consistent approach to safety observation management across the fleet, ensuring personnel have access to the same tools, visibility and processes from day one of operations.

As we continue to strengthen our safety performance, we will build on this data-driven approach to further improve visibility, engagement, and risk management across the business. By leveraging real-time information and embedding continual improvement into our everyday operations, we aim to ensure our strong safety culture is supported by equally strong operational insight.