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News and Dates
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2024
We've Moved!
November 2024: We moved! On November 1st we moved to new larger offices in the same building we have been in for 10 years or so now. We have been trying to get a team photo ever since, but finally realized it would be impossible to get all our consultants in the same place at the same time and decided that 7 was our lucky number. Visitors are always welcome, and as always we have several spare desks for waifs and strays!
At the Podium
September 2024: At the SPE ATCE, held in New Orleans, Louisiana, September 23rd-25th, vPSI Principal Consultant Tom Knode moderated a panel session entitled “Leadership and Culture: What Do Leaders Need to Know, and Do, to Improve Safety Culture?” The session featured speakers from Aramco, Helmerich and Payne, and CEDEP.
September 2024:
At the ASSP Region III Professional Development Conference at the Hurst Conference Center outside of Dallas, Texas, Principal Consultant Angel Simmons presented to a packed room on the topic of “Fitness for Duty and Incident Investigations.” Norman Ritchie, vPSI Co-Founder and Principal Consultant, closed out the conference with another packed room of people interested in his “Riskwashing” presentation.
September 2024:
May 2024: In Fort Worth, Texas Norman Ritchie presented his SPE Distinguisher Lecturer topic, "New Methods for Learning from Incidents Involving Human & Organizational Performance".
April 2024: At the ASSP Gulf Coast Chapter Professional Development Conference at the Norris Conference Center in Houston, TX, Angel Simmons
presented on “Fitness for Duty and Incident Investigations”.
2023
Norman Ritchie Selected as Distinguished Lecturer by the Society of Petroleum Engineers International (SPE)!
December 2022: Co-founder and Director, Norman Ritchie, was named 2023-2024 Distinguished Lecturer by the
SPE on the topic "New
Methods for Learning from Incidents Involving Human & Organizational Performance."
These were his presentation dates and locations for 2023:
vPSI At the Podium
November 2023:
Angel Simmons presented on
“New Methods for Learning from Incidents Involving Human &
Organizational Performance” at the
UTA/OSHA/NIOSH Oil and Gas Safety and Health Conference at the
Hilton Americas in
Houston, TX, USA.
vPSI also had a booth at the exhibitor hall for this
conference. April 2023: Norman Ritchie was a panel member at the
IADC Health, Safety, Environment, and Training Conference
and Exhibition at the
Hyatt Regency Houston West in Houston,
Texas, USA. Norman and the other panelists discussed
transitioning from TRIR to a Serious Injury and Fatality
(SIF) model of HSE reporting.
vPSI Out and About
September 2023: Norman Ritchie attended the
2023 IADC
HSE and Sustainability Europe Conference and Exhibition at
the
Amsterdam Marriott Hotel in the
Netherlands.
September 2023:
Norman Ritchie and Doug Schonacher attended the
Annual
Center for Offshore Safety Forum at the
Westin Houston Memorial City in
Houston, Texas, USA.
May 2023:
vPSI Group exhibited at the
Energy Safety Canada conference
(formerly known as the Petroleum Safety Conference) in
Banff, Alberta.
April 2023:
vPSI Group exhibited at the
ASSP Gulf Coast Professional
Development Conference at the
Marriot South at Hobby
Airport in Houston, Texas, USA. 2022
Norman Ritchie Selected as Distinguished Lecturer by the Society of Petroleum Engineers International (SPE)!
December 2022: Co-founder and Director, Norman Ritchie, has been named 2023-2024 Distinguished Lecturer by the
SPE on the topic "New
Methods for Learning from Incidents Involving Human & Organizational Performance."
See
here for the press release.
vPSI At the Podium
October 2022:
Norman Ritchie led a panel at the
SPE ATCE,
discussing Learning From Accidents or Learning Before Accidents in Houston, Texas, USA, October 5, 2022. September 2022:
Norman Ritchie sat on a panel regarding Performance Indicators at the
IADC HSE and Sustainability Conference and Exhibition
in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, September 15, 2022. May 2022:
vPSI attended, presented, and exhibited at the
Energy Safety Canada Petroleum Safety Conference May 2 - 4,
2022, in Banff, Alberta, Canada.
vPSI Out and About
May 2022:
vPSI exhibited at the
American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM)
2022 National Occupational and Process Safety Conference and Exhibit
May 10 - 12 in San Antonio, Texas, USA. May 2022:
vPSI exhibited at the
Alberta Health and Safety Conference May 5 - 6, 2022
in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
vPSI Celebrates a Milestone Anniversary! January 2022:
vPSI is pleased to celebrate 20 years of making the world a better place, one client at a time! Conceived at the
Holiday Inn
bar in
Duncan, Oklahoma, who knew 20 years later we'd be
entering our third decade of business! 2021
vPSI Around Town
December 2021: vPSI recently exhibited at the
2021 UTA Oil and Gas Conference in Houston, Texas,
USA, December 14-15 at the Marriott Marquis. September 2021: vPSI exhibited at the
ASSP Safety 2021 Professional Development Conference and Exposition
September 13-15, 2021, in Austin, Texas, USA. Two visitors to our booth each won one of our coveted Yeti Tumblers!
Norman Ritchie Recognized by ASSP!
July 2021: Co-founder and Director, Norman Ritchie, has been named "Safety Professional of the Year" (aka SPY) for the
ASSP's Region III,
which encompasses Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. The American Society of Safety Professionals awards this honor to acknowledge the dedication and outstanding contributions of a member to a
specific Region, while also advancing the OSH profession overall. 2020
vPSI Introduces its new Sustainability Practice
November 2020: vPSI is pleased to announce the opening of our new Sustainability Practice, based in Houston, and the appointment of Sue Staley as Sustainability Director. See the Press Release
here.
Hot Off the Presses!
September 2020: Norman Ritchie was a contributor on One Percent Safer, a new book (and movement) on commiting to one improvement each day to make the workplace One Percent Safer. There were over 140 contributors,
among them the most illustrious names in the world of health, safety, and risk. Read the official press release
here and view the list of contributors
here.
At the Podium
July 2020:
Norman Ritchie was a panel member for the
SPE (Society of Petroleum
Engineers)
LACPEC and HSE &
Sustainability Virtual Conference, July 27-31. LACPEC, the Latin American and Caribbean Petroleum Engineering Conference, has been held for more than 25 years. It was held jointly with the SPE
HSE conference for the first time. Norman’s panel discussed “Leadership through Risk Understanding” on the last day of the conference.
June - September 2020:
Energy Safety Canada (ESC) commissioned our new vPSI Canada Ltd
office to present a series of web-based seminars in June. The first webinar was on the topic of “Risk Tolerance and Human Performance” and the second covered “Investigating Unplanned Events in a
Fraction of the Time Currently Spent (Including Near Misses)”. Both sessions were recorded and are free to view or download via the ESC website. With more than 2 hours of content, these videos could
be used as either an introduction to the vPSI System™ or as a refresher for those who have previously attended one of our workshops. Of course, these videos can’t actually replace real vPSI training!
The third episode in the series, to be broadcast on September 15th, is the culmination of the series and will focus on Key Performance Indicators and Human & Organization Performance. It is also
free and registration is available on the
ESC website.
Announcing vPSI Canada Ltd!
January 2020
The last several years have seen significant growth in vPSI projects for Canadian clients, so we’re excited to announce that vPSI Canada Ltd is now officially open for business in our new Calgary,
Alberta office. vPSI Canada Ltd will help medium and large size employers improve and optimize health and safety results through human performance risk management and by enhancing the effectiveness
and efficiency of the investigation of all types of incidents. vPSI’s Canadian operations will be led by Richard (Rick) Theriau who brings with him more than 25 years of safety, quality, and
environmental management experience. See the full press release
here. 2017 - 2019 "It's the good girls that keep diaries - bad girls never have time."
- Attributed to Tallulah Bankhead, actor (see
Quote Investigator for more information) 2016
At the Podium
August 2016: Norman Ritchie of vPSI Group will speak on "Pragmatic Inclusion of Human Factors in Incident Investigations" at the
American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE)
Gulf Coast - Energy Corridor Section on August 11th.
vPSI Road Show
June 2016: vPSI Group hosted a booth at the 29th annual
Environmental, Health and Safety Seminar hosted by the
Texas Chemical Council (TCC), the
Association of Chemical Industry of Texas (ACIT), and the
Louisiana Chemical Industry
Alliance (LCIA), held June 6th through the 9th at the
Moody Gardens Convention Center in
Galveston, Texas. Visitors to our booth were told how vPSI Group can help them improve and learn from
organizational responses to incidents and near misses!
We Have Moved!
May 2016: vPSI Group has a new home! For our clients' convenience, we've moved only about 5 minutes away from our previous location. Please view our
US
Office page for the new address and directions.
At the Podium
April 2016: Norman Ritchie of vPSI Group spoke on "Recovering Business Value From Near Misses" at the
Society of
Petroleum Engineers (SPE)
International Conference and
Exhibition on Health, Safety, Security, Environment, and Social Responsibility: Sustaining Our Future Through Innovation and Collaboration. It was held April 11th through the 13th at the
Stavanger Forum in
Stavanger, Norway. February 2016: Norman Ritchie of vPSI Group spoke on "Discovering Business Value in Near Miss Reporting and Analysis" at the
Healthcare Systems Process Improvement Conference held at the
Hilton Americas Houston on February 17th through the 19th.
February 2016: Norman Ritchie of vPSI Group spoke on "Pragmatic Inclusion of Human Factors in Incident Investigations" at the
American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE)
Gulf Coast - Houston Downtown Section on February 25th.
2015
vPSI Road Show
July 2015: vPSI Group hosted a booth at the
Occupational Safety and Health Association USA Safety Conference and Exhibition (not to be confused with the United States' federal Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration), held July 15th through the 17th at the Norris Conference Center in Houston, Texas.
Open Enrollment Classes
July 2015: vPSI Group held a session of the Open Enrollment version of our fundamental class, Applying vPSI Methods of Problem Solving in Houston, Texas. Attendees included employees from
Union Gas.
H-E-A-R Say, Volume 7, Issue 2 available
April 2015: The latest issue of H-E-A-R Say, vPSI Group's newsletter, was published. The lead article discusses recovering costs from unresolved near miss events.
Open Enrollment Classes
April 2015: vPSI Group held a session of the Open Enrollment version of our fundamental class, Applying vPSI Methods of Problem Solving in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Attendees included employees from
Spectra Energy, Plains Midstream, Enbridge, & Access Pipeline.
vPSI Road Show
March 2015: vPSI Group hosted a booth at the
National Safety Council (NSC) Texas Safety Conference and Expo, held March 29th through the 31st at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas.
March 2015: vPSI Group hosted a booth at the
Society for Petroleum Engineers (SPE) E&P Health, Safety and Environmental Conference, held March 16th through the 18th at the Omni Interlocken Hotel in Denver, Colorado.
H-E-A-R Say, Volume 7, Issue 1 available
February 2015: The latest issue of H-E-A-R Say, vPSI Group's newsletter, was published. The lead article discusses parallels between Stop Work Authority and the troubling non-intervention behavior known as the "Bystander Effect". As a reaction to the knee-jerk cost cutting going on in many companies due to the current low oil price environment, this H-E-A-R Say outlines an alternative approach: recovering the significant value lost through Non-Productive Time. In addition, a thought provoking article describes the vast scope and scale of societal losses sustained through mental illness and suicide. In conjunction with this article, our website is hosting this special page of links to online resources directed towards recognizing and treating mental health problems in the workplace.
2014
vPSI Road Show
December 2014: vPSI Group hosted a booth at the OSHA Oil and Gas Safety and Health Conference, held December 2nd and 3rd at the Hilton Americas in Houston, Texas.
Open Enrollment Classes
December 2014: vPSI Group held a session of the Open Enrollment version of our fundamental class, Applying vPSI Methods of Problem Solving. Attendees included employees from
Spectra Energy.
November 2014: vPSI Group held another session of the popular Open Enrollment version of our fundamental class, Applying vPSI Methods of Problem Solving. Attendees included employees from Noble Drilling.
November 2014: vPSI Group held an inaugural Open Enrollment version of our newest offering, the vPSI Incident Investigation Workshop. Attendees included employees from Mears Group.
October 2014: vPSI Group held another session of the popular Open Enrollment version of our fundamental class, Applying vPSI Methods of Problem Solving. Attendees included employees from Marathon Oil Corporation and University of Texas at San Antonio.
At the Podium
September through October 2014: Norman Ritchie of vPSI Group spoke on human and organizational factors at DecomWorld's 3rd Annual Offshore Safety Conference USA, held September 29th through October 1st at the Doubletree by Hilton Houston - Greenway Plaza in Houston, Texas.
September 2014: Mr. Ritchie spoke at the SPE event, Improved Recovery Through Innovative Intervention Solutions held September 21st through the 24th at the Westin Langkawi Resort and Spa in Langkawi, Malaysia. His topic was "Sustaining Operational Improvements".
Open Enrollment Classes
July 2014: vPSI Group held another session of the popular Open Enrollment version of our fundamental class, Applying vPSI Methods of Problem Solving. Attendees included employees from Union Gas, a Spectra Energy Company.
vPSI Road Show
June 2014: vPSI Group was an exhibitor at the ASSE Safety 2014 Expo held June 8th through the 11th at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida.
Open Enrollment Classes
May 2014: vPSI Group held another session of the popular Open Enrollment version of our fundamental class, Applying vPSI Methods of Problem Solving. Attendees included employees from Lubrizol Corporation, Phillips 66, and Thoem Associates.
vPSI Road Show
March 2014: vPSI Group was an exhibitor at the SPE International Conference on Health, Safety, and Environment held March 17th through the 19th at the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center in Long Beach, California.
H-E-A-R Say, Volume 6, Issue 1 available
February 2014: The latest issue of H-E-A-R Say, vPSI Group's newsletter, was made available. In this issue, we discuss how to create an effective pre-task plan (JSA, JHA, Toolbox Talk, etc.).
Breaking News!
January 2014: vPSI Group launched several new training programs over the last year, including the Incident Investigation Workshop and our newest offerings: the vPSI Intervention Program (vIP) and our Management Visit Program (MvP). vIP is vPSI's answer to problems with established behavior based safety (BBS) programs. MvP improves on traditional management visit programs. Both programs include the requirement to devise and implement solutions to any real problems identified during the worker-led intervention or the management site visit. More information can be found on our Training page.
Open Enrollment Classes
January 2014: vPSI Group held another session of the popular Open Enrollment version of our fundamental class, Applying vPSI Methods of Problem Solving. Attendees included employees from Lubrizol Corporation and Spectra Energy.
2013
H-E-A-R Say, Volume 5, Issue 2 available
October 2013: The latest issue of H-E-A-R Say, vPSI Group's newsletter, was made available. In this issue, we discuss the effectiveness of discipline versus rewards.
Breaking News!
July 2013: After 6 years and countless pages of paper, vPSI received a patent, titled, "System And Method For Creating And Maintaining Pre-Task Planning Documents" (Patent Number US 8,489,545 B2) for our online JSA library system. Below is a commemorative photo of the patent hand-off, with Terry L. McCutcheon, Patent Attorney with Matthews Lawson, PLLC, and Norman Ritchie, Director of vPSI Group, LLC.
At the Podium
June 2013: Norman Ritchie of vPSI Group did his part for the government of Wyoming! He was originally scheduled as the closing keynote speaker at the Wyoming Safety and Workforce Summit in Rock Springs. However, a last minute scheduling change meant Governor Mead spoke in that time slot. Never fear though, our intrepid director was invited to be the Summit's opening keynote speaker on Tuesday, June 25th. His topic of discussion was "Do the Right Thing When Things Go Wrong."
Southwestern Energy Vendor Forum, Round 2
May 2013: Southwestern Energy hosted a second vendor forum in Conway, Arkansas. Similar to the April event, attendees were given the opportunity to participate in an upcoming vPSI Open Enrollment training workshop.
At the Podium
April 2013: Norman Ritchie of vPSI Group spoke at the SPE European HSE Conference and Exhibition which occurred in London, UK at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel from April 16th through the 18th. Norman presented his paper, Journey to Zero: Aspiration Versus Reality (SPE 164963).
Southwestern Energy Vendor Forum
April 2013: Southwestern Energy sponsored two of vPSI's Open Enrollment classes for the benefit of vendors and contractors working in their Marcellus Shale operation. Companies that attended this training included Ajax Integrated Services, Baker Hughes, C&G Construction, CDM Resource Management, Dawn Trucking Company, Energy Services, Equipment Transport, Jeremy's Roustabouts, John Mills Electric, Liberty Excavators, Mansfield Crane Service Corp., Meshoppen Stone, Rain for Rent, and W & D Smith & Sons.
Marketing Campaign Rollout
March 2013: Norman Ritchie and Lynda Pigula of vPSI Group had the opportunity to roll out the new vPSI Group marketing campaign at the SPE Americas 2013 E&P Health / Safety / Security / Environmental Conference at the Galveston Island Convention Center in Galveston, Texas. The marketing campaign is centered on the concept below:
At the Podium
March 2013: Norman Ritchie of vPSI Group spoke at the Southwestern Energy Vendor Forum on March 6th at the Stonehedge Country Club near Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania. His topic of discussion was "Accidents = Problems = Improvement Opportunities."
March 2013: Norman also spoke at the Tidewater Safety Manager's Forum in New Orleans, Louisiana on March 26th. His theme for this discussion was, "Planning Work for Problem-Free Execution."
Open Enrollment Classes
March 2013: vPSI Group held another session of the popular Open Enrollment version of our fundamental class, Applying vPSI Methods of Problem Solving. Attendees included employees from Marathon Oil Corporation, Huntsman Corporation, and Aera Energy.
Ten Year Anniversary!
January 2013: vPSI Group, LLC was formed ten years ago, on the 10th of January, 2003. All of us at vPSI extend our thanks to our customers, partners, advocates and friends for their support through the years as the company and our services have matured. We look forward to many more years of delivering sustainable continuous improvement and generally making the world a better place. Thank you!
H-E-A-R Say, Volume 5, Issue 1 available
January 2013: The latest issue of H-E-A-R Say, vPSI Group's newsletter, was made available. In this issue, we discuss the effectiveness of discipline as a corrective action.
Open Enrollment Classes
January 2013: vPSI Group held another session of the popular Open Enrollment version of our fundamental class, Applying vPSI Methods of Problem Solving. Attendees included employees from Noble Drilling.
2012
At the Podium
December 2012: Norman Ritchie of vPSI Group spoke at the OSHA Oil & Gas Safety Conference on Tuesday, December 4th in Dallas, Texas. His topic of discussion was "Do the Right Thing When Things Go Wrong."
November 2012: If you found yourself at the Shell Technology Center on Thursday, November 29th, hopefully you were able to take advantage of the opportunity to hear Norman Ritchie in his discussion on Accident Investigations.
Open Enrollment Classes
October and November 2012: vPSI Group held several sessions of the popular Open Enrollment version of our fundamental class, Applying vPSI Methods of Problem Solving. Attendees included employees from Noble Drilling.
At the Podium
September 2012: Norman Ritchie of vPSI Group, LLC presented a paper at the SPE / APPEA International Conference on Health, Safety and Environment in Oil and Gas Exploration and Production in Perth Australia. Norman's topic was "Five Reasons We Are Not Getting to Zero". Norman also participated as a panelist in the discussion, "The Challenge of Getting to Zero".
H-E-A-R Say, Volume 4, Issue 3 available
July 2012: The latest issue of H-E-A-R Say, vPSI Group's newsletter, was made available. In this issue, we discuss the effectiveness of discipline as a corrective action
Open Enrollment Classes
July 2012: vPSI Group held another Open Enrollment version of our fundamental class, Applying vPSI Methods of Problem Solving, July 11th in Houston, Texas. Attendees included employees from Noble Drilling.
New and Improved!
May 2012: Thanks to the help of programmers at InSource Technologies, vPSI Group is proud to announce updates and renovations to our most popular online tool, the vPSI Online Pre-Task Planning Tool & Library SystemSM. This free utility provides users with a library of Job Safety Analysis documents including JHAs, Tool Box Talks, Risk Assessments, and many others, all covering a wide variety of topics. Updates to the tool include the addition of a word cloud on the search screen, the ability to print to a PDF directly from the website, and, soon to come, cross-browser compatibility.
I Saw the Sign!
May 2012: Mike Perez of SignCity designed and installed the latest addition to our office; our corporate identity is now indelible.
At the Podium
May 2012: Norman Ritchie of vPSI Group, LLC spoke at Halliburton's Northern Region Safety Summit May 15th in Denver, Colorado.
Open Enrollment Classes
May 2012: vPSI Group held an open enrollment version of our fundamental class, Applying vPSI Methods of Problem Solving, May 15th in Houston, Texas. Attendees included employees from Noble Drilling and Champion Technologies.
At the Podium
April 2012: Norman Ritchie of vPSI Group, LLC spoke to the up-and-coming safety professionals in the Students of Safety club at San Jacinto College on April 26th in Pasadena, Texas. His topic of discussion was "Optimizing the Accident Investigation Process."
H-E-A-R Say, Volume 4, Issue 2 available
March 2012: The latest issue of H-E-A-R Say, vPSI Group's newsletter, was made available. In this issue, we discuss breaking down organizational silos.
vPSI Group Sponsored the February Greater Houston STEPS Meeting
February 2012: vPSI Group, LLC co-sponsored the February 21st meeting of the Greater Houston STEPS Network at the Humble Civic Center. The other sponsor was Gainco Environmental Engineering and Remediation. There were two speakers at this meeting. The first was Tyler Reimers of Integrated Health Solutions. He discussed, "Applying Industrial Ergonomics to Prevent Worksite Injuries." The second speaker was Jason Lucas with B&G Crane Service, LLC. He spoke about new regulatory requirements for crane operations.
At the Podium
February 2012: Norman Ritchie of vPSI Group, LLC spoke at Spectra Energy's Annual Safety Summit February 15th at the Houston Marriott West Loop by the Galleria. His presentation was titled "Accidents = Problems = Improvement Opportunities."
Open Enrollment Classes
February 2012: vPSI Group held an open enrollment version of our fundamental class, Applying vPSI Methods of Problem Solving, February 14th in Houston, Texas. Attendees included employees from Air Liquide and Noble Drilling.
Tweeting
January 2012: vPSI Group, LLC is now tweeting! Click the link below to begin following our tweets.
H-E-A-R Say, Volume 4, Issue 1 available
January 2012: The latest issue of H-E-A-R Say, vPSI Group's newsletter, was made available. In this issue, we discuss the human quest for "Why?" and improving vPSI Metrics™.
Click here for archived vPSI news.
Contact us for the latest vPSI news or more information.
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