From October 16-17, ITS hosted its annual User Conference in Nashville, TN, gathering OQ administrators, leaders from pipeline operators, and contractors focused on using ITS products to ensure superior safety and program integrity.
New Logo, Same Commitment to Improvement
ITS CEO Stephanie Balmer shared that ITS has expanded its leadership team to include experienced experts in continuous improvement who prioritize listening to clients and improving our products and services accordingly.
In keeping with this emphasis on continuous improvement, Industrial Training Services has rebranded as ITS, Inc. with a new, simplified logo that emphasizes the arrows symbolizing continuous improvement.
The Latest Trends in Pipeline Safety
In a panel discussion, Laurie Knape of API, Farris Berry of Duke Energy/Piedmont, and Bob Wilson of NGA shared the importance of implementing a Pipeline Safety Management System (PSMS).
Knape noted that recent surveys show the same struggles to get leadership buy-in remain, but recent announcements from the National Transportation Safety Board about the urgency of adopting a PSMS should make this topic front of mind for operators. Berry and Wilson provided detailed reports about how they have integrated the Plan, Do, Check, Act steps of a PSMS into everything they do.
How Operators Use ITS
Here are a few of the many highlights from the conference breakout sessions:
Consolidated Edison presented on the efficient uses of OnBoard Live to organize and track qualifications in real time. With large touch screens in each office location, Con Edison uses visual qualification reports in OnBoard Live to keep workers informed as well.
LG&E and ITS shared how Verify streamlines the documentation process for Jobs in the field, particularly with Span of Control and Critical tasks. Using a simulated job, they demonstrated the field verification process, noted SOC and critical tasks, and then reviewed a verification report in the LMS.
The ITS team and representatives from Hope Gas and NGA demonstrated task profiling and role mapping to review assignment qualifications and make assignments to contractors. Adding functions for Contractor Management ensures users are qualifying in the correct tasks, while role mapping in the ITS LMS leverages the advantages of Task Profiling to evaluate previous qualifications to determine credit equivalencies.
Updates on ITS Products
Chris Taylor added oversight of Product to his responsibilities and is now the VP of Learning and Product, and he will work closely with Brad Young, the Executive Director of Software Engineering. They have already launched an initiative to update the ITS LMS that will focus on essential changes and culminate in a completely refreshed learning management system.
Attend Our Next Virtual Event!
Regulation Navigation is scheduled for December 11th.
