MIST Summary and taking the online Course/Test

[James McLauchlan]

On the subject of Minimum Industry Safety Training (MIST) in the UK

I’ve been doing a lot of digging on MIST. I emailed IMCA and OPITO to try and get to the bottom of it and also to see how ‘voluntary’ it actually is.
To date IMCA have not replied, but OPITO have been very forthcoming.

Recently, I have had a lot of dialogue by email with OPITO – namely Jim Cameron, Standards & Approvals Director at OPITO.
Today, we also talked on the phone and Jim helped fill in a few blanks for me on the MIST program.

Below is my, now slightly better informed, personal take on MIST and how it will affect those of us that work on boats in the North Sea.

Does is apply to those of us based on vessels?
I sense that MIST is here to stay and it will likely be required for everyone that wishes to work in the UK sector be they platform or vessel based. A bit like BOSIET is already.
Whether we work on boats or not, if we are within the 500m zone we may as well be on the installation where it is the Operator/Duty holder that calls all the shots.

You may read about it being voluntary.
It is only voluntary is so much as:
If the Operator/Duty Holder decides that they wish to adopt the standard on their patch of the oilfield then they will. They all want to be seen to be improving offshore safety so it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out where this is all leading.
If we are on a boat within the 500m zone the Operator/Duty Holder may well expect all on-board to be MIST compliant.
In reality, I see all people being MIST compliant way before arriving at the work-site and it will probably be a standard check prior to sailing on any given project.

If a subcontractor has a problem with the enforcement of MIST, and how it is being required at a particular Work-site/Platform/Rig/Vessel, then they should approach the Operator directly as the decision to adopt MIST is made by the operator/Duty holder not, OPITO, Step Change for safety, HSE, Unions, or any other body involved with the development of MIST.

Why wasn’t the MIST content simply added to BOSIET?
So far I have heard or seen written various reason but these two stand out.
(I may not agree with the reasons but felt they should be shared so that people can form their own opinion)

• Not all operators/companies (UK based or otherwise) require their staff to be MIST compliant, but do require them to have BOSIET. So they need a choice to add MIST in or not.
• BOSIET is an Emergency training course and it was felt that mixing basic every day minimum industry safety standards with emergency training was not the way to go.

From the Step Change in Safety Website

Dates for Minimum Industry Safety Training (MIST)…
1st January 2010 was the date that all new starts coming into the offshore oil and gas industry would undergo the two day MIST course.

1st January 2011 was the selected date for all experienced offshore staff to go through the well established Computer Based Training (CBT) programme.

New Starts
Will need to take a 2 day OPITO approved MIST course at an OPITO approved training centre.
Click on this link to find an OPITO approved training establishment near you offering industry training and competence courses

Experienced Hands
Can take on-line Computer Based e-Training (CBT) course which takes about 2hrs average and culminates in you becoming MIST compliant. The pass is linked to your Vantage number.
The pass mark is 100%. If you fail or do not know any some of the answers the course will log the ones you failed on and run you through a bit more on-line training until you get them all right and pass.
You do not have to do the whole course/test on-line at once. It will save your progress and allow you to continue at a time convenient to you.
The on-line MIST CBT is provided by Atlas interactive via their Petrolearn Training Portal

Notes:
For the Minimum Industry Safety Training e-Learning Course:
Microsoft Internet Explorer is required.
Other browsers are not supported

To interact with the site (i.e. buy a licence and commence training/testing) you will need to be using Microsoft Internet Explorer, plus have to hand your Vantage POB (number).

Vantage POB (Number)
If you have no clue as to what your Vantage might be number call OPITO.
Telephone:

• From within the UK: 01224 787 800
• From out-with the UK: +44 1224 787 800

Provide them with your full name and date of birth and they will instantly read your Vantage number back to you.
I believe a Vantage number is assigned when you complete your first BOSIET course. So, if you have an OPITO approved BOSIET cert you should already have a Vantage number on the OPITO Database.

If you wish to take the MIST on-line CBT course/test

First you must buy a licence.
Choose the grey MIST LICENSE PURCHASE button to the left of the site.
Then check the box marked:
Minimum Industry Safety Training e-Learning Course
Microsoft Internet Explorer is required.
Other browsers are not supported

Credit Card at the ready, prepare to be relieved of:
Course Fees: GBP £44.40
OPITO Certification Fee: £21.00
VAT (20%) £13.08
Grand Total: £78.48

The licence will need to be associated with your Vantage number.
Once the system has the licence associated with your vantage number you will then need to commence the course/test.

Now use the MIST Learner Login button.
Add your
VANTAGE POB :
FIRST NAME :
LAST NAME :
and Login.

Commence the course/test.

(I’ll edit this post if anything comes to light or a correction needs to be made.)

[Ray Shields]

I got an email from work in December saying we had to do it online, took about 45 minutes, I think there were 2 sections I had to go through that I didn’t pass on the initial pass.

Didn’t know that everyone offshore has a Vantage number (whether they know it or not).

[James McLauchlan]

Apparently 99% of people do not get 100% first attempt.

[Scott Beveridge]

Hi all,

Back to the point of why OPITO didn’t adapt a "common-sense" safety section into it’s curriculum…. say, a few hours of how to read signs and warnings?
Is this in fact, due to the nanny state mentality (increasing luggage weight with the "ever-more-certs-syndrome") or is it another business venture that was giving the blessings by OPITO?

Once again….

Ticket to use a Fluke meter, soldering iron, megger, wire snips, tape measure, emery cloth, anything else folks????

Then there are the absurd STOP (ACT) cards…. Personnel licking the top of a yogurt cup, and the likes of this….

Operators, whether they are ROV companies or the major-player oil companies, seemed to have failed with their own safety programs. Does anyone else read this this way? Or is it just the fact that another cert / another business venture?

[Andy Shiers]

It’s just another cert for another way to cream money business venture 8)
There will also be a lesson ( and cert ) which enables some of the ROV faternity a chance to eat properly utilising knife and…………………….. fork 😯
This has been a concern by the topside management "Thinktank" for sometime now.
The other concern which stems from observing offshore workers "Sneezing" in the helecopter 😯
The "Thinktank" came up with the prime root cause being lack of clothing when sleeping in the cabins.
All offshore personnel when checking in their luggage will have to show the security staff their Pjamas or night-shirt kept in a "Special" bag marked PJ’s or……. N.S 😯 These can be purchased at the heleport for a small tiding sum. 8)
The money from these safety "Bags" will go towards employing more management in the "Thinktank" even over the weekends 😯

[subman]

Has any body completed this on line course as I seem to be going round and round in circles .

The questions I seem to be stuck on are :-

EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYEES DUTES UNDER COSHH

CONTROLS AND RESPONSIBILITIES UNDER COSHH

Thanks for the Feed back and all is well now as for the course most of the Items have got nothing to do with Rov work and I found it a total waste of £78 I see no reason to learn about drilling Chemicals.
When you do the course your find many of the items have nothing to do with Rov ops .When you start the course there is very limited options for what your employment is I think I put down Rig ET but your see what I mean .

cheers

Subman

[James McLauchlan]

The other thread on Mist (MIST What’s it all about – do I need it?) has been locked as the topic has been done to death, after what’s been posted if you can’t figure out if you need MIST or not then you’re a lost cause. If you wish to discuss taking the MIST course/exam please do so in this thread.

Please bear in mind that it appears MIST is here to stay so debating it’s existence, and the way it has been presented, in this thread will not make a jot of difference other than tale this thread off topic.

If anyone wishes to discuss the ins and outs of taking the MIST course or exam please feel free to do so.

[Andy Shiers]

Just to be sure about this then James .
MIST is nothing to do with BOSIET so I will have to do both. My BOSIET And HUET comes up for renewal this May 😕 More bloody expense 🙁

[James McLauchlan]

Just to be sure about this then James .
MIST is nothing to do with BOSIET so I will have to do both. My BOSIET And HUET comes up for renewal this May 😕 More bloody expense 🙁

Sadly yes 🙁

MIST is separate from BOSIET and, judging by the emails and conversations I have had at a personal level with OPITO on this, it will never be combined with BOSIET.
As was explained to me, partly because one course (BOSIET) is for emergency escape and survival training and the other (MIST) is basic every day safety. Currently there are no plans to merge the two, subject to review no doubt.

However, if you have already taken a BOSIET course in the past you will already have a Vantage number (as explained above) and can use this to log in and take the on-line MIST course (also explained above) for about 75 quid. So, no need to take yet another course when renewing BOSIET. New starts will need to take two course though (BOSIET and MIST) as well as their OGUK approved offshore medical.

You may have read about MIST being voluntary. It is only voluntary in as much as if the Operator/Duty holder volunteers to adopt the standard then be sure that all of whom work in their 500m zone will be required to be MIST compliant. Not hard to see where that is all heading.

At the moment MIST is an OPITO approved UK standard. There are plans afoot to introduce iMIST. (International MIST).

[deepseacon]

What will happen for the ones with the MIST all ready when this IMIST comes out later this Year?.

There is plenty of Crew which work say in North Sea then there RIG goes Overseas and then they will need IMIST will there be a conversion?

[James McLauchlan]

What will happen for the ones with the MIST all ready when this IMIST comes out later this Year?.

There is plenty of Crew which work say in North Sea then there RIG goes Overseas and then they will need IMIST will there be a conversion?

I’ve already asked that of OPITO personally and received no response. My concern was if you have say MIST cert and you then work overseas will you then need an additional iMIST cert?

With MIST being a stated as a UK standard I’ll guess that it won’t be accepted internationally as that’ll be what iMIST is for.

OPITO have yet to comment. I feel that as ‘Guardians‘ of the MIST standard, and most probably the IMIST standard when it comes into being, OPITO should be very clear from the outset on the expected requirements for compliance. No doubt OPITO will state that, as a ‘voluntary standard‘ it is up to the Duty Holder/operator as to what they wish to adopt and therefore not an OPITO issue.

As iMIST has not come into force yet maybe it’s something the newly formed IROVA, working as an ROV representative body, could ask of OPITO on our behalf?

For the moment it appears that those working in the UK sector will need to be compliant, by way of being MIST certified, if they wish to work offshore.
Hence the reason for this thread.

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