Knowledge: Knowledge is that which allows us to perform our tasks. We believe that knowledge is a combination of skills, experience and learning which we are more or less aware of.
Maersk Contractors Norge AS is not a company which jumps at easy solutions. We believe in hard work and long-term gain. CAKE is not an easy-going campaign with posters and stickers as the most important tools. We want to base what we do on documented knowledge. This means we will do things we believe work, although they may at times be the most labour-intensive and most boring alternatives. We aren’t afraid of work. We believe it’s a question of solidity and doing what’s proper.
But it is not only the programme that is to be linked to knowledge. We want that the entire organisation should be aware of, and take care of, the knowledge that exists. MCN is an organisation of knowledge, which contains enormous amounts of both silent and more audible knowledge. That’s why knowledge is one of the four legs of CAKE.
Knowledge is a key ingredient within HSE. Sometimes knowledge about dangers is sufficient in avoiding them. At other times we have the knowledge, but we don’t use it. Or we disregard it. This is also part of knowledge in general: How do we use and respect knowledge?
The question is relevant when we look at how training is carried out on the units offshore. And especially when we look at how training of new recruits is carried out.
Silent knowledge
Try telling yourself how you have a shower. In detail. You will probably find it easier to do it than to explaining it. We think that a good deal of what we must know to function, in an optimum way offshore, is silent knowledge. Silent knowledge is just that: Silent. It is just there, we use it, but we will sometimes have problems explaining just what we do.
Some silent knowledge is acquired through our own experience. Other times we acquire knowledge by observing others. Offshore work is a random collection of procedures, skills, experience and practice. And there is probably just one way of learning all of it: By experience.
In Maersk Contractors Norge AS “learning by doing” is therefore the preferred educational principle. We want all employees - through CAKE – to be constantly more aware of the knowledge they have, and more aware of how we train new employees. The quality of the HSE culture is probably not any better than the quality of the training.