Black Swan Safety brings 28 years of field-level judgment to oil and gas operators who need more than a passing audit. We find the operational conditions your paperwork isn't built to see, across drilling, completions, production, workover, and offshore.
Policies copied from templates that don't reflect your actual equipment or hazards
OSHA citations that catch operators off-guard because no one was watching the right signals
Training programs that check a box but don't change behavior in the field
Incident investigations that identify what broke but never address why systems allowed it
Regulatory pressure from BSEE, Coast Guard, DOT, and OSHA with no clear internal owner
"Every incident that occurs was allowed by the systems and culture that existed before it happened. The question is never who failed. It's what failed around them."— Core HOP Principle, Dr. Todd Conklin
That gap creates a specific exposure for the people running the operation. You're accountable for outcomes you can't fully verify. You sign off on programs you didn't build, inherit audits you didn't design, and hope the gaps you can't see aren't the ones that end up in an incident report, or a deposition.
Black Swan was built for operators who understand the difference between a safety program that protects the company on paper and one that actually protects the people doing the work. Closing that gap isn't a documentation exercise, it's a judgment call, and judgment is what 28 years across every phase of the field actually teaches you. When paper and practice line up, you stop guessing whether your program will hold up under pressure.
From tank batteries and compressor stations to gas plants and pipeline systems, nearly three decades of production operations experience means no learning curve on your equipment or your hazards.
ProductionFacilitiesPipelineDrilling, completions, workover, and well intervention operations across multiple basins and jurisdictions. We speak the language of the rig floor and know what supervisors actually need to manage operations safely.
DrillingCompletionsWorkoverExtensive experience on large offshore production platforms, both manned and unmanned, with full regulatory exposure to BSEE, USCG, and international maritime standards.
BSEEUSCGOffshoreSafety programs only work if the people doing the work trust them. We design management systems grounded in Human and Organizational Performance principles, practical and field-tested, built around how people actually behave under pressure.
HOPSMSCultureA free, 45-minute conversation focused on where your exposure actually sits, not a scripted pitch. We walk through your operation and your current program together.
You leave with a written summary of specific gaps, typically three to five, tied to your actual operation instead of a generic industry checklist.
Use the findings to close the gaps yourself, or engage Black Swan to build the fix. Either way, you're deciding from evidence, not guesswork.
When you've received a citation, the clock starts immediately. We guide you through informal conferences, abatement strategies, and building the record that supports your position.
Learn more →We provide compliance support across BSEE, U.S. Coast Guard, DOT Pipeline, and Texas Railroad Commission, translating regulatory language into operational requirements your team can execute.
Learn more →We build training around your own policies and equipment, aimed at your actual hazards, and designed to change behavior in the field rather than satisfy a recordkeeping requirement.
Learn more →Our investigation methodology is grounded in HOP. It looks past immediate cause to understand the system conditions that allowed the event, and builds recommendations that reduce recurrence.
Learn more →Built or rebuilt from the ground up, safety management systems designed to be used by real people in real field conditions become an operating system for your safety culture, not a document library.
Learn more →A structured 45-minute conversation focused on where your exposure actually sits — no fee, no scripted pitch. Most operators leave with three to five findings they didn't know existed.
Schedule now →A mid-size production operator brought Black Swan in after multiple proposed citations. The engagement covered citation review, informal conference preparation, and abatement strategy — and the resulting plan addressed the operating conditions that caused the citations, not just the paperwork response to them.
A completions contractor had operated over a decade without a structured investigation methodology. Black Swan built one grounded in Human and Organizational Performance principles. Near-miss reporting increased — the crew started surfacing risk instead of managing around it.
An offshore operator's existing training wasn't changing floor behavior. Black Swan rebuilt it around the operator's actual equipment, SOPs, and field conditions rather than a generic module, and supervisors started referencing the material on shift for the first time.
This self-audit was built in the field, drawn from nearly three decades of operations. If three or more of these describe your program, you've got exposure worth addressing, and we can help you close it.
Score your own program in five minutes, no signup required, and download it to see where you stand.
Download the Self-Audit (PDF)It's free, with no email and no strings attached.
Want the full seven-section scored version? Get the Self-Assessment Workbook →
Black Swan Safety exists because most small and mid-size operators don't have the luxury of a full-time safety director with field experience across every phase of their operation.
They hire corporate safety managers who've never stood on a rig floor, or they rely on programs built by consultants who've never managed an actual incident. That gap costs people, and sometimes it costs them their lives.
"Experience is the only teacher that doesn't lie."
Black Swan runs as a one-person firm on purpose. When you work with us, you work with a consultant who has done the work, not a project manager who assigns it to a junior analyst.
Read the full story →The Safety & Operational Risk Review is a structured conversation at no cost that helps you understand where your program is exposed. Most operators leave with specific findings, not general recommendations.