At the 2025 IADC Well Control Conference of the Americas in New Orleans, CAVU Senior Vice President David Hazell joined a panel to address one of the most pressing questions in our industry: Is traditional well control training enough to prepare today’s crews for tomorrow’s challenges?

The answer, he argued, is no.

🎥 You can watch David’s full interview with Drilling Contractor here on YouTube

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Why Traditional Training Falls Short

For decades, the five-day, every-two-year certification model has kept oil and gas professionals safe. It deserves respect—but it isn’t sufficient for the realities of modern drilling. Traditional training focuses on the individual:

• Testing knowledge learned from a book
• Assessing one person’s reaction in a simulator
• Certifying individual performance in exam conditions

But on a rig, it’s never about one person. Success—or failure—depends on the team. Pressure, fatigue, distraction, and uncertainty collide in high-stakes environments where technical knowledge alone doesn’t guarantee safety.

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Training for Performance, Not Just Compliance

Hazell challenged the industry to move beyond compliance-driven training and embrace performance-focused development. This means equipping crews with the non-technical skills that close the gap between certification and real-world performance:

• Communication: Ensuring information is not only transmitted but truly understood under pressure
• Decision-making: Acting decisively without a complete picture, far from the controlled classroom environment
• Leadership: Motivating, guiding, and commanding respect when seconds matter

These capabilities aren’t “soft skills.” They are operational essentials.

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The Role of Crew Resource Management and Simulation

In 2014, the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (IOGP) recognized this gap and introduced Well Operations Crew Resource Management (WOCRM). By focusing on teamwork and non-technical skills, WOCRM prepares crews to perform at the highest level in complex, evolving conditions.

Supporting this approach are high-fidelity simulators. Hazell described simulators as a way to “condition the brain,” building mental muscle memory through repetition. Just as in aviation and the military, this kind of training develops calmness under stress and sharpens situational awareness—critical traits when every decision carries weight.

Aligning With High-Reliability Industries

Industries such as civil aviation, military aviation, and space exploration already recognize that training must go beyond compliance. They integrate technical skills with human performance and crew dynamics because the consequences of failure are catastrophic. Oil and gas must hold itself to the same standard.

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As drilling pushes into deeper wells, harsher climates, and tighter margins, the demand for high-performing teams has never been greater. Compliance will always matter—but it cannot be the finish line.

CAVU is committed to helping organizations bridge this gap by combining technical training with leadership development, human performance, and crew resource management. The future of well control depends not only on what individuals know, but on how teams perform together under pressure.

👉 Want to learn more about how CAVU is transforming well control training? Contact us today to start the conversation.

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