John Cairns, who is of Scottish origin and a mechanic with more than 30 years of experience, has been involved in training and sharing knowledge with others thoroughout his career.
After serving his apprenticeship as a Tractor Mechanic, John emigrated to Australia in 1970 as a Ten Pound Tourist, and later settled in Papua New Guinea, where he worked as a Heavy Equipment Mechanic for a major heavy equipment dealer, and trained the local mechanics.
After that, John worked for many years as a Rig Mechanic, Senior Mechanic and Chief Mechanic for different contractors in Papua New Guinea, Chad, Algeria, Egypt, Yemen and Nigeria. His tasks varied from maintaining rigs and running maintenance and transport operations, to running a field workshop on a gold mine in the mountains. Parallel to these activities, wherever John worked, he continued to train the local and expatriate motormen and (assistant) mechanics. In 2004, John began working as a Safety Advisor for a drilling and pipeline contractor in the Australian desert, and became a qualified trainer and assessor under Australian regulations.
In 2006, John joined ModuSpec as a Surveyor, and has conducted multiple inspections of drilling units in Australia, Sudan, Tunisia, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Japan, Egypt, New Zeeland and Papua New Guinea. He has also attended the Train the Trainer course of the Institute of Training and Occupational Learning (ITOL - London) with Lloyd's Register in Singapore. Since 2007, John has been presenting ModuSpec's training and courses on a regular basis in Australia, Oman, China, United Arab Emirates and Japan.
John Cairns developed the Coal Seam Methane Training Package, which is presented with ModuSpec's Rig Inspection Workshop in Australia.
Currently, John works as a Trainer and conducts surveys for ModuSpec's Australian Office. He loves bush walking and experimenting with solar equipment. He used to dive, but stopped after his first face-to-face shark encounter.
John Cairns says:
Safety is everything when working in the drilling industry. I try to find one recommendation each day that will prevent someone from getting hurt on the rig. I enjoy training and want to pass on the years of knowledge and experience to others.
Training is vital for the candidates to learn from our experience, gain new knowledge and to keep up with technology. The industry will keep moving forward. This is why the new technology and training has to be communicated to all levels, so that the trainees and management can keep abreast of new developments and solutions.
