FAQ

The IADC Lexicon is a presentation of terms that have been defined in legislation, regulations, standards, guidelines that are applicable to the drilling industry.

The definitions were developed by different authors, at different times and often for different purposes. It is important to consider any definition within its original context.

Industry standards and guidelines are available from a variety of sources, including the individual standards developing organizations (SDOs) and the libraries of academic many institutions.  There is often a cost associated with obtaining standards or guidelines from SDOs or their authorized commercial distributors.  The monies derived from the charges are used to support the standards development process, so it is important to obtain such standards from authorized providers.  In general, legislation and regulations can be found on the websites of the legislative or regulatory body.

You may find the IADC Lexicon useful in a variety of ways, for example:

1. Just like a dictionary, you can find information regarding the meaning of a term.
2. You can quickly identify a relevant standard, guideline or regulation associated with the use of the term by referring to the source information provided with the definition.
3. If you are attempting to develop standards or instructions, you can see how the defined terms have been used by others.

IADC strongly encourages users to consult the source documents for a variety of reasons, including:

1. The context of the source document is important;
2. The definition within the source document may have been changed;
3. IADC or a contributor to the Lexicon project may have made an error in entering the definition in the Lexicon.

IADC considers the IADC Lexicon project a continuing work-in-progress.  We, or our contributors, may simply have not identified the particular source as relevant or obtained access to the source.  We would welcome you to use the link provided [ Edit the Lexicon ] to contribute the term and its source information.

IADC has focused on building the Lexicon’s terms in English, but it is not our intent that the Lexicon presents only English terminology.  As our resources permit, or as material is provided by contributors, we will expand the Lexicon to include terms in languages in addition to English.

In building the Lexicon, IADC has not attempted to judge the relevance of the included terminology to a particular drilling-related activity.  For example, many maritime terms are used in the regulations governing mobile offshore drilling units.

Many of the sources cannot be linked directly.  Further, because of the number and variety of sources IADC simply does not have the resources to assure that the links could be maintained.