The retirement of many baby boomers will soon leave the oil industry with a wealth of inexperienced employees.

The oil industry is currently undergoing a hiring spree in response to the retiring of many employees who are baby boomers, Rigzone reports. Data provided by recruiting firm Working Smart indicates that professionals aged 55 and over planned on retiring at 65 on average, and less than a quarter of respondents planned to work past retirement age.

This aging workforce will increase the fraction of oil workers who have less than five years of experience, which will drive up the risk of accidents and critical mistakes, J. Ford Brett, managing director of PetroSkills, told the media outlet.

Mentoring programs involving senior project managers and other highly experienced professionals have proliferated in response to this need for training, the media outlet reports. Mentorship programs are currently offered by the Society for Petroleum Engineers and ConocoPhillips' Legends. Oilfield services provider Schlumberger has an annual internship program where every student is assigned to an engineer or field specialist, according to AME Info FZ.