Qatargas Celebrates Safety Milestone

Qatargas, the world’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer, completed eight years of operation without any lost time accident (LTA) – an outstanding achievement in the industry that rivals the performance of the best international oil and gas companies in the world.

Overall, both Qatargas employees and contractors have worked a total of 40 million man-hours since the last LTA. Qatargas employees have worked since 01 Jul 2002 over 25 million man-hours without any LTA whereas Qatargas’ contractors have worked over 15 million man-hours without any LTA since 26 April 2003.

Commenting on this achievement, Khalid Bin Khalifa Al Thani, Chief Executive Officer – Qatargas, said: “This is a great accomplishment for Qatargas and I am proud of our flawless safety record for the past eight years. Safety is a core value and an integral part of our culture at every level. Our aim is zero incidents and that means we can never be complacent. We want each and every employee – whether he is from Qatargas or from a contractor who works for us – to go home safely, everyday. I thank all employees of Qatargas and our contractors for their commitment to safety as it is their commitment that made this accomplishment possible.”

Talking about major challenges in accomplishing this feat, he said: “Startup of the expansion projects (4 LNG trains, common facilities, refinery), recruitment of over 1000 new employees into Qatargas and orienting them to the IIF culture were the biggest challenges. However, the leadership by both the management and the employees at every level has been the key to this great achievement.”

Listing major safety factors that contributed to this achievement, Toufik Benmosbah, Chief Safety, Environment and Quality (SEQ) Officer at Qatargas, said: “Qatargas has embarked on a unique initiative, “Incident and Injury Free (IIF),” that seeks to eliminate incidents, and promotes a no-blame culture, under which anyone can stop work for a safety concern and won’t be blamed for that. Moreover, emphasis was laid on reporting all incidents – however simple they may appear – and lessons are shared with all employees.

To avoid any complacency on the part of employees, he explained, employees are continuously trained under the IIF programme. “Moreover, we believe in learning from our mistakes. Speaking up and reporting through STOP cards and other structured means of communication whereby employees can report any safety issues in their workplaces and they will get rewarded for the same. Encouraging near miss reporting is another way to avoid complacency.”

Abdullah Khalid Idris, Offshore Operations Manager at Qatargas, said: “At all levels of the offshore operations, we reiterate this message: we are each responsible for our own safety and those around us. This achievement reflects how committed we are to the prevention of personal injury. At Qatargas, we believe that an organisation can achieve success in terms of safety only when it becomes part of the culture at every level.”

Hamad Al Humaidi, Onshore Operations Manager at Qatargas, said: “Accomplishing eight years of operations without LTA adds on to our responsibility as a safety-conscious company and a well-trained workforce who can protect themselves and those around them. In all fields of our operations, we urge all employees not to be complacent and be attentive. At the end of the day, what matters is the ability to go home safely. We have utilised most of the global lessons learnt in this regard to enhance our safety culture and open communications played a key role in this achievement.”

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Source: Qatargas, May 4, 2011;