Qatargas Celebrates Safety Milestone

The Qatargas Jetty Boil-off gas (JBOG) Project reached a major safety milestone as it completed three million man-hours without any lost time injury (LTI).

Nearly 2000 people are working on this crucial project, which aims to recover gas currently being flared during Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) ship loading at the Port of Ras Laffan.

Commenting on this milestone, Alae Sadic Hassan, Acting Chief Operating Officer, Engineering & Ventures, said: “Three million man-hours without LTI is a major step forward for the JBOG project considering that the project’s estimated total man-hours are in the range of 15-20 million. It is the direct result of our Incident and Injury Free (IIF) programme which has improved the safety behaviour of everybody on the Project. JBOG Project has created a culture in which safety is a core value, shared by us and all our contractors.”

Bashir Mirza, Project Manager JBOG, said:
“All project team members receive the IIF orientation before they set foot on site.  We have also trained the first and second level supervisors through special skills development programmes enabling them to constructively correct unsafe behaviour.”

Listing the challenges the JBOG team face in their quest for creating a safe working environment, he said:
“The JBOG Project has worked hard to increase awareness amongst the workers of the risks of unsafe behaviour.  We have held regular training sessions, daily safety task assessments and weekly toolbox talks to help the workers realise that taking risks with their and their fellow workers’ safety is not an option.  We have also had to address the cultural issues which inhibit the workers from speaking up when they see an unsafe act.  Safety remains JBOG’s number one priority, and we have ensured that construction progress does not come in the way of achieving an Incident and Injury Free workplace.  The extreme weather conditions, unskilled and inexperienced workers and man-machine interface are challenges which our teams are addressing on a daily basis.”

He noted that the Project leadership team realises that in order to ensure that everybody working on JBOG goes home safely, the team  need to keep safety as number one priority.

The team organises monthly safety leadership team meetings in which Qatargas and all contractors discuss safety performance, and discuss upcoming challenges to safe working.   There is zero tolerance on non-compliance to JBOG’s twelve Golden Safety Rules. The JBOG Project regularly rewards safe working through prizes and certificates to individuals across the project.

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LNG World News Staff, December 4, 2011; Image: Qatargas