Qatargas Promotes Incident and Injury Free Culture at Seminar in Doha

Qatargas sets the safety standard by holding an “Emergency Response & Evacuation Challenges in High-Rise Buildings” seminar at the new Qatargas Tower in Doha.

The objective of the event was to enhance the knowledge of the Qatargas Floor Wardens and the Qatargas Initial Response Team (IRT) in the area of emergency response. This will, in turn, enable them to provide a safe and effective emergency response in case of an incident in the Qatargas Tower. The Qatargas Tower is occupied by in excess of 1000 people.

The seminar was organised jointly by the Qatargas Emergency Management Services (EMS) Division and General Services Department in cooperation with the Qatar Civil Defence.

Toufik Benmosbah, Chief Safety, Environment & Quality Officer, Qatargas, said: “Safety is a core value and an integral part of the Qatargas culture at every level. Our people are our important asset and we want everyone to go home safe – everyday. Imparting the necessary safety education to the employees on a regular basis is the best way to ensure that they are prepared to face any challenge, especially in case of emergencies in a high-rise building like the new Qatargas Tower.”

Opening the seminar, Hassan Abu Khamis, Qatargas EMS Manager, said: “This seminar is organised as part of our continuous efforts to promote the Incident and Injury Free (IIF) culture at the work places across Qatargas. The main objective of this event is to build confidence in our staff, especially the floor wardens and IRT members, and make them better prepared not only to handle emergencies but to prevent their occurrence at the first place.”

Addressing the seminar, Brig. Hamad Othman Al Dehaimi, Operation Director of Qatar’s Civil Defence, said the department’s experience has shown that most of the fires and other emergencies in high rise towers could be effectively handled early on by their trained occupants and this fact underscores the significance of such seminars.

Gordon Penny, Head of Security at Qatargas, delivered a presentation on Emergency Preparedness of Initial Response Team in case of Emergency, in which he said: “Qatargas provides world-class security to its people and we are concerned about their safety. However, this is not an easy task. People need to be aware of the stringent security and emergency response measures that are in place. The Qatargas Security’s aim is to provide a plan that deters, detects or delays any act that is harmful to our company, employees, assets and information.”

The seminar included presentations on “Elevators and Emergencies” by KONE, which provided the tower with state-of-the-art elevators, and “Design Smoke Prevention, Smoke Extraction, Staircase Pressurisation and VAC Systems” by the tower’s designers MZ & Partners.

The event also included a practical demonstration by Civil Defense using one of its Hydraulic Ariel Ladder Platforms around the tower.

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Source:Qatargas , July 4, 2011;