One of the biggest risks in the oil industry is the danger of fire. It can be sudden, deadly and devastating to production capacity. Even with high levels of awareness it still strikes operations.
The industry has had vivid and recent reminders of this when Saudi Aramco made international headlines, having suffered significant fire incidents. One saw a lubricant refinery near Jeddah lose production capacity after a cooling system leak caused a blaze. The more serious incident occurred on a pipeline near the Hawiyah natural gas liquids plant, which resulted in the deaths of 40 contractors and Aramco employees.
Accidents aside, the need for safe practices, the right equipment and trained people is coming into sharper focus, as investment pours into oil and gas developments. With refineries and processing plants being built all over the region, tight schedules and spiralling costs will likely place more pressure on already stretched contractors. Under these conditions greater vigilance and enforcement of fire safety standards will be required.
National oil companies in the region have an obligation to lead the way, not only on the issue of fire safety, but in other aspects of health safety and security. ENOC’s system of training and developing its staff is a good example. It offers its employees the opportunity to develop skills around specific areas, including safety, and is doing so with the help of international training.
The company is also keeping an eye on occupational health issues, taking the time to put prevention before cure. Occupational health (OH) literally attempts to get to the problems before they occur. As Mark Newson Smith, chief medical officer for ENOC explained: “Effective OH starts with getting the policies right and from these developing appropriate protocols and procedures. Developing protocols and procedures begins with risk assessment looking at the functional requirements of jobs, potential exposure to hazards and control measures.”
By looking for potential problems before they have an impact, time, money and lives can be preserved. Looking for dangers and isolating hazards before they become a problem is a stance the whole industry could adopt to reduce risk across all operations.
