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23.April.2014

22.April.2014

LATE DATE

MATRIC No. 1216284
SURNAME VAZ
FIRST NAME(S) NEAL
COURSE & STAGE
Eg MSc Oil & Gas Engineering
MSc Drilling & Well Engineering


Online Distance Learning (ODL)
MODULE NUMBER & TITLE ENM203
ASSIGNMENT TITLE
HSE-The business case from an operators point of
view
LECTURER ISSUING COURSEWORK Paula Rorie

I confirm: (a) That the work undertaken for this assignment is entirely my own and that I have
not made use of any unauthorised assistance.
(b) That the sources of all reference material have been properly acknowledged.
[NB: For information on Academic Misconduct, refer to
http://www.rgu.ac.uk/academicaffairs/assessment/page.cfm?pge=7088]


Signed Neal Vaz.................... Date ..........22.April.2014............


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Health Safety and the
Environment







A business case from an operators point of view


































List of Contents:








Introduction


Aims and Objectives


Health Safety and Environment


An insight- Kuwait Oil Company


Conclusion


References

















Introduction

Health Safety and Environment was a concept that was introduced in 1985 owing
to the number of catastrophes that had taken place in the chemical industry. It was
formed with a view to protect the safety of the workers as well as protection of the
environment, preventing those practices that cause irreversible damage to the
environment.

Aims and objectives

The main objective of this report is to take a look into the concept of HSE, to make
an assessment as to why operators spend millions of dollars annually in order to
protect its initiatives and to take a look at the vast array of benefits that the


Health, Safety and Environment

For a clear understanding and better health and safety measures an organization
follows various steps to safeguard their employees. A code of conduct, plan or protocol
depreciates many risk factors that can be involved.
Effective policies root a clear understanding for organizations to imply and follow with
Organizing
Planning
Performance
Evaluating
Addressing grievances
Risk control
Organizing involves employees to work with motivation and zeal and providing staff
with an effective safety culture.
Planning the aim here is to curtail risks or to eliminate them, by involving methods
and objectives set to reduce risks whenever possible.

How is an employee/people an asset to a firm Job satisfaction increases when
the workplace provides safety and ensures well being of employees. This benefits both
individuals and organizations in several ways and contribute heavily to business
performance by
- By minimizing losses
- Diagnosing accidents and incidents
- Systematic approach promotes better service



Financial loss also plays a major role

Organizations often do not value health and safety effectively considering it a difficult
task altogether. By defining responsibilities and promoting a secure safety culture
organizations can achieve a step change in their approach to the health and safety
management.

Some of the quintessential factors that go into promoting a safe work environment is as
given below:

CONTROL
Control is the key to all management functions. It can be achieved by an employees
commitment and a senior members responsibility to control factors that lead to injuries,
loss, or ill health. If a manager can provide clear guidelines, it helps create a positive,
encouraging and learning atmosphere.
- Auditing activities to handle requirements and minimizing risk factors
- Sound implantation of plans.
- Maintaining control before event.






CO-OPERATION
Health and safety issues are now become a legal requirement in many workplaces as it
calls for cooperation and participation from all employees establishing that the
organization as a whole and people working benefit from such participation by
gathering knowledge and experience it becomes of a mutual understanding.
- encourage consultation
- employee participation in group activities
- forming a ad hoc problem solving team



COMMUNICATION
Communication has always been the first step required in any firm. Communication can
be further divided into verbal and written forms.
Managers and senior members should communicate and develop the importance of
health and safety measures lead by examples. Tracking of good and bad performance
can bring out the focus and attention of employees during work and bring overall
safety.
- conducting meetings with the safety committee
- investigation at time of accidents
- touring of sites
Written communication
The organization must provide health and safety statements to its members to
implement necessary actions. This documentation should be made keeping in mind the
organizations requirements and needs. If the risks are larger, a more specific instruction
should be provided. Written communication can also bring briefing of each team, safety
newsletters and giving employees a chance to make their own suggestions to improve
the safety arrangements.

COMPETENCE
To ensure all employees have maximum contribution and are competent all
arrangements should be made. Supervision assures proper advancement and
maintenance of competence, general health promotions and schemes allow employees
to make effective contribution by participating actively in problem solving hazards.


Training
Training helps to familiarise employees with the concept of HSE. It makes them more
aware about its benefits, the reason why operators stress on it, while spending millions
of dollars on it annually, and most importantly, it helps drive home the essence of it to
each and every individual, how their negligence can cost them, and their co-workers life
or wreck a financial havoc to the organisation.

More often than not, safety disasters take place because companies do not have a
concrete policy about safety methods and regulations. Establishing a safety policy can
be viewed as a first step in an organisations goal towards a hazard free environment.
This policy needs to be specific to areas of the company. They need to be segregated
based on the risk level that can be reached in the event of a possible disaster and the
parameters that will help prevent such a disaster should be clearly mentioned. The next
stage is management of resources, procuring the necessary equipment etc. that will be
required in order to uphold the company HSE policy. This can include safety harness,
site helmet, reflective vests etc. Once these two parameters have been taken care of,
management of its implementation becomes a paramount task.
After implementation, constant checks need to be carried out in order to measure the
performance as far as safety adherence is concerned. Audits need to be carried out
from time to time and strict action needs to be taken against those found violating the
safety safety policies laid down.











Kuwait Oil Company and HSE

Kuwait has been reported to have the worlds fourth largest oil reserves. The Kuwait Oil
Company (KOC) is a subsidiary of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation which is public
sector company operating in Kuwait. This company safeguards the interests of the oil
sector in Kuwait as well as handles Kuwaits interests in oil and gas investment
internationally.
During the fiscal year 2002-2003, KPC reported to have spent over 212 million Kuwaiti
dinars on HSE efforts within the company
(1)
.


Some of the management systems that have been put into place in order to mitigate
HSE incidents are as given below:
Workforce participation: This involves allowing the workforce to get actively
involved in HSE via trainings held, campaigns conducted, HSE performance
reviews etc. The goal of this is to make each and every employee that is part of
the organisation to be fully aware of the purpose of HSE and what role each
individual has to play in it.
Workforce health: This involves assessment of the health risks faced by a
worker, industrial hygiene, medical emergency management and other factors
that are directly related to factors affecting workers health or the risks affecting
it.
Occupational Injury and Illness: The KPC HSE department maintains a strict
record of all injuries, of any gravity that occurs within their workforce. The OSHA
incident reporting methodology is used, i.e. incidents per 200,000 hours worked.
Process safety and product stewardship: This includes reporting and
investigation of near misses that take place thus enabling HSE engineers to
understand the reason behind a certain risky situation and how the same can be
averted.












Given below are some of the statistics that support the progress of HSE in the work
environment.









From the table above it can be clearly seen that the number of fatalities have greatly
reduced over the years. Fire explosions have reduced drastically from 99 to just 3 in
2011. Traffic accidents have also seen a drastic fall over the years due to the initiatives
taken by KPC. The number of hours spent on training has increased by well over
100,000 hours. With the level of investment made, the number of hours spent training
employees, the policies that are strictly enforced, the question remains as to why
operators spend on HSE. Many do argue that companies do the same out of compulsion
through governmental norms that are in enforced, and this to some extent is true.
However, thats not the only reason why companies strive to maintain HSE standards.
HSE awareness stands to benefit both the individuals working with the organisation as
well as the company.






Conclusion




Individuals as part of the organisation understand the high degree of risk involved in a
field like oil and gas, owing to the nature of the substances encountered, the pressures
dealt with and working conditions just to mention a few. It therefore is of paramount
importance to grant assurance to the workers and to create an environment that
promotes safe, healthy and minimal risk work spaces. By doing so, workers are left with
a mind thats fully focused on the job at hand as opposed to creating a workspace that
is cluttered with potential hazards and wherein a worker feels his/her life is at a
constant risk.
Although, aside from this, companies also stand to lose largely in terms of their
reputation, finances as well as highly skilled labour.
Lets take for instance an explosion that occurred in Kuwait
(4)
, at a crude distillation unit
during the year 2000. Refinery staff were attempting to isolate on a condensate line of
a condenser between the NGL plant and the refinery when a huge explosion occurred.
The explosion left two gasoline units damaged which had a combined production
capacity of 36000/bpd. The blast left the plant closed, with investments to restore it
amounting to 412x10
6
USD and a time frame of two years to complete, during which
there would be no cash inflow coming from the plant. In addition to this, five workers
were killed and about 50 injured.
Investigation and an overall look into the matter revealed that although several policies
related to HSE were in place, there was no robust auditing and reviewing mechanisms
and the blast took place primarily due to negligence.
Needless to say, this was an extremely costly negligence on the part of the company,
causing them to lose massive sums of money, lose their production facility and their
existing infrastructure altogether.
Learning from their mistakes, the company enforced several directives about adherence
to HSE policies. They learnt through experience the steep price they had to pay and
have since spared no effort in their quest to maintain strict HSE policies. The reduction
in percentage in key HSE danger areas speaks volumes of the benefits reaped by both,
the employee as well as the organisation.

















References:


1. Kuwait Petroleum World. Issue No: 25 -October 2003

2. Management of health and safety at work. Management of Health and Safety at
Work Regulations 1999. Approved Code of Practice and guidance L21 HSE Books
2000 ISBN 0 7176 2488 9

3. Kuwait Petroleum Company HSE Sustainability Report 2011.

4. http://www.factsonline.nl/free-example/15915/chemical-accident-in-kuwait-with-
hydrocarbons-(gas) -- Accident Nr. 15915