The Management of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited and CEOs of contracting firms recently held a joint conference to reiterate the importance of maintaining a good safe working culture in their places of work. The conference, with theme: “Re-Settling the Baseline in Contractor Safety Leadership to Achieve Goal Zero”, was held at the Presidential Hotel in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on March 27, 2017. Our CEO, Kayode Thomas, was represented at the event by Obinna Odum – the Operations Manager.
Speaking at the conference, the MD/CEO of the NLNG, Mr. Tony Attah, detailed the safety culture of the NLNG and emphasized the need for every contractor to comply with it. To him, safety should begin with the top management and then dovetail to every other staff of every organization. He submitted that every employee should live, think, say and do safety.
He also emphasized that safety talks should not be left for Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) Officers alone, but driven by CEOs. To him, this will help show leadership in safety. He further admonished top management to make safety communication effective and always recognize staff that abide by safety rules. He reiterated that a well imbibed culture of safety would help minimize and possibly eliminate Lost Time Injuries (LTIs) and fatalities.
During the conference, emphasis was also placed on the need for employees to get enough rest as lack of or insufficient rest affects employee productivity. A proper Journey Management Plan was also emphasized. It was posited that a journey well planned would help reduce risks. Other key highlights of the conference include: need to implement contract management and HSE plan, need for every personnel to be aware of what could possibly go wrong, and the need to provide staff with necessary trainings.
CEOs at the conference were advised to:
- Include the basic needs of care of their personnel as part of their core values.
- Have the requisite insurance cover for all personnel.
- Improve on personnel Health Schemes as low health schemes have negative impacts and constitute a loss of investment. Based on that, occupational health physicians need to review the health schemes. In addition to HSE officers, companies are expected to have occupational health physicians.
- Do all that is reasonably practicable to sustain the health of personnel.
Cross section of participants at the conference
