Al-Sada: Safety Standards are not subject to compromise

Al-Sada: Safety Procedures form a lifestyle

Under the patronage of His Excellency Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nasser Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister of Interior and in the presence of His Excellency Dr. Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada, Qatar’s Minister of Energy and Industry, the Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting (GOIC) in collaboration with Euro Petroleum Consultants (EPC) inaugurated the Gulf Safety Forum (GSF) with the participation of renowned Qatari, Gulf and international personalities at the Hilton Doha on the 30th of October, 2016. The Forum will continue till the 31st of October. 
The opening session included the remarks of HE Dr. Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada, Qatar’s Minister of Energy and Industry, HE Mr. Abdulaziz Bin Hamad Al-Ageel, GOIC Secretary General and HE Mr. Collin Chapman, EPC President.

Chapman

Mr. Chapman greeted participants and went through safety procedures in case of fire emergency during the GSF. He then played a short safety clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvLaTupw-hk and said: “this video demonstrates the importance of living and breathing ‘safety’ in every decision we make in our daily lives in order to avoid potentially fatal consequences.” He concluded his remarks by wishing everyone great success.

Al-Ageel

Mr. Al-Ageel delivered a speech in which he said: “safety has become at the heart of all activities of daily living and economics throughout the world. In this regard, GCC countries stepped up and endeavoured to achieve the zero-injury objective. This trend was implemented in all sectors where the safety of individuals, facilities and environment has become a prerequisite for productive and economic activities, industrial, education and healthcare facilities and various other activities.”
Mr. Al-Ageel added: “GCC countries’ particular interest in safety is revealed through several examples to include the booming fire safety market valued at more than 1.4 billion USD, with KSA and UAE responsible for 46% and 43% respectively. In fact, experts project an increase in the size of Gulf fire safety market to more than three billion USD by 2020, to keep up with the growing infrastructure and manufacturing sectors.”

HE the Secretary General explained that in light of the aforementioned projections, GOIC collaborated with EPC to organise the Gulf Safety Forum (GSF) with the objective to discuss challenges to safety technologies and strategies to improve safety systems in the region and accomplish the zero injury objective in the sectors of construction, industry and services, in addition to crisis management and improvement of work environment. He added: “we also aim to guarantee communication to achieve the strategic safety objectives.”

“The GSF brings together the best Gulf and global companies operating in the region to discuss their experiences and exchange expertise to reduce the cost and improve skills, particularly in the field of modern safety technologies and equipment”, said His Excellency.
He added: “Please allow me to express my deepest gratitude to the major companies present here today for their active contribution to this forum: the Saudi Arabian Standardisation Organization (SASO), Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), Qatar Aluminium Limited (QATALUM), Qatar Fuel Additives Company (QAFAC), ORYX GTL, QATAR RAIL, the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, Hamad International Airport (HIA), SABIC, Saudi Aramco Base Oil Company (Luberef), Dolphin Energy, KAFCO, Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC), Kuwait Oil Company, Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC), YASREF, SAMREF, in addition to worldwide consulting companies in the area of safety technologies and equipment like Dupont, HONEYWELL, ASPEN TECHNOLOGY and DEKRA INSIGHT. The GSF is supported by several institutions like: the Safety Center at Texas A&M University-Qatar, Dupont Sustainable Solutions and Qatar Airways.”
GOIC Secretary General concluded by thanking the sponsor of this event His Excellency Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nasser Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Interior in the State of Qatar for his continuous support of GOIC’s initiatives and His Excellency Dr. Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada for his presence and his keynote remarks, wishing participants great success in putting together a number of recommendations to promote the industrial sector in GCC countries.

Al-Sada

Furthermore, His Excellency Dr. Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada, Qatar’s Minister of Energy and Industry delivered his speech. He thanked His Excellency Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nasser Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister of Interior for sponsoring and supporting the event. He opined: “His Excellency’s sponsoring of this key event highlights Qatar’s commitment to safety in all aspects of life in the country, for the GSF is held at a time when safety issues are a top priority throughout Qatar’s sectors.”
HE Dr. Al-Sada added: “Qatar and other Gulf countries cannot adopt a complacent attitude vis-à-vis safety standards implementation. Thus, Qatar developed necessary safety legislations and worked on developing its administrative system to manage them; specialised cadre were trained and rules and specifications were set for all government projects and their execution was monitored.” He reiterated: “We believe that no project can be successful without being efficient and safety-compliant.”
HE the Minister explained: “All Gulf companies, particularly oil and gas companies, have already adopted strict safety procedures to reduce hazards at their sites and during their operations. Nevertheless, safety is a long journey that requires concerted efforts to transform these procedures into a lifestyle.”

HE Dr. Al-Sada stressed: “Qatar is pleased to host this meeting of distinguished speakers and experts from diverse industries. It is positive to see peers not only from the energy sector but also from key players involved in transportation, construction and services sectors present here today.”
He then addressed participants: “Your gathering in this important forum will be investigating a wide range of safety issues. These range from process safety management standards to safety at workplace and improving workforce competence. Such issues that you will be discussing today, represent important challenges to regional safety.”
“It goes without saying, improvements in safety are being made all the time, with new technologies playing an important role. But also better safety communication and safety culture, coupled with strong leadership commitment to safety, will further strengthen the Gulf region movement towards the goal of zero accidents. The safety culture and top management commitment to safety is very vivid and uncompromising on safety goals”, added the Minister. 
HE Dr. Al-Sada highlighted an impressive initiative when he said: “it is also quite impressive for the GSF to introduce, for the first time, the Gulf Safety Award (GSA). My congratulation goes to the short-listed companies as this reflects their commitment to safety and reveals the efforts they are devoting to safety. A number of these companies have managed to put in place a strong safety management system complete with KPIs and control system that regularly follow the progress towards zero losses or injuries.”
His Excellency concluded by thanking and congratulating EPC and GOIC for their efforts in organizing such important event at such an important time, without forgetting to thank the supporting organizations, for without their contribution and support, this gathering could not have come true. He also wished everyone great success and an enjoyable stay in Doha.

The Gulf Safety Award

Mrs. Tamima Daher, EPC Middle East Director General, announced that ORYX GTL won the first GSA. HE the Minister presented the Award to ORYX GTL’s representative Mr. Mohammed Sherif Ibrahim Al-Mushairi, Executive Director of Commercial Affairs.
A group of jurors led by Dr. Ali Al-Mulla, Assistant Secretary General for Industrial Projects Sector at GOIC assessed competing projects to select the best. The jury included Dupont, Safety Center at Texas A&M University-Qatar, and EPC.
In addition to the winning company, YASREF, Kuwait Oil Corporation, Qatar Fuel Additives Company (QAFAC) and Qatar Rail took part in the final qualifications.

Memorandum of Understanding

During the opening session, GOIC signed a five-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Engineering Experiment Station at Texas A&M University to establish cooperation between the two parties in terms of the activities of the Doha-based Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center of Texas A&M University.
The MoU was signed by HE Mr. Abdulaziz Bin Hamad Al-Ageel on behalf of GOIC and Dr. Sam Mannan, Director of the Industrial Safety Center at Texas A&M University in the United States.
According to this MoU, the two parties will endeavour to strengthen their regular communication and exchange of expertise in the field of safety to shed light on its importance in Qatar and the Middle East. Both parties will do their best to assist and contribute through conferences, seminars, forums and workshops organised by one of them, in addition to training courses and meetings of the Steering Committee and the Technical Consultation Committee of Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center in Qatar.

The Agenda

Day one included the opening session and four technical sessions: regulatory approaches and safety, process safety systems and implementations followed by a panel discussion on regulatory frameworks and capacity building.
Day two also included four technical sessions on approaches to safety and crisis management, industrial safety frameworks and safety engineering and technologies.
The Gulf Safety Forum will be followed by two workshops on industrial safety management foundations and operations management strategy in the oil and gas sectors for two consecutive days on the 1st and 2nd of November, 2016. These workshops will provide GCC oil and gas staff with the opportunity to build their capacities and develop their skills in the field of industrial operations safety.