Health & Safety
Safeguarding company employees and contractors
Placing staff and contractors in high risk locations needs to be based on high quality and timely information and backed up by detailed emergency planning. The two allow for proactive solutions that can be implemented smoothly in the face of rapidly changing circumstances. Nick Stocker reports.
La asignación de empleados y contratistas a lugares de alto riesgo debe basarse en información oportuna y de alta calidad y apoyarse en un plan de emergencia detallado. Estas dos condiciones permiten implantar sin dificultades soluciones preventivas para afrontar circunstancias que cambian rápidamente. Informe de Nick Stocker.
Der Einsatz von Arbeitskräften und Vertragspartnern an Plätzen mit hohem Risiko muss auf qualitativ hochwertigen und aktuellen Informationen basieren und durch einen detaillierten Notfall-Plan abgesichert sein. Beides zusammen ermöglicht proaktive Lösungen, die im Angesicht ständig wechselnder Umstände leicht implementiert werden können. Nick Stocker berichtet.
W
ith much of our planet’s energy sources in regions where political instability, civil unrest and
corruption are commonplace, security and risk management are ongoing priorities for Big Oil.
Contingency planning, security strategies and evacuation procedures are taken incredibly seriously by oil operators and talent agencies who must be familiar with the myriad of risks faced in the countries within which they operate. Earning potential is, of course, highly
favourable in high-risk countries; country- orientation and familiarisation with local safety and security considerations comes as second-nature to oil and gas professionals working in such regions - so the lure of Africa and the Middle East will continue to attract highly skilled professionals from every corner of the world. Tat said, weeks of violent protests
against Col Gaddafi’s 42-year-long Libyan rule - with neither side seemingly having the capacity to overpower the other - has thrust safety and security into the spotlight once again and organizations working in North Africa and the Middle East have had to put their plans to the test as they evacuate their expatriate workforces.
The challenges Four main challenges accompany the type of emergency evacuation that we have seen in Libya:
1. Accounting for personnel. 2. Logistics of executing the evacuation.
3. Holding area capacities/limitations. 4. Government regulations.
When an emergency situation arises, companies must know: where people are; how many need to be accounted for; whether or not they should stay put or
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move to a place of safety; what must be done and when it needs to happen – all this done against the backdrop of a need for effective communications when these may have been disrupted. Te logistics of executing an evacuation pose significant challenges - will you get your people out by road or by air? What will you do if it’s not possible to use your preferred method? A convoy is easier to control than lots of individual cars, but is also a more obvious target; considerations such as this will form part of your security strategy. Holding areas - offering temporary security prior to evacuation - will have different limitations: how long will they be secure for, with enough food and water?
Tis will depend on the volume of people and the duration of their stay. In the Libyan Desert, supplies of food and water were starting to run low, making the requirement for immediate evacuation critical as witnessed by the military evacuation operations.
Government regulations Government regulations will, of course, vary from country-to-country, but they cannot be neglected when it comes to evacuation planning. Has the government imposed air space restrictions? Have border crossings been closed, and is there a curfew in place? How will that impact your method of evacuation? Will it affect timeframes or logistics - or both? Te nature of every situation will
present unique challenges, so it is virtually impossible to anticipate every possible scenario. However, by being aware of those
that are outlined above, companies can complete their security planning and be confident that they have developed the framework required to manage through an emergency situation.
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