Doha, Qatar – 8 June 2016: Qatar Petrochemical Company (QAPCO) Q.S.C., a pioneer in petrochemical production and a leading polymer manufacturer in the region, completed 20 million man-hours recently without a single Lost Time Injury (LTI) – an outstanding achievement. QAPCO employees and stakeholders celebrated this world-class achievement at QAPCO’s petrochemical complex in Mesaieed, Qatar.
“Reaching this new milestone demonstrates QAPCO’s firm commitment and dedication to safety, driven by continuous improvement and best practices sharing. We do not compromise on safety and consistently pursue an incident and injury free workplace. I thank all the QAPCO employees for their support in reaching this significant safety milestone,” Mr. Mohamed Salem Alyan Al Marri, Chairman of QAPCO.
Dr. Mohammed Yousef Al-Mulla, Managing Director and CEO of QAPCO, highlighted that the safety performance reflected the company’s unwavering commitment to health and safety, “QAPCO’s risk-based safety management approach puts safety at the forefront of every decision. We are fully committed to ensuring that every employee and our contractors return home safely at the end of each day. As such, our integrated HSEQ strategy revolves around operational excellence, stringent safety processes, high standards, strict compliance, comprehensive training, capability building, and vigilant monitoring”.
Dr Al Mulla, recognized the valuable contribution of QAPCO staff and key stakeholders towards achieving this latest safety milestone. He said, “Our accomplishments in safety are the direct results of the proactive commitment and continuous efforts of our teams to achieve safety excellence. We work towards one goal: ensuring a safe and secure workplace today and in the future”.
HE Sheikh Thani Bin Thamer Bin Mohamed Al Thani, Board Director at QAPCO, commented on the company’s landmark safety achievement by saying, “We are proud to celebrate QAPCO’s advances in safety performance. Through its targeted safety programs, QAPCO registered significant HSE improvements at all levels, in each department, and across activities. Those HSE initiatives continuously promote a strong safety culture amongst employees and contractors.”
QAPCO has many programs and initiatives in place aimed at achieving a sustained performance in Safety, Health and Environment, like the QAPCO 12 Golden Rules at Work, launched in 2015.
Mr. Ahmed Abdulla Hassan Al Khaja, Board Director at QAPCO, also attended the safety ceremony in Mesaieed and underlined, “QAPCO believes that all accidents are preventable. Through its uncompromising approach toward safety and compliance, QAPCO will continue to strive to improve its environmental, health and safety performance. Excellence in these areas is required for sustainable, long-term prosperity.”
On its journey of improvement in health and safety and best practices sharing, QAPCO has developed a HSE Award, which recognizes employees for their contribution to safety and is designed to encourage employees to effectively manage occupational safety and health as well as promoting and sustaining safe, best-practices for the future.
To drive continuous improvement of its HSEQ performance, QAPCO’s HSE Management Systems are aligned with the pillars of the Qatar National Vision 2030. QAPCO is committed to ensuring the highest level of safety for its employees and business partners, while ensuring the wellness of its community, with safe and secured operations. QAPCO strives to build a safety culture, where everyone knows they have a key role to play in sustaining a secured work environment. The central element highlighted in QAPCO’s Management Systems is the safety of its important and valuable asset: people.
While operating in a high risk industry that includes heavy industrial machinery and high-pressure/high temperature situations, QAPCO has maintained a strong safety performance record including 20 million employee exposure hours without lost time incident.
Achieving this level of safety performance begins from developing a safety culture that reinforces the idea that every person is responsible for the safety of themselves and others. This culture is supplemented by a rigorous Health Safety and Environment (HSE) management system for monitoring, evaluating and reporting performance. QAPCO maintains ISO 9001, OHSAS 18001, and Responsible Care 14001 compliant management systems in alignment with international best practices.
For QAPCO, safety is a mindset. Increasing productivity while emphasizing safety requires everyone remains committed to safety by proactively improving process and work conditions. Every QAPCO employee has a common responsibility in every assignment the company undertakes: identifying, assessing and mitigating the risks associated with operations. Therefore, QAPCO will continue to introduce initiatives to strengthen its safety performance.
2014 and 2015 represented a unique challenge for QAPCO as exposure hours related to activities associated with major turnarounds and facilities upgrades increased. HSEQ management was a critical part of the success of those turnarounds.
QAPCO understands the value that contractors bring to its operations through specific technical skills, accredited professional services and operational and maintenance functions. The health and safety of contractors is a primary responsibility. As such, QAPCO implements a strategic contract management approach which focuses on clearly communicating the expectations, outcomes and risks of activities during work periods. Active oversight, comprehensive induction training, and contractor evaluations augment existing management systems to minimize risks and optimize the success of contractors while on site.