Bapco pledge to maintain high safety standards

At the event, Bapco departments and contractors received awards in recognition of their safety achievements during 2008.

In a welcoming speech by Bapco Chief Executive Abdulkarim Al-Sayed, he urged employees to maintain Bapco's proactive safety culture that has garnered local and international recognition in the area of environment, health and safety.

Deputy Chief Executive - Refining & Marketing and chairman of Bapco's Enviroment, Health & Safety Committee Dr. Eion Turnbull gave an overview of the company's activities in the areas of health and safety during 2008. Dr. Turnbull emphasised that the well-being, good health, fitness, and ability of each employee to remain free from injury, is dependant upon the established safety culture, and good safety performance of each and every Bapco employee.

Some of Bapco's safety achievements during 2008:

- Bapco awarded Five Star Rating by British Safety Council - only the second company on the Gulf region to receive this rating.

- As a recipient of the Robert W. Campbell award, Bapco is selected by the University of Pennsylvania as case study for teaching the business benefits of good safety.

- Bapco contractors completed 2008 without a lost-time injury - over 3m employee-hours without a serious injury.

- Bapco's employees achieve 1m employee-hours without a lost-time accident in March 2008, 3m in July, and 4.9m in November.

- The Refinery Gas Desulphurisation Project (RGDP) completes 3.9m hours without a lost-time accident.

- The Turnarounds & Inspections (T&Is) of No. 4 A CDU, No. 5 VDU and No. 1 VBU in October and November are executed without a lost-time accident.

- The number of vehicle accidents in 2008 decreased by 20% and is the second lowest figure recorded in the last 14 years.

- Over 22,000 people attend Bapco's EHS Family Day at the Bahrain International Circuit, the culmination of a highly successful EHS Week.

Bapco Department Awards

In the high risk category, the winner is: Shutdowns & Major Maintenance Department. The shield was accepted by Manager Mahdi Hassan Mohamed. The trophy was accepted by SD&MM employee A. Shaheed Al-Mearaj. (Picture 3)

In the low risk category, the winner is: Technical Services Department. The shield was accepted by Manager Hafedh Al-Qassab on behalf of the department. The trophy was accepted by TSD employee Hussain Ebrahim Khadem. (Picture 4)

Contractor Awards

The winner of the Large Contractor Group award is: MCSC. The recipients were Managing Director William Y. Abu Hamed and employee representative Wassim Abu Hamed. (Picture 1)

The winner of the Small Contractor Group award is: CAPE R.B. Hilton. The recipients were General Manager Gary McLean and employee representative Ebrahim Zaki. (Picture 2)

Special Award

A special award was also given to the chairman of the Contractor Safety Committee, Ahmed Fakhroo, for his efforts in promoting Bapco's EHS policies among contractors, which resulted in zero lost-time accidents among contractors during 2008.