Doha: More than 350 professionals from the health, safety, and environment (HSE) field will gather here today when the GCC’s foremost HSE event in the energy sector opens for the eighth time.
The 8th Annual HSE Forum in Energy takes place from today till October 10 at the Doha Grand Hyatt Hotel, where 45 regional and international experts will highlight the latest technological solutions essential to ensure the effective health and safety management and sustainable environmental practices in the oil and gas industry.
Held under the patronage of H E Dr Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada, the Minister of Energy and Industry and Chairman of Qatar Petroleum, the conference and exhibition will feature 30 presentations, two panel discussions and five hours of networking sessions, before culminating with four half-day post conference workshops on the final day.
Zenab Husain, Director of Fleming Gulf, organisers of forum, said that the core focus is on sustaining HSE excellence amid challenging economic times and growing media interest following energy sector catastrophes such as the Macondo blowout in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.
“Managing safer facilities in the energy sector under cost, human, process and environmental constraints has been a major challenge for many years,” said Husain. “Now coupled with increased media attention and challenging economic times, it’s never been tougher for HSE professionals to sustain a high level of standard and practice. However, with increased responsibility comes increased opportunity. To meet the growing challenges, the forum will reveal a strategic approach to achieve business goals without compromising HSE.
“This year’s conference will help organisations reduce their incident related costs by providing professionals with strategies, case studies, proven solutions and best practices that if implemented will decrease workplace incidents.”
One of many case studies providing examples of HSE best practice will come from Oman on the second day of the forum. Lindsay Ross, Regional Industrial Hygiene Director for BP in Africa, Middle East and India, will speak on the importance of Industrial Hygiene (IH) in the BP Khazzan and Makarem gas fields in the Gulf country.
Containing an estimated 282 wells and 130km of export pipeline, the Khazzan and Makarem gas fields are two of largest projects in Oman. Ross said with such a large scope brings considerable stress on IH review plans.
“The IH review at the Khazzan gas field is in accordance with BP operating management systems, engineering technical practices, and project requirements covering all three project stages; select, define and execute,” said Ross. “The review covers the four main health hazards: chemical, physical, biological and ergonomic. The objective is to optimise human contribution to production, while minimising the potential for design-induced risks to health, process safety or environmental performance.”
Added Ross: “In my role as the BP IH regional director for the Middle East and Africa, I think it’s important to get involved in regional activities such as the 8th Annual HSE Forum in Energy, where useful networking and best practices can be shared across the industry. The forum also presents a great opportunity to raise awareness of IH and the important role it can play in reducing health risks in the industry, particularly in the design of facilities.”
Headline speakers joining Ross at the forum include Saad Al Kubaisi, Corporate HSE Manager at Qatar Petroleum; Dr Wells Grogan, Vice President of HSSEQ at Maersk Oil; Darryl Hill, Vice President of Safety & Health North America at ABB; and Brett Doherty, SHE Group Manager at RasGas Company Ltd.
The 8th Annual HSE Forum in Energy is supported by Qatar Petroleum. Gold Sponsors include Dolphin Energy, Industrial Scientific and ChemSafe, while Petrotechnics, and Ras Laffan Industrial City have signed on as Silver Sponsors.
The Peninsula
