Contractor Safety
Vigilance urged at recent contractor safety forum
Aramco’s Drilling and Workover (D&WO) reaffirmed its commitment to safety in a recent D&WO Contractor Safety Outreach meeting in Dhahran.
With a number of senior executives present, including Upstream executive vice president Nasir K. Al Naimi; D&WO senior vice president AbdulHameed A. Al Rushaid; vice president and chief Loss Prevention engineer Ghassan G. Abulfaraj; and the D&WO management team, with more than 450 representatives from contractor companies, including service providers, the primary importance of safety was clear.
As the company plans to continue its expansion of drilling activities to meet growing global demand for oil and gas, maintaining a steadfast commitment to safety procedures, and a keen eye to the preparation of contractor employees and readiness of equipment, will be critical for meeting the company’s ambitious business objectives.
Safety stressed
D&WO Services Department manager and event host, Nayef K. Al Ghafel, extended greetings to all the participants. Praising D&WO’s unprecedented growth, Al Ghafel stated that, “We are hitting records almost every week by adding many rigs into our portfolio.”
Emphasizing safety, Al Ghafel stressed that, “The culture of safety starts from the top to bottom and requires higher visibility of management in the field.” Al Ghafel concluded his opening speech by saying, “As leaders, safety starts from each and every one of you.”
Culture of safety
Highlighting the importance and effectiveness of the Safety Outreach, Al Naimi said, “Engaging our people is fundamental to sustaining our exemplary safety performance.”
Safety is not just a responsibility, it is a culture. Culture of safety is one in which all employees are committed to work in a safe and responsible manner.
— Nasir K. Al Naimi
Al Naimi urged contractors to increase training and certification for younger employees to meet the greater demands of the future expansion in D&WO operations. Al Naimi concluded, “Aramco values the relationship with our valuable partners, but when it comes to the work that we perform, no job is so important that it cannot be done safely.”
Safety is a value
Abulfaraj stressed the shared responsibilities of contractor leaders and stated that, “When you succeed, we succeed, when you fail, we fail.” Abulfaraj spoke about the need for continual engagement of leadership with the workforce in the field to promote a safety culture that will drive good safety performances until the D&WO’s aspirational target of zero incidents is achieved.
Abulfaraj clarified that “safety is a value, it is not a priority,” as priorities change with time while safety does not. Contractor leadership was advised to lead by example as “people will not do what you say, people will do what you do.”
Panel discussion
The meeting was then opened up for a panel discussion where Upstream executive management exchanged viewpoints in response to questions from the participants.
Final remarks
In his concluding remarks Al Rushaid congratulated the D&WO Services Department for successfully conducting the Contractor Safety Outreach meeting. Al Rushaid lauded the 2022 exceptional well delivery performance, but urged continued vigilance on safety. Al Rushaid said: “The future is bright, but we have to be vigilant to keep the future bright. Let’s do our part to protect people, by giving proper training and tools to the employees in the field.”
Al Rushaid closed the meeting, saying, “Please stay tuned, let’s work together, let’s achieve our ambition and our very ambitious targets by 2030.”
Caption for top photo: Nasir K. Al Naimi and members of executive management along with leadership from contractor companies listen to a presentation at the recent Contracor Safety Outreach meeting in Dhahran. (Photo: Zainab M. Alnaboud/MPD)