Shell reaffirms commitment to workplace safety

KUALA LUMPUR: The Menara Shell was a hive of activities recently as staff, contractors and government officials came together to celebrate Shell Malaysia's eighth Safety Day.

Shell Malaysia chairman Iain Lo speaking from Miri via videoconferencing, said Safety Day was an opportunity for staff and contractors to reaffirm their commitment to safety and look into ways to achieve zero accidents in the workplace.

He said that Shell Malaysia hoped to re-energise the organisation's successful life-saving rules instituted in 2009 during its first Safety Day.

Lo said since then, the number of accidents in Shell workplace nationwide has dropped to a quarter of what it was then and stressed that every employee should constantly remind themselves of safety and guard themselves against accidents.

Lo said everyone should act immediately when he sees safety rules being flouted so as to save lives. In this regard, awards had been presented to those who had acted to reduce accidents at the workplace.

One recipient was a contractor engineer Sylvester Malan who stopped a colleague from using his handphone when driving in front of his office.

The second was a contractor rigger foreman Johnny Liap who told a crane operator to stop work when a crew member was found too close to the suspended load lifted by a barge crane.

Shell employees Premjit Singh and Mahadhir Jaalam also won awards after intervening and stopping workers for not wearing their harness when working at the height of five metres.

Lo also praised the Shell road transporters of gas and oil who last year drove some 56 million kilometres without any accident.

National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (Niosh) chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, who launched the Safety Day, said safety should become a culture at the workplace and not only a priority.

This is because culture that has taken root will remain while priority might lose its significance with time.

Lee said the right to life is the most fundamental right and the right to work in a safe and healthy environment is the fundamental right of every employee.

He also said the number of industrial accidents reported to Socso for all sectors decreased from 73,858 in 2003 to 63,578 last year, a reduction of about 14 per cent in 10 years.

The number of accidents per 1,000 workers last year stood at 5.4, said Lee.

He urged employers to strive to achieve the benchmark of the developed countries where there are only between two and three accidents per 1,000 workers.

Lee said Niosh has been able to contribute to better safety measures in the oil and gas industry through the oil and gas passport programme whereby contractors and their employees have to obtain "passports" in order to enter their workplace.

The passports are renewable every three years after the holders attend a refresher's course.

Between 2009 and last year, 514,863 contractors and their employees have obtained the oil and gas passports.

Shell Malaysia Trading managing director Azman Ismail said every day should be a safety day and that stakeholders, employees and employers had gathered on Safety Day to examine and improve the safety procedures in the workplace.

Other Shell branches that took part in the videoconferencing to enhance workplace safety included Miri, Binitulu and Cyberjaya. By John Tiong