Top priority for safety

Muscat, Sept 16 - Health and safety awareness must expand to all areas of the society, recommend experts gathered at the second Oman Workplace Safety and Loss Prevention Conference, held under the auspices of Shaikh Khalid bin Omar al Marhoon, Minister of Civil Service.

The conference is attended by officials and experts to exchange best practices in protecting resources.

“Safety must indeed be a part of any organisation’s fabric and should be given top priority at the board and leadership level. Creating a safety-minded workforce is important and can only be achieved through regular training and awareness campaigns,” said Dr Amer al Rawas, Chairman of Oman Society for Petroleum Services (OPAL). He added that loss prevention is everybody’s responsibility.

The topics at the two-day conference include policies, legal frameworks, optimisation, business continuity, loss prevention, risk management and sustainability. On discussion on the first day were legal dimensions of workplace safety and health, insurance and safety standards, HSE management of contractors, loss prevention and creating value by influencing the desire behaviours, empowering people with special skills to enter the job market, occupational health – medical fitness, sustainable approach in HR and proactive safety leadership.

“Safety and health awareness have increased over the years amongst organisations and families and as a nation. Almost 45 government bodies are participating in this conference that gives an idea on how important the topic is and with modernity we have to be more and more concerned with the safety. Lack of safety affects an organisation as well as the family and eventually the nation,” Sayyid Salem al Busaidy, Under-Secretary at the Ministry of Civil Service for Administrative Development Affairs, said.

Amr Abdullah Baabood, OITE, said the conference is also seeing the participation of professional organisations such as OPAL, Institution of Occupational Safety and Health, Public Establishment for Industrial Estates, Oman Road Safety Association, Oman Health, Safety and Environment Professionals HSE Group, Drops Oman Chapter, American Society for Safety Professionals, Oman Society for Safety Professionals, Omani Society of Engineers and International Powered Access Federation. These organisations are participating in the exhibition held on the sidelines of the conference.

“One of the concerns is that lot of organisations still see spending on safety or enhancing safety standards as a cost rather than an investment. This type of mindsets has to be changed,” said Samara Salah, Director of Training and Business Development, Samara Training Services.

“I think Oman has taken leaps and bounds in the last few decades when it comes to health and safety and not just traditional health and safety but really focusing on people, equipment, procedure and processes. Companies can do so much but the people have to be involved,” said Kevin Peter Watson, International Accreditation and Business Development Manager, who is to speak on preventative maintenance.

He said one of the positive trends is working with the younger generation to really believe in health and safety and in risk management and loss prevention. “It should not be just a dry subject done at the corporate level but we should be able to bring it to our everyday lives — whether we are driving our car or walking down the street. It is good to such initiatives here like OPAL friendship programme.” The event is organised by the OITE Group and Samara Training Services who are both members of OPAL.