SAFETY IN THE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRIES IN QATAR

The oil and natural gas industries in Qatar have a very good safety record. Yet this performance is achieved without any government agency that is the equivalent of the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) or the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Neither is there any legislation that is analogous to the Health and Safety at Work act, or to Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH), Control of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH), Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations (DSEAR), ATmospheres EXplosibles (ATEX) or Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH). There is no organization like the Chemical Safety Board (CSB) that disseminates information and lessons that can be learned from specific industrial accidents. Despite this the safety performance of the process industries is a commendable success story. It is an excellent example of how responsible project partners can self-regulate their activities and how meticulous, and almost obsessive, attention to safety training can lead to spectacular safety performance. This is so even when tens of thousands of relatively unskilled workers are involved in the plant construction phase. Some examples are given from individual companies as well as some of the conceptual principles around which training can be delivered. Other industrial sectors in Qatar have far less enviable track records, for instance civil engineering construction and road transportation. This simply highlights the quality of senior management in the process industry sector.