Finalists announced for 2012 OPITO Awards

Finalists announced for 2012 OPITO Awards

HOUSTON -- Organizations helping to build a safe and competent oil and gas workforce around the world have been recognised as OPITO today announced the finalists for the 2012 OPITO Safety and Competency Awards.

The OPITO international awards, now in their third year, recognise employers and training providers who are making a difference to the safety and competency of workers in the global oil and gas industry.

This year’s finalists in the Employers category are McDermott, SNEPCO and Stork Technical Services. This category seeks to reward employers who have demonstrated their commitment to building a safe and competent workforce through the use of OPITO standards.

Consolidated Training Systems Inc. (CTSI), Megamas Training Company and Petrofac Training Services are in the running for the Training Providers award which recognises commitment to developing the skills of their staff to deliver OPITO training.

The winners will be announced at the OPITO Safety and Competency Conference (OSCC) in the Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi Hotel, Abu Dhabi, UAE on Tuesday, November 20th. The theme for this year’s conference is Managing the Safety Chain and the event is supported by Falck Nutec, SEFtec Global Training and Atlas.

For McDermott Middle East employees, completion of the OPITO Basic Offshore Safety Induction and Emergency Training (BOSIET) course is mandatory prior to any offshore visit or assignment. The company’s UAE training centre was the first non-commercial training organisation in the region to achieve OPITO accreditation. McDermott has also announced plans to deliver in-house rigging training at Jebel Ali Ports to OPITO standards.

Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO) was the first sub-Saharan company to obtain OPITO’s accreditation for its production offshore competency management system in 2006. Last year a total of 309 personnel successfully completed OPITO standard courses. The use of OPITO standards has enabled the company to share information with Government, HSE and competence regulators.

Stork is committed to operating with a fully nationalised workforce in Azerbaijan. As part of this the OPITO standards play a key role in the company’s strategy by providing high quality training opportunities and a competency framework. All Stork operatives undertake OPITO approved training before working in offshore environments. Over the past 12 months 205 personnel have been trained and assessed to OPITO standards.

During the past year, over 5,000 people have taken part in CTSI’s OPITO approved training. In addition to providing courses, CTSI constantly monitors candidates’ safety and communicates with the candidates’ company regarding their capabilities. CTSI continually expands its internal training programmes to improve the capability of training specialists and technical services department to handle courses and emergency situations.

In November 2011, Megamas reached the 10th anniversary of the opening of the first OPITO T-BOSIET course in the world. Since then, 20,000 T-BOSIET participants have trained without any incident. Megamas currently has 13 OPITO approvals with more already submitted for review. The organisation prides itself on using the best possible trainers and equipment to provide a top-level training experience.

Petrofac Training Services operates seven OPITO certified training centres globally and provided the Gulf of Mexico’s first OPITO approved training course in 2004. In feedback, course partners have rated the training provided by Petrofac as “world class”. This training has helped Petrofac remain lost time injury free for more than three years and led to a 30% reduction in minor incidents over the last 12 months.

The OSCC was introduced in 2009 as a way to bring operators, contractors and the supply chain together with training organisations to provide a forum for improving standards of safety and competency that protect the workforce and the industry’s reputation.

Upwards of 300 delegates from around the world are expected to attend the event with astronaut Mike Mullane giving the keynote speech. A short video on each of the finalists will be played to the conference audience before the winners are announced.