The focus is not only to safeguard lives but to ensure that that there are no hazards posed to the nearby surroundings
Minister of State (Independent Charge) Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan presented the Oil Industry safety awards for the year 2014-15 to the chief executives of the winning oil and gas organisations. The award is given in recognition for the efforts of oil and gas industry in enhancing safety performance of the oil and gas installations, thereby improved productivity, profitability and sustainability.
The ceremony was organised by Oil Industry Safety Directorate (OISD). The minister expressed hope that the award will set the right example for the cause of safety and motivate everyone to inculcate a culture of safe and secure practices in their field of operation. He apprecaited the oil industry’s contribution towards the growth of the nation. He also stressed the need for an independent safety mechanism in the country and assured that the ministry will continue to make all efforts for setting up such an agency in the future. “The demand of today’s business environment is that we should not only safeguard lives and equipment within the boundary of our installations, but, we should also ensure that there are no hazards posed to the nearby surroundings, ecology and society at large,” added the minister.
Pradhan also appreciated the OISD for encouragement of safety and suggested that it should plan an event, preferably at a field location, to encourage novelty and innovations in the field of safety involving all kind of people from the industry.
Ajay Prakash Sawhney, additional secretary, P&NG, urged the industry to prepare for level two. He expressed hope that with the kind of expertise available, industry should be able to plan for any eventuality without actually waiting for it.
Sandeep Poundrik, Joint Secretary emphasised on the need for preventive measures for avoiding recurrence of casualities, stressed upon the importance of need to learn from the incidents happening elsewhere across the industry. He said, “Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment”, “We must use the experience from bad judgment taken by others in making good judgment for ourselves,” he added.
To encourage outstanding safety performance of the industry and to inculcate a positive culture of competitiveness among the industry members, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas introduced a system of Oil Industry Safety Awards in 1987.
The awards are presented to those organisations which achieved exceptional safety performance. The criteria for selection of the award is based on various parameters like complexity of the facility, volumes handled, safety management system with minimum fires, accidents and losses.
In totality 30 numbers of Oil Industry Safety Awards were presented for the year 2014-15 to the oil industry organizations. OISD safety awards also include individual awards to the employees and those who work on contract basis who have made significant contributions to enhance safety.