28 April 2017
World day for safety and health at work
Petrofac is committed to supporting and maintaining the health and wellbeing of our employees. As part of World Day for Safety and Health at Work, we are sharing some of the health and safety initiatives we run across the organisation.
Giving blood
Petrofac colleagues regularly give blood – an act that saves many lives.
We hold regular blood drives in our Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Mumbai and Aberdeen offices. Over the course of 2016, colleagues in Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and on a Kuwait project site donated a total of 240 pints of blood.
Spreading knowledge
The Sharjah Occupational Health team has held a number of awareness campaigns over the past year, improving colleagues’ understanding of cardiac arrest, cancer, hypertension and strokes, workplace stress and depression, oral health, flu, and diabetes, among others. These sessions were conducted both in offices and on sites.
In the UK, we provide smoking cessation guidance and support to our offshore employees. On some of our Duty Holder assets in the North Sea, our offshore medics hold ‘wellman’ clinics, where our employees are given the opportunity to have their blood pressure, cholesterol, BMI, and fitness levels checked. The medics also provide health and wellbeing consultations and advice to employees.
Health tips booklet
Sharjah’s Occupational Health team has created and distributed a comprehensive health tips booklet to employees in offices and on project sites, which contains tips on a number of important topics such as:
- Diet and nutrition
- Exercise
- Lowering cholesterol and controlling blood pressure
- Smoking
- Office ergonomics and managing back pain
- Preventing ‘flu, diabetes and heart-related illnesses
- Managing stress
Site visits
The Occupational Health team also conducted 25 site visits last year to projects in locations such as Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait and Algeria.
During the visits, they assessed projects’ and contractors’ capabilities and level of compliance to health-related matters. These food safety inspections, employee welfare assessments, laundry inspections, camp and accommodation inspections, training sessions, and follow up visits if required.
Medical screening
Our Sharjah office has its own medical screening and treatment facility. This provides services such as pre-employment medical screenings, periodical medical screenings, vaccinations, medical consultations, health assessments for chronic illnesses, first aid treatment, and emergency response.
In 2016, the centre performed 683 pre-medical screening assessments; 1278 routing medical assessments; and gave 545 vaccinations against nine types of disease.
Lifesaving training
The Occupational Health team also provides training in life-saving areas such as first aid, CPR, fire safety, and heat stress. Over the course of 2016, they trained 3650 Petrofac people.
First aid training
Our Aberdeen and Malaysia offices organise first aid training to prepare participants for various emergency situations that could arise in the office, such as:
- Assessing and preventing injury
- Treatment for wounds and bleeding, burns and scalds, fractures and dislocations
- Other common medical emergencies including asthma, heart attacks and fainting spells
