Bapco sets safety record

Bahrain petroleum company, Bapco, yesterday celebrated the 'historic achievement' of five million man-hours without a lost-time accident by its refinery.

Sheikh Isa bin Ali Al Khalifa, Minister of Oil and chairman of Bapco, said it would have been 'unthinkable,' just a few years ago, to contemplate a whole year during which the refinery would not experience a single lost-time accident (LTA).

"However, you have done even better than that, having now worked since August 13, 2001 without any- a period of more than 15 months," he told workers and management during a ceremony held yesterday morning.

Johann Lubbe, Bapco chief executive said the company introduced the investigation of 'near-misses' to learn the lessons from what could have been an accident.

"A refinery is recognised as a hazardous environment and the probability of accidents is high. Constant vigilance and on-going initiatives to assure safe and accident-free operation are required," he continued.

He said only five accidents; none of them is an LTA, happened this year compared to nine last year, one of which was lost-time.

Hussein Tadayon, the refinery general manager, urged the employees to "make each day an accident-free day," saying the target was both realistic and achievable.