The Hindu Business Line : Safety programme comes to ONGC's aid in managing crisis

THREE years ago ONGC had launched a certification programme on quality health, safety and environment (popularly known as QHSE) at all of its 300 offshore and onshore installations.

The driving force for the programme was the Goa-based Institute of Petroleum Safety, Health and Environment (IPSHE), one of the many institutes and research agencies run by ONGC.

Three years later, in the wake of a major accident, the company takes pride in its foresight.

Relieved at having limited the loss of lives to a bare minimum given the scale of the disaster, the company gives the entire credit to IPSHE for imparting the right training to its employees to survive in extremely adverse conditions.

That out of 361 rescued so far, 348 were rescued by the company's own vessels, at a time when Mumbai was marooned as far as communication facilities are concerned, also makes ONGC confident of its crisis management abilities.

"Our employees, who are not professional seafearers, not only survived an oil fire that took place in the high sea 160 km away from the coastline but survived in choppy seas with eight-metre-high waves under extremely bad weather conditions," said an ONGC spokesperson.

"In 1988 there was a similar fire at an offshore installation in the North Sea. The technological aspect of the platform was similar to Bombay High North. A total of 174 workers died in the accident; only 16 were rescued," he added.

In April 2005, the QHSE programme had identified that the company's installations were safe to the extent of 99 per cent.

"In fact, all our installations (including Bombay High North) except 2-3 onshore facilities were identified to be 100 per cent safe. Today we are reaping the harvest of the programme," the spokesperson added.

Apart from imparting the right techniques to ONGC employees, IPSHE also extends its expertise to a large number of oil exploration and production companies in India and abroad.

Recently, the institute prepared an oil spill contingency plan for Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation and carried out offshore monitoring report for British Gas.

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