Overall the forums stand as a testament of Qatalum's commitment to keep its unsupervised contractors 100% safe under their own supervision.
On 14 October 2015, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm at the MIC Gold Club, attendees from Qatalum management team, Qatalum contract owners, sponsors and contractor management team assembled for the 3rd quarter Contractor HSE Forum. A total of 61 people attended and 18 of them comprised of contractors to Qatalum.
The forum provided very interesting interaction from contractors and Qatalum with the reoccurring theme resounding for alignment of safety standards with that of Qatalum's. Additionally it is a forum is to hear from contractors, voice their concerns and difficulties when it comes to dealing with Qatalum.
The CEO, Khalid Mohammed Laram insisted that, "In order for Qatalum to be the no.1 smelter in the world, contractors must align their safety efforts to the high standards of Qatalum. The 2 LTI incidents for indirect supervision is unacceptable."
Olaf Wigstoel, the COO added, "People should come to and from work safely." His presentation focuses on Recordable Injuries at Qatalum and its root causes, contractor's safety statistics and results, visual leadership, underlying medical conditions, and safety leadership.
Deon Earle HSSE manager said, "Walking the talk is a way of life and by living so, we can improve safety performance.
Management (supervisors) should know what their guys are doing and should strengthen management commitment."
Take home points identified by contractors during the forum:
•Alignment of standards and procedure between Qatalum and contractors, safety and traffic
•Contractors should improve management level engagement with the workforce and increase reporting using SYNERGI
•Work permit issuance
•Medical check - up with personnel/ fit-for-work and those that need medication are encouraged to take it
•Interactive HSSE campaigns
•Multi-languages as communication tool
At the end of proceedings a survey of the HSSE Awareness Campaign was conducted to attendees to evaluate its potential.
Contribution by Jeffrey Sandoval, HSE Statistics and Communications Coordinator.
