The Namibia Economist

Shell makes time for Safety

“Time for Safety” is the theme under which Shell Namibia hosted its Safety Day on 20 June. A day where all operations were stopped to talk about issues around safety. On this day they reignited their passion for safety,shared their experiences, their learnings, the good and the bad about safety with contractors, retailers, business partners, the media and indeed with all their stakeholders. The Day is observed at various Shell operations in the world. In Namibia, Safety Day was observed at all Shell sites including those situated in Windhoek, Walvis Bay, Tsumeb, Grootfontein, Oranjemund and Luderitz Harbour Unit.
For Shell, their Safety Day is not an isolated event – it is a significant milestone in their journey to build a stronger safety culture in pursuit of Goal Zero, an initiative which allows Shell to pursue no harm to people, and is a deeply held value by Shell and its stakeholders, which allows them to preserve and nurture their values of honesty, integrity and respect for people. “Goal Zero is not about new programmes and initiatives, but rather applying the initiatives we already have and doing what we already know. We continue to support our Goal Zero journey with initiatives like the Life-Saving Rules, Golden Rules, Hearts and Minds, and our HSSE (Health, Safety, Security and Environment) & SP (Social Performance) processes and procedures”.Said Mona-Liza Garises, Shell Namibia’s Communications Manager:
As at 19 June 2012, Shell Namibia has logged 1632 zero days – that is 1632 days without recordable incidents. Shell Namibia received the Goal Zero Award for Zero LTI’s (Lost Time Injuries) and Zero significant incidents from 2008 to 2011.
Ms. Garises further said that this year’s theme “time for safety” focuses on “time”, which is important to people’s lives and to Shell. She said that the theme also reflects that they are taking time out for safety on Safety Day to share ideas and concerns on safety. and to properly plan on how to work safely.
Tokens of appreciation were awarded to relevant stakeholders at the event which was attended by the Minister of Mines and Energy, Hon Isak Katali and his Deputy Director of Energy, Immanuel Nghishoongele, the General Manager of HSSE in Shell Oil Products Africa, Dapo Oguntoyinbo from Kenya, Shell staff, retailers, contractors as well as other stakeholders such as the NCCI, E-med 24, the MVA Fund, and the media. All participants committed to acting safely at all times.
The theme “time for safety” allows Shell to focus on specific local safety risks and requirements for achieving Goal Zero. For example, they maintain that all of us should make time to know the hazards around us, to be mindful of risks, to see and report weak signals, and to act in a safe way. According to Shell, “Time for Safety” really is about personal safety leadership - the actions each one of us can take as individuals to ensure that we are all safe be it at the workplace, at home, on the road or in our daily lives.

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