Making ourselves heard

At the February EGYPS Conference and Exhibition in Cairo, IOGP had a booth staffed by Committee managers Diana Khatun and Felicite Robertson. At the conference, one of the key messages was of course safety, and IOGP sponsored the HSE in Energy Forum and Award, attended by the Egyptian Minister of Petroleum, His Excellency Engineer Tarek El-Molla.

IOGP Safety & Security Director Chris Hawkes gave a presentation on IOGP’s Project Safira, our efforts to eliminate fatalities in the upstream oil and gas industry, including initiatives on the Life Saving Rules and adopting 5 Star Global NCAP rated vehicles (www.iogp.org/oil-and-gas-safety).

Chris also participated in a panel discussion about safety culture that concluded good safety cultures are driven by leadership and a demonstrable culture of care for the workforce. “Processes and procedures will never be effective without a strong safety culture driven by leadership”, Chris recalls. The panel also tackled the need to adapt safety processes and culture to incoming millennials.

Brussels Communications Manager Nareg Terzian was on hand to capture the activities at EGYPS – one of the key regional conferences IOGP has targeted to spread our message both to our members in the regions, as well as to potential new members who have been less exposed to our work.

Days later, IOGP Executive Director Gordon Ballard spoke on behalf of the Association at the prestigious IP Week in London. There, he participated on a panel that addressed the future of oil and gas in Europe.

IOGP also featured in a keynote address by BP Group Chief Executive Bob Dudley. In a talk titled Fit for the future, he cited two IOGP initiatives: the Life Saving Rules and the ground-breaking JIP33: Standardisation of equipment and packages. Links to both of these initiatives can be found on IOGP’s Website at www.iogp.org/life-savingrules and www.iogp.org/initiatives/jip33.