RusselSmith Expresses Commitment to Workplace Safety

Ugo Aliogo

RusselSmith, an Indigenous Oilfield Services firm, has racked up an impressive assortment of Health and Safety awards and recognition. The company has however attributed its exceptional safety performance to its ‘Everybody is responsible for Safety’ policy, as this has fostered a high sense of commitment towards safety at all levels within the organisation have expressed commitment to drive workplace safety as part of efforts to promote an accident-free work environment.

The group in a statement signed and issued to THISDAY said there was need for organisations to have professional safety managers to conduct the occupational health and safety affairs of the organisation.

It also stated that the group has invested in communication and training in an interesting way to cut across diverse cadres of the company, spurred by the belief that a chain is only as strong as the weakest link.

It explained that the devotion to building a winning team has turned out to be the group’s best investment, adding that in 12 years of operations in the Nigeria oil and gas industry sector, they recorded “over 3.5million man hours with no loss time incidents (LTI), no restricted work case and no fatality.”

The Senior Executive Vice President of the Group, Kayode Adeleke, in the statement noted that that their commitment to promote the culture of safety has become a lifestyle in the organisation, adding that they are ethically disciplined about the issue of safety, “we are more humbled than anything else receiving the 9JaSAFE Award. We have a programme known as Safety Quest 24/7. It means that you have to practice safety daily whether at Home or Office.”

The statement added: “Through the years, the company which started off with the introduction of Rope Access solutions, which has now diversified into three main business divisions; Aerial Inspection and Survey Services, Topside Asset Integrity Management Services and Subsea Asset Integrity Management Services. This expansion was made possible with the resilient drive to keep been innovative and safety conscious.

“The beauty of the RusselSmith’s way is that the organisation has established smart protocols to minimise the dangers to personnel and prevent catastrophes. The company has three Health Safety Programmes (HSE) programmes; Safety Quest 24/7, Green Eye Vision, and Health 3600 reloaded. These programmes give a holistic approach to safety, as everyone in actively involved in the process of safety and innovation.

“Another milestone achieved by the company is with the award of the ‘Most Innovative and Safety Conscious Company’ in West Africa at the recently concluded West Africa Innovation Awards, 2017. Other awardees included Cadbury Nigeria, Vanguard Assurance (Ghana), Zenith Pensions Custodian, Big and Bold Nigeria, Elixir (Sierra Leone), Axis Pensions (Ghana), Halogen Security and a host of others.

“The environment is a critical part of HSE programme. This is channeled through the Green Eye Vision Programme initiated to protect the environment. Under this programme is monitoring of paper usage at the company’s office, considering the impact of paper usage on trees. Printing of paper documents has been reduced to the barest minimum; an automated system was introduced to ensure that documents are circulated via electronic channels as alerts and emails. Approvals are also done on the web-based portal, cutting out the herculean task of printing large documents.

“Another environmental initiative in place is the RusselSmith Recycle Initiative for recycling plastic materials. RusselSmith entered into a partnership with an award-winning waste management company, RecycleNG, to help promote the recycling initiative. Consumption of fossil fuels is equally monitored by the company as another environmental initiative to reduce emission of harmful gases into the environment, while promoting the use of alternative energy such as solar power.”