Port of Salalah invests in health, safety essentials

Port of Salalah has always given paramount importance to promoting a safe working environment both at the company grounds and in all public and private domains, as the company considers good health, safety and environment practices as an investment rather than cost.

The company's Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) department has ended the year with a string of volunteer trainings, giveaways and achievements that have promoted the port's best practices within the community and its employees.

A testimony of Port of Salalah's stringent policy on safety and environment is recent accomplishment of 177 working days, equivalent to 3.5 million man hours, with no accidents or injuries, breaking its previous record of 170 working days with no LTI last set in 2012.

Earlier this month the Port of Salalah announced that it would extend private medical insurance coverage to all its employees, thereby incorporating all Omani employees under the company's medical insurance scheme, reflecting the company's great concern and investment in employee health, safety, and wellbeing as a main priority at all times.

As part of its concern for community wellbeing, the HSE department has also volunteered in training 24 newly recruited lab technicians at the Directorate General of Education in the Dhofar governorate on the basics of firefighting this month. The comprehensive training lasted a full day with exercises and theory given to the engaged participants, as knowing the essentials of firefighting helps to make a difference first and foremost to the lives of people.

With road safety being the primary safety concern in Oman's community, road safety emergency tool bags were recently distributed to all the port's employees with vehicles. While receiving their auto emergency kits employees were invited to sign a pledge to drive safely in 2014 and by end of December over 400 signatures have been collected.

Port of Salalah is constantly investing towards a sustainable, healthy and eco-conscious business through the measurement of its carbon footprint, adoption of green technologies and implementation of waste management practices. This year the port has installed solar powered speed signs as a pilot project towards investing in further solar powered technologies in 2014.

Three major recycling initiatives implemented in 2013 included plastic bottle recycling with association with neighboring plastics manufacturer OCTAL, as well as reusing the port's empty oil drums as plant and tree holders, and reusing old tires as safety indicators at the yard.

"Our company has to maintain its world-class asset status through the vigilance and care of its employees, and in turn our employees need to feel that they are being taken care of by the company, so we constantly remind our people of our aim to be one of the safest and most environment-friendly ports in the world to achieve this standard," said Mohammed Al-Maashani, HSE Senior Manager at the Port of Salalah.