Safety record

The Pearl GTL project reached 77 million hours without an injury leading to time off work in 2010 — a record for Shell and for Qatar.

“It’s all about keeping energy levels up so that the focus is still there,” says Rob Munster, Vice President for HSE and Social Development at the project. “Safety is our top priority.”

Safety through teamwork

Building the world’s largest GTL plant, Qatar

Encouraging people to follow safety rules by focusing on the human angle — that they will help everyone get safely back home to their families, and that it is not just about simply following rules — is central to safety training.

To get the message across, Shell turned to the international language of sport. It invited a famous Indian cricketer, Kepil Dev, to talk to workers on the Shell Safety Days that take place twice a year.

He is a boyhood hero for many of the workers, most of whom come from cricket-playing nations. Thousands came to see Kepil Dev talk about safety.

“It’s exactly the same as in a cricket team: one weak person can affect the whole team,” Kepil Dev told workers at Safety Day in January 2010. “Listening to your supervisor is the same as listening to your captain in cricket.”

Safety training programmes

Wearing protection against the heat and dust at Pearl GTL, Qatar

To overcome communication barriers, on-site training courses were given in seven languages including Hindi, Arabic, Tagalog and Thai. By early 2011 workers had followed some 367,500 training sessions in practical subjects such as working at heights.

All over the construction site posters of “Pearly” — a mascot shaped like a giant pearl with arms and legs that was developed to suit different cultures — reminds workers of safety rules.

In 2008 Shell launched a leadership training course for supervisors on the site to learn how to work safely and encourage others to do so. More than 5,000 completed the nine-day course which is certified by the Institute of Leadership Management in London.

”It's special for them as well, having a certificate they can carry with them after the project,” says Sheikh Thani al-Thani, Deputy General Manager Pearl GTL.

Road safety

Employees ran a high risk of being injured in traffic accidents. In part this was due to harsh desert weather with dust clouds in summer and speeding drivers on the roads.

But by the peak of construction in 2010 Pearl GTL had transported people and equipment over almost 300 million kilometres without serious injury.

By driving staff from Doha to the industrial zone of Ras Laffan by bus, Shell saved an estimated 40 million kilometres of potential travel in passenger cars and reduced the risk by lowering the number of vehicles on the road.

Monitoring speed

The maximum speed on the project site is 30 kilometres an hour. Shell introduced an in-vehicle monitoring system in 2006 that detects speeding, abrupt breaking or when a car is idling. Drivers cannot start cars without inserting their personal monitoring tags into a slot next to the ignition.

The chip sounds an alarm if drivers break safe-driving rules. If they persist they risk a warning, or at worst losing their job. It is in use in all of Shell’s 5,000 cars, pickup trucks and lorries on the project.

“At first contractors were against it,” says Bill Shand, Senior Logistics HSE Supervisor. “When they realised it could lower fuel use — in one reported case by around 10% — reduced the number of breakdowns, and lowered tyre wear, they were happy to do so, and even to introduce it on their other projects.”

Shell also introduced an initiative to encourage the use of seat belts among students in Qatar not connected to Pearl. Some 1,500 participate each year.

In recognition of Pearl GTL’s safety record, Shell Chief Executive Officer Peter Voser presented the project’s management with the CEO Award for Health, Safety Security and Environment Leadership in 2010.