The green initiatives of National Pharmaceutical Industries Co have been a motivating factor for other companies in Rusayl Industrial Estate in terms of cleanliness and greenery, a fact appreciated by visitors to the company
The National Pharmaceutical Industries Co (NPI) has demonstrated its concern for preserving water by utilising the treated waste water to maintain greenery in its premises consistently over the past 10 years.
Since water is a scare resource, this effort by NPI has thereby been serving a dual purpose - maintaining greenery around its premises while at the same time conserving water. Apart from the saving and preserving water, NPI has an ongoing staff training programme on personal hygiene, cleanliness, cross contamination, good manufacturing practices, all of which lean towards making their environment safe and clean.
The main goals of this concern for environment are to provide the most environment-friendly and healthy work place and at the same time, ensure purity of air and water both incoming as well as outgoing.
Green habitat
NPI has a land area of 30,042 sq mtrs. Except for the built-up area, all the other open land has been covered with lawns and trees. The quality of air is also monitored to constantly ensure that the factory complies with class 100,000 specifications. NPI's main customers are invited to plant a tree in the factory lawns to mark their visit to the plant. This serves both as a token of remembrance of the customer as well as improves the greenery of the environment. As a commitment to green habitat, the maintenance of the lush green lawns is a priority all throughout the year.
The size of green land is 20 per cent as compared to the total site area and it is 40 per cent when compared to open land with five palm and other flowery trees. The waste water generated by the plant is purified constantly through a regular filtration process as well as through a double reverse osmosis plant. The well controlled effluent treatment plant (ETP) ensures the effective management of waste water disposal.
HSE policy
Health and safety of the staff is a key objective for NPI. All the air is filtered through high efficiency particulate air filter with controlled humidity and temperature. Drinking water is purified and distributed through an in house supply system avoiding the accumulation of plastic containers. Water for all industrial use is purified in house as a first step, then the water is treated and analysed as per Oman Environmental Regulations and then used for irrigation of the green parts of the site. The air expelled into the atmosphere from all the 35 air handling units is very clean as it is filtered through very fine filters that capture particles of more than five microns.
Further, all sanitary waste water outlets are connected to the underground Al Rusayl Industrial Estate System for treatment outside the plant. NPI has a Central Industrial Vacuum System for cleaning the whole plant. The dust collected in this system is not released into the atmosphere or discarded. Instead it is passed through a scrubber and treated and dissolved in water.
© Oman Economic Review 2011
