OPITO International is to launch the first-ever international conference focused on global safety and competency in the oil and gas industry.
The inaugural event, which will take place on 25th of November in Abu Dhabi, will provide a forum for improving standards of safety and competency in the global workplace.
Set to become an annual conference and exhibition, the OPITO Safety and Competence Conference (OSCC) 2010 will attract senior figures from national and multi-national oil and gas operators and contractors to share best practice, lessons learned and new ideas with training and education providers from the major oil and gas provinces.
OPITO International delivers standards to improveoil and gas workforce safety and competency at a global level.
"Recent events are an on-going reminder that the oil and gas industry operates in some of the most challenging and hazardous environments. Safety is paramount and the industry has a fundamental duty to make sure that its people are competent and trained to the best possible standards," said David Doig, OPITO group chief executive.
"There is currently no global platform to debate the issues around safety and competency standards. As part of OPITO's drive to roll out common global standards, we are launching this event to kick-start a conversation about how we achieve standardisation of training around the world."
The one-day conference will include an introduction from Gordon Ballard, UK chairman of Schlumberger, a keynote presentation from David Miller, deputy chief inspector at the UK Department for Transport's Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), and a case study from Brunei Shell Petroleum on building world-class emergency response training and development framework using OPITO standards.
There will also be a session for employers on new technical standards and qualifications framework and another on how training providers from around the world can work collectively to deliver world-class common standards.
Mr Doig added: "In the last five years we have succeeded in introducing OPITO standards to improve safety and competence of the indigenous and transient workforces in 30 countries. Currently 140,000 people around the world are trained to those standards. We want to double that by 2013 and believe a focused, annual event will help us achieve that ambition."
OPITO International has three business units focused on Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, and the Americas. The organisation works with Governments, national oil companies, multi-nationals and contractors to meet their skills needs to provide independent advice and guidance on effective management of workforce skills development, emergency response and occupational standards and qualifications and quality assurance of training delivery.
-Ends-
Issued on behalf of OPITO International by The BIG Partnership. For more information contact Zoe Corsi on +44 1224 615014 or +44 7973983243
© Press Release 2010
