Developing Best Practice for Health and Safety Management - Case Study of a Major Oil Processing Country in the Middle East"

Construction in oil and gas environment needs establishment of health and safety standards. This is necessary due to work-related hazards that leave workers incapacitated. In the case country construction sector, company sites are at risk of exposure to variety of health and safety related hazards when compared with other sectors. There is need therefore, to provide standard health and safety measures to minimise high level of accidents at the sites. In spite of improvement made so far, it still needs to achieve industry benchmark. This study researches the efficacy of current health and safety standards in the case country, with a view to improve it. Data collection was achieved through combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitative data was collected from workers and analysed with SPSS software. Qualitative data were also collected from participants at management level and analysed using QSR Nvivo software. Findings suggest that oil and gas construction projects were prone to health and safety related risks and challenges, compared to the rest of the sector. Construction site teams and workers were rarely involved in development of safety policies for oil and gas construction projects. There was little or no compliance to required standards and regulations at construction sites. Consequently, majority of staff especially at the shop floor level had no clear understanding of requirements and procedures that will enhance safety. In conclusion, case country companies would need radical review of their project management approach and strategies to successfully manage projects especially in oil and gas construction sector.