Managing Director of the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company Limited (NPDC), Ali Zarah, yesterday, stressed the need for workers to imbibe Health Safety and Environment Culture (HSE) to attain goal zero on fatality during operations.

Speaking during the HSE week at the NPDC Head Office in Benin City, with theme PIA and HSE Goal Zero: Achieving performance Excellence, Zarah, who was represented by the Executive Director, Engineering and Technical Services, Ibrahim Sarafa, said the HSE week was a period set aside to jointly reflect on the journey towards attaining goal zero injury, accidents and zero impact on the environment in all NPDC’s operational areas.

He noted that every step taken in the industry without considering HSE was an intentional step to violate policies, standards, and statutes and ultimately cause self- destruction.

He said: “Any Business endeavour we embark upon has both positive and negative impact and we must intentionally work for the positives to remain in business.

“This is the more reason safety comes first in all our operations so as to attain goal zero. To have a corporate and socially responsible NPDC, we must imbibe positive safety culture and conduct our businesses in a sustainable manner with no adverse effect on people, environment, assets and our image.

“Many unfortunate accidents have happened around us to buttress the negative impact of ignoring safety concerns.”

He explained that the MySafety platform was created to offer the opportunity to sustain preventive reporting to eliminate avoidable accidents during operations

In his welcome address, the Manager, HSE department, Mr. Ayodele Olusanya said the HSE week is a yearly awareness event that offers a platform for the department to showcase and drive its organisational mandate.

He said the week was one of the many tools employed to drive awareness and propagate the importance of HSE in the oil and gas operations.