Policies

Safety and safe systems make excellent sense.

Our policy is to follow the tenets of Occupational Safety and Health legislation around the world with its cornerstone principles

• identify hazards
• remove or isolate hazards
• and where not removable minimize hazards by physical and educational means

Thus we have a policy of looking our for new hazards and taking the cornerstone steps outlined above.

The principal types of hazard are

• biological
• chemical
• electrical
• heat
• mechanical
• radiation
• sound
• Construction

and pretty much every hazard imaginable can be allocated to one of these categories.

The lists below indicate common sources of danger

Biological dangers

• biological diseases
• contaminated water
• parasites
• plants with spikes
• poisonous plants
• snake venom
• wild animals

Chemical dangers

• carcinogenic compounds
• explosions
• highly inflammable compounds
• poisonous compounds

Electrical dangers

• improperly insulated cables
• improperly operating electrical appliance and equipment
• lightning

Heat and cold dangers

• Hot tools, equipment and other objects
• Hot water and hot chemicals
• Items which are burning
• Frozen items and walk-in freezers

Mechanical dangers

• closing doors and containers
• controlled heavy objects
• falling heavy objects
• falling from heights
• flying objects
• moving vehicles, ships, trains, cranes
• sharp objects and tools
• slippery surfaces

Radiation

• High-intensity light as in arc-welding
• High-intensity microwaves
• High-intensity radio-frequency waves
• High intensity UV sources
• High intensity UV sources
• X-rays

Sound

• jet-aircraft
• loud machinery
• power tools
• very loud music

Construction

• electrical
• excavation and trenching
• falls
• stairways and ladder
• scaffolding
• heavy construction equipment

On a construction site only some of these hazards can actually be eliminated or isolated completely. Some can be locked up so that only specialist workers can get near to them.

The great majority of hazards/dangers to people and structures have to be protected against to ensure the safety of people and structures.

Our policy is to pro-actively train our personnel to equip them with

• knowledge of the hazards they will encounter in their work by way of education and testing
• methods to protect themselves from those dangers
• insistence that they wear and use protective equipment appropriate to the areas of danger
• first aid training so that minor injuries are able to be dealt with promptly
• the ability to identify new hazards and to promptly notify management so that they may be dealt with appropriately

Thus typical protective measures which personnel are required to take include but are not limited to

• taking care in ‘jungle’ environments and where necessary wearing protective clothing and using repellents
• drinking water which they is potable
• unless trained to deal with fuels and chemicals to treat them all as dangerous
• avoiding inhalation of known carcinogenic materials by either staying distant or wearing appropriate masks and respiratory equipment
• being careful in areas where hot liquids, gases (such as steam) and solids are being worked with, following the prescribed safe procedures
• not striking matches nor using lighters in the proximity of re-fuelling areas
• wearing hardhats and steel toed footwear in areas of risk of heavy objects
• education in the safe use of electrical items, in particular power tools
• watching carefully all moving objects such as door, vehicles, cranes, people carrying large items
• not standing on chairs on wheels
• watching where walking to avoid slippery surfaces
• being careful in relation to hot objects, wearing the appropriate protective clothing and gloves when working with them
• wearing special gloves where handrails may be slippery or there is a risk or splinters or other forms of damage to hands and fingers
• wearing safety glasses where power tools are in use or dust is a problem
• taking notice of high radiation notices and staying away from the areas to which the warning applies
• wearing appropriate masks when welding and not watching welding when not directly involved
• handling radioisotopes in industrial situations must only be done by trained personnel .

It is important that people and structures be kept safe from mis-appropriation and damage by others.

Accordingly our policy is to have appropriate means of locking items away safely when personnel are absent, utilizing physical fencing and electronic surveillance where necessary and employment of guards the extent to which these measures are taken depending on the associated risk in the particular locations concerned.

All vehicles are to be locked when not occupied. All offices and buildings are to be locked out of hours and special areas may be locked during working hours when unoccupied, depending on the assessed risk.

It is important that personnel be healthy.

In relation to work-place health our policy is to insist that our employees follow our safety policies and procedures.

It is acceptable for personnel to take sick-leave for genuine illness but not otherwise.

The policy for debilitating diseases such as malaria and any others endemic in the area to require personnel to take the medical precautions advised to the company by medical practitioners and to operate with the same requirements as any company hiring our services, in particular that of ExxonMobil.

Some employees like to work through specified break periods in order to create a reason to arrive late or leave early. Breaks exist to give employees time rejuvenate after 2 hour periods of work. Such breaks enhance their performance and reduce accidents and other mistakes. The policy therefore is that personnel must pause totally from work sometime in the half hour 2 hours into the morning and the same in the afternoon. (There is a health benefit of breaks and a consequential work and safety benefit.

Employees must also pause totally from work activities for at least 30 minutes in the designated lunch period. By arrangement they may be allowed to shorten the lunch break period to 30 minutes but not less.

Nowadays the knowledge available in the world with respect to activities which are deleterious to the environment is far superior to that 100 years ago. Therefore there is no need for individuals and organizations to operate as though this knowledge does not exist – that is as if they were still in the dark ages.

Our policy with respect to the environment is that all waste is to be disposed of according to the procedures of the government, local authority and any company engaging our services and where possible to do better than that.

Where any of our personnel act contrary to our SHES policies they will be issued warnings, disciplined and even have their employment terminated, depending on the severity of their transgression or repeated contrary actions.

Malaria is a debilitating disease so needs to be guarded against. Staff may be subjected to medical tests from time to time to detect malaria. Standard precautions to minimize the breeding of the malaria vector mosquitoes will be strongly encouraged.

Expatriate personnel will be required to demonstrate that they have had the relevant prophylactic vaccinations/inoculations.

It is an offence for any employee of Prime Integrated Engineering Works (PIEW) To be under the influence of alcohol or in possession of or under the influence of any Non-prescription drug such as cocaine, amphetamine, marijuana, hashish Or other illegal or controlled substance while working in its office or residing on any job site, including water borne operation or property

Under the control of Prime Integrated Engineering Works (PIEW) To this effect Prime Integrated Engineering Works (PIEW) through its security personnel reserves the right to make occasional search on its employees and contractors working in Prime Integrated Engineering Works (PIEW) base, site or in any of its facilities to ensure compliance.

Furthermore Prime Integrated Engineering Works (PIEW) staffs are obliged not to resist any of such searches for non-prescription drugs / alcohol by our client or Government agencies such as the Nigerian drug law enforcement agency (NDLEA) or affiliated agencies.

This policy applies to all operations and all locations on a 24-hours basis