By Mikhail Chaika, HSES Manager
Unfortunately on the 29th of October we had a car incident which occurred on the Road from OPF to Nogliki. The maximum road speed limit is 60 km/hr. At the time of the accident the car drove 54 km/hr. Due to changing weather conditions and ice on the road SNGS driver didn’t choose the speed according to these conditions and as a result the car skidded, slid off the road and rolled over. The driver and his SEIC passenger didn’t sustain any injuries as they were wearing seat belts and the car was equipped with roll bars. This incident and lessons learned were immediately delivered to all SNGS employees working in LNG, OPF and office in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.
SNGS management is taking HSES very serious and cannot stress enough to all our employees to adhere to all the Safety rules. You are all requested to continue to report “near misses”, so others can learn from this. Reporting “near misses” can safe lives. Only with all of your help, we can make this work.
Our families and friends expect us all to be coming home in good health. In this respect I would also like to remind everyone that with the changing weather conditions, you all make sure you are prepared for ice and snow conditions and traffic in particular. In case you walk in the streets we advise you to walk on the side of the road where you can see the vehicles coming into your direction. We also provide all employees with Yaktracks (snow chains) which you can easily put under your shoes in case of snow or icy conditions in the streets.
Currently the situation in both sites LNG and OPF is stable regarding safety performance of multiple tasks by SNGS employees, but there is a lot of room for improvement.
SNGS Site Managers are doing their best to encourage all staff working in the safe manner. They run safety meetings, personally talk to people about their safety concerns and lead by an example on how work safely.
My vision of SNGS safety culture is when every individual is trained to recognize hazards on his/her workplace, the person is able to asses risks associated with these hazards and can take actions in order to prevent incidents.
“Zero incidents” is our goal as we know that all incidents are avoidable. I hope that all of us will contribute in the process of achieving it!
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Mikhail Chaika | Михаил Чайка |
As SNGS HSES Manager I would like to inform you about some HSE issues that should be interesting for all SNGS staff.
Having worked for the company for about 5 months I can say that SNGS is one of those organizations that provide service in oil and gas business following international standards and doing all requested works safely.
What I like in SNGS is that a lot of people used to work in the past for different international projects and received good experience on how to work safely. They also help their colleagues working around to take care about their safety. When I ask these people a question: “who is responsible for safety?”, the more likely answer is: “Of course myself!”. It means they understand that safety is not just a word, but it has become their state of mind and they can hardly imagine themselves at work or at home not following it.
As the SNGS HSE Manager I would like to see all people to take the responsibility for safety not because it is required by the Law or by the company’s regulations to do so, but because they fully understand that without safety we cannot work effectively, thus to make profit for the company and our clients and as a result support our families well.
And we must be continuously working to achieve this goal!
Important Information
Liquefied natural gas (LNG)
- Natural gas is cooled and condensed into a liquid. This liquid is mainly (about 90%) methane. To be stored liquid at atmospheric pressure it must be cooled to minus 161 degrees Celsius
- It expands to 600 times its volume from liquid to gaseous phase and may create an Oxygen Deficiency hazard. Can cause narcotic effects if inhaled
- Is flammable because LNG vapor will form an explosive mixture with oxygen
- Can cause severe cryogenic (cold) burns if in contact with skin.
Nitrogen
- Liquid N2 can cause severe frostbite and cold burns like LNG
- Always handle liquid N2 and gaseous N2 in well-ventilated areas to prevent excessive concentrations of gas. Liquid N2 can rapidly be converted into gas at 700 times the liquid volume. It may then kill by asphyxiation.
Degrees of asphyxia will occur when the atmosphere contains less than 20.9% oxygen by volume.
Oxygen Deficiency hazard (oxygen % in the air)
- 20 – 14% oxygen: Reduction of physical and intellectual performance without person’s knowledge.
- 14 – 10% oxygen: Judgement becomes faulty. Severe injuries may cause no pain. Temper easily aroused. Rapid fatigue on exertion.
- 10 – 6% oxygen: Nausea and vomiting may appear. Loss of ability to move vigorously or at all. Inability to walk, stand or crawl is often first warning and it comes too late. Person may realize they are dying but does not care. Resuscitation possible if carried out immediately.
- 0 – 6% oxygen: Fainting almost immediate, painless death ensues, brain damage even if rescued.