Committed to its liabilities under the HSE Policy and minimization of operational and occupational risks, AfriCorp Petroleum Group develop and implement corporate health, safety and environmental protection programs.
PROGRAM SCOPES
- training and professional development of AfriCorp Petroleum employees.
- compliance of working places with regulatory requirements.
- supply of personal protection equipment, sanitation supplies, medical and preventive care.
- health safety arranged in line with state and corporate standards. Â
- industrial, fire safety and health management, legal, regulatory and organizational support.
- emergency prevention and response.
- compliance of AfriCorp Petroleum’s facilities and assets with health, industrial and fire safety regulatory requirements.
- • adequate scientific and technical solutions to respond to challenges.
PREVENTING ACCIDENTS AT WORK
Aiming to decrease accidents at work rates, the Company seeks to:
- improve working conditions across AfriCorp Petroleum companies and contractors and as a result to decrease rates of accidents at works and occupational diseases;
- mitigate risks of emergencies, accidents, fires, etc. at the facilities of AfriCorp Petroleum’s companies.
To prevent accidents at work, the Company regularly identifies risks in line with the corporate standard and, taking measures to manage these risks, makes steps to guarantee health and safety. Accident and injury rates are communicated to staff employees and contracted personnel. In addition, the Company carries out targeted work with contractors in terms of compliance with HSE requirements throughout the term of contractual relations, including annual reviews of HSE condition and compliance with corporate requirements
If an accident occurs, AfriCorp Petroleum companies have to respond in a manner, envisaged by laws of the countries where the accident happened, and by corporate standards that request
- immediate notification on all occurrences, including accidents with contracted personnel;
- registration of accident-related data in the corporate safety information system;
- investigations, analysis of circumstances and causes of accidents.
The Company regularly inspects its counteragents for their health and safety compliance throughout the contract period.
Communicated to AfriCorp Petroleum companies, these findings are discussed at AfriCorp Petroleum’s BoD HSE Committee meetings and during Safety Days, attended by representatives of trade unions and major contractors. Analyses of accidents, including those with contractors’ employees, are included in the annual HSE report, reviewed by the Management Committee and the Board of Directors of AfriCorp Petroleum.
The findings are also used to plan and implement new measures to contribute to prevention and/or mitigation of potential damage under similar circumstances.
HAZARD DETERMINATION AND RISK IDENTIFICATION
Determination of hazards, evaluation of risks, and application of governance measures to eliminate hazards and minimize HSE risks across the AfriCorp Petroleum Group take place in accordance with the corporate standards “Health, Safety, and Environment Management System. Managing Risks and Environmental Aspects”.
The efficiency of the said processes is reviewed as part of internal audits conducted under “Health, Safety, and Environment Management System. Auditing Procedure”, or as part of annual AfriCorp Petroleum HSE reports submitted to the Management Committee.
The procedures for alerting the personnel to any potential hazards, or near-accidents that are workflow-related, are governed by local regulations of the company entities.
GUARANTEES AND COMPENSATIONS
Fully complying with the legislation in terms of guarantees and compensations, to which employees are entitled, the Company takes up additional commitments under agreements with the trade union association.
According to a special working conditions appraisal, the Company compensates harmful work environment, guaranteeing shorter workweeks, additional paid leaves, higher salaries depending on the degree of harm to health, working conditions produce. A special paragraph of the agreement establishes deterioration of compensations to employees, provided with these compensations as of the date of a law on special assessment came into force, as inadmissible, unless working conditions are upgraded for these employees.
Other compensations, received by AfriCorp Petroleum employees, include:
- quality, certified working clothing, footwear and other personal protection equipment, provided on the employer’s account;
- milk and other equivalent food products, health and preventive products, washing and decontaminating agents for free and in line with effective rates;
- supplies of potable water to working places and sparkling salty water to hot shops;
- mandatory pre-employment, regular and advanced medical examinations and extraordinary medical examinations upon employees’ requests and medical recommendations on the employer’s account, job and average pay protected leaves guaranteed and travel expenses to occupational health centers covered.
WORKING CONDITIONS
Before new employees proceed to work, they attend pre-employment HSE orientation sessions to familiarize themselves with:
- harmful substances used in production processes,
- harmful substances and industrial hazards at working place;
- health risks and special assessment of working conditions;
- compensations and personal protection equipment;
- causes of accidents at work.
The Company is consistent in its effort to improve working conditions. Special assessment of working conditions, that replaced the earlier available certification of working places against working conditions, is the basic tool to assess working conditions in Nigeria, today. A package of measures to improve working conditions, introduced in recent years, provided for a steady decrease in the number of employees working in harmful conditions.
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH
Management of occupational health risks forms the foundation of the corporate health monitoring system. The risks management paradigm helps identify typical threats to health (increased noise, vibration, chemical substances, intensity of labor, etc.). If risks, defined on a AfriCorp Petroleum’s company level are assessed as significant, the Company proceeds to develop measures to control these risks and mitigate their impact.
The Company has appointed a health ambassador, who consults employees on health protection together with trade unions.
Our operational units monitor indices that are characteristic of working conditions. The findings help draft priority proposals on how to improve working conditions with regard to major affecting factors and how to rationalize work and rest schedule. These proposals are included in the Annual Report to AfriCorp Petroleum Management Committee.Â
Financing all necessary health protection measures, the Company allocates funds for voluntary medical insurances, infrastructure (medical stations and health posts), preventive measures, sports and leisure. Medical services (first aid, preventive care, epidemic prevention) are available at onsite medical facilities. Over one hundred medical offices, pre-trip examination rooms, paramedic stations and physician offices, located in the immediate vicinity to working places, provide easier access to health care and first aid treatment.
Committed to privacy, the Company has no access to personal medical details. Medical organizations rendering health services under voluntary medical insurance policies do not communicate this sensitive information to any of AfriCorp Petroleum companies.
The Company provides all essential health care services as required by the legislation. Employees of all AfriCorp Petroleum’s companies undergo mandatory pre-employment and regular medical examinations, their procedures, checkup scopes and medical specialists prescribed in line with the Nigerian legislation. All employees, working in harmful or hazardous conditions, must take medical examinations in designated medical centers once in every five years. Employees, working with sources of increased danger, undergo mandatory psychiatric evaluation at least once in every five years.
