10 Jan
HEALTH, Safety and Environment (HSE) training provider Megamas is looking to expand to Vietnam and Thailand in 2015, its general manager said yesterday.
Mohd Roger Ainsworth said the local company – whose clients include Brunei Shell Petroleum, Total E&P Borneo and the Brunei government – plans to set up a subsidiary in Thailand to provide their training courses, especially to the oil and gas sector there.
“We have deliberated our prospects in Thailand for this year and we are very serious about providing our courses there,” Ainsworth said in an interview at their head office in Mumong.
A memorandum with a Vietnamese company is also lined up at the end of this month, allowing Megamas to provide several of its courses which include the internationally recognised National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health qualification (NEBOSH) and basic offshore safety induction and emergency training (BOSIET).
“Two of our staff will also join the Brunei government’s delegation in their visit to Oman this month. We are definitely looking forward to seeing what partnerships and opportunities we can secure,” said the Megamas general manager.
Alongside its plans to expand, Megamas – as one of the registered training organisations under Brunei’s Energy Industry Competency Framework (EICF) – will continue to equip locals with the relevant skills to make them more marketable in the oil and gas industry.
“We will soon welcome our third batch of scaffolders and riggers, part of our continuous drive under the EICF which will see them (participants) secure guaranteed jobs upon finishing.
“In my time in the industry with Megamas and Brunei Shell Petroleum, I have seen localisation take great strides. Currently at our company, 85 per cent are Bruneians.”
Another milestone may be in store for the company this year, if it continues its record of no lost time injuries (LTI).
The record will total 25 years by March 14.
“If we achieve this (25 years without LTI), it will be a significant achievement, marking us as one of the safest training providers not only regionally but in the world,” he said.
“We have already recorded a number of workplace safety awards; including receiving the International Safety Award from the British Safety Council eight times from 2004 to 2012, but this (25 years LTI free) would be a huge achievement,” he added.
Ainsworth explained that LTI ranks second on the incident safety triangle, with only fatalities in the workplace considered more severe.
“Lost time injury means that an employee has to take time off because of an injury recorded on the job.
“Most companies attempt to reduce this by having employees continue to work, but in a different capacity, so that their LTI statistics will be lower,” said Ainsworth, giving the example of an injured welder returning to work the next day, but doing administrative work.
“At Megamas this isn’t the case because statistics (dated until 2013) show that we have six years free of total recordable cases.”
Other courses offered by Megamas include defensive driving, environmental management and firefighting.
The Brunei Times
10 January 2015
Saturday