According to International statistics, 120 million occupational accidents occur annually at workplaces worldwide. Of these, 210,000 are fatal accidents.
Nigeria's oil and gas industry is the largest on the African continent with many triumphs and also set-backs due to major challenges:
- Regulatory framework uncertainties
- Corruption
- Poor infrastructure
- Poor compliance to international operation policies.
- Inefficient basic first-aid training for workers in high risks and critical operations.
- Unavailability of the qualified facilities and personnel at the referral hospitals.
- Issues with health insurance.
Hot topics are to develop, promote and encourage safety knowledge and technical know-how. Educate on how to fully enforce standards and ethics in the practice of safety, and address the challenges of managing health in an offshore or remote site location in the Oil and Gas Industry.
Key Industry Professionals
Dr Nnamdi Ilodiuba - is the current President of the Institute of Safety Professional of Nigeria (ISPON). He specialises and recommends good preventive healthcare practices for health and safety of workers, geared specifically towards the Oil and Gas industry in Nigeria.
Dr Okon Akiba – is the Health & Services manager at OKLNG, and the National Chairman of the Society of Occupational and Environmental Health Physician of Nigeria (SOEPHON). He specialises and recommends on the Challenges of managing health in an offshore or remote site location in the Oil and Gas Industry.
Dr Olutomiwa Ogunbona - is our Flying Doctors Medical and Corporate Services Manager, a specialist in Medical Evacuation and Emergency Transport in Nigeria.
Specific recommendations for Oil and Gas industry in Nigeria, Africa
Accident Preventative Measures: By investigating every incident, we learn about causes and can take action towards mitigating and removing. Making special provisions for emergency services on site such as fire, police, coast guard and emergency medical services (EMS) and preparation for higher risk incidents of civil unrest and violent crime should all be taken into consideration.
Medical Emergency Response (MER): Utilising and implementing telemedicine solutions such as the Internet and live video link for providing a variety of immediate treatment options for the offshore or remote workforce via allocated advanced first aid responders.
Preventing onsite Infectious Disease: Preparation of policy documents to include strategies that cover a safe working environment, adopt prophylaxis schemes to prevent disease and insuring staff are fully immunized against infectious disease where possible. Continue to emphasise and educate on total hygiene, particularly hand washing and a healthier lifestyle. Keep up with CDC (Centre for Disease Prevention and Control) adopting industry recommendations and staff training programmes that help recognize symptoms of possible infectious disease.
At Flying Doctors, we believe that our mission is to deal with geography hurdles when assisting and responding to remote location emergency situations. We try to overcome geographical difficulties and their negative effects on patient care.
Those services include medical evacuation, health cover, remote sites services, medical waste disposal, healthcare consultancy and occupational health.
We operate medical and medico-logistical services for corporate bodies running high-risk operations like oil and gas, mining, construction, telecoms and manufacturing companies.
Since operations in these sectors often involve expatriates and indigenous employees, we have developed bespoke specific plans with corporate clients unique to individual needs to accommodate the speedy handling of emergencies arising from work-associated incidents.
If you would like to discuss your business needs with our expert panel, then please contact us with a brief outline of how we can assist:
management@flyingdoctorsnigeria.com
