Oil | Business | Culture

ISSUE 2 SUMMER 2004 SONANGOL universoANGOLA | OIL | BUSINESS | CULTURE I DEEPWATER FRONTIER First new licensing round in a decade I SAFE CONDUCT Multi-million dollar initiative on health, safety & the environment I ANOTHER COUNTRY Opening up the interior of Angola The learning process will accelerate over the next three years by giving every employee appropriate training by 2007. demonstrate their commitment to this value one of the company’s production units. through their behaviour and attitude. The last “We have a new national contingency element, auditing, is designed to ensure con- plan,” he explains. “The idea is to have disper- tinuous improvement.” sal points, with trained staff who can respond While employees have given the new sys- immediately to any spillage. We know that all tem a positive reception, the biggest challenge the operating companies have their own sys- has been to alter the culture within the organi- tems, but we too need to plan for a big sation. catastrophe. This plan has already been drawn “Be it quality, health, safety or the envi- up and all that remains are technical and legal ronment, each element requires a big change details. It will be ready in the second quarter of in terms of attitude and the way we think,” da this year.” Silva says. “I’m surprised, but people are very, Another priority is to raise quality stan- very interested and the concept has been very dards to international levels with the aim of well received from top to bottom. achieving certification such as ISO-9000. “The big difficulty though, is that we are “We will help units develop those stan- talking about something that will have to dards,” he says. “Our plans are to make each change attitudes and change behaviour. And one clean and safe from the point of view of changing the behaviour of people is not easy.” health, the environment and quality. Persuading its own drivers to allow their Certification won’t come soon and we are just skills to be monitored by an in-cab device as at the very beginning of this process, although part of the new health and safety programme some of our new buildings, such as our head C H R I S was one of Sonangol’s first hurdles. The QHSE office and the company clinic, will be certified T O P H department introduced “Drive Right”, a tool from day one.” E I L L E designed to monitor a driver’s behaviour, There are also steps being taken towards M A S S including speed, acceleration and braking. cutting gas flaring – ideally to zero – which will E N E “Statistics show that the cause of most coincide with the start-up of Angola LNG, a road accidents is human error, so although we massive gas export project scheduled to never losing sight of its special responsibility don’t have a long record of accidents, if we launch in 2009. “Be it quality, health, safety or the to Angola as a whole. want to change something it’s the people we Specific health and safety measures that “In everything we do, we must think about need to work on and train,” da Silva says. were implemented by Sonangol in Pesquisa & environment, each element requires a our country and its priorities, because we There was some reticence among sea- Produção in 2003, will see a more immediate believe that we are a major driving force soned company drivers to suddenly having impact, including more frequent inspections big change in terms of attitude and the behind national development,” explains da their driving skills analysed, but an extensive of support vessels chartered by the company, way we think.” Silva. “So we decided to go round the world training programme delivered the message and updated emergency response procedures and see what people are doing in Europe, in that the exercise was not designed to have for Block 34. Valente da Silva, Sonangol’s head of QHSE the Middle East, in South America. We went implications for their jobs, but to reduce acci- In addition, a new QHSE appendix for all through every element of each QHSE manage- dents. It paid off, as shown by a reduction contract and tender document system, to examine how they could evident at the Pesquisa & Produção ments is being developed, apply to the Sonangol internal and external (Exploration and Production) subsidiary, with as are new procedure This was a painstaking process, bringing environment.” drivers even reporting near-misses and using guidelines on personal pro- on board managers from all departments to After two years of planning and re-struc- the systems in their own cars. tective equipment, alcohol ensure that the QHSE message would filter turing, 2004 sees a special focus on QHSE The QHSE management system at and drug abuse, as well as a down from the top. within the company with the implementation Sonangol also extends to our clients and some new document on the pre- “We instituted extensive training pro- of the QHSE management system. The learn- relevant organisations and government vention of malaria. grammes, with the objective of building a ing process will accelerate over the next three departments, such as the Port Authority, and With the department common foundation across the organisation, years by giving every employee appropriate the transport and petroleum ministries. reporting no major inci- so that all staff would have the same apprecia- training by 2007. “We want to convey what we’ve learnt to dents and only a handful of tion of precisely what quality, health, safety The Sonangol QHSE management system them, and look at ways of coming together so minor incidents in 2003, and environment means – and to have a com- is comprised of 14 elements, from leadership we’re not all acting separately in the event of most of which were illness- mon understanding in terms of function and responsibility to auditing. an incident,” says da Silva. es, it looks like Sonangol’s C procedure,” says da Silva. As da Silva explains: “Essentially, the first One example of the improved cooperation “Drive Right” participants H R I S T With a benchmark of the ways in which element – leadership and responsibility – says is the joint team being established with the are not the only ones going O P H E QHSE management systems have been imple- that safety, health and environment is one of Ministry of Petroleum to deal with the conse- in the right direction when I L L E mented in other companies, Sonangol was the most important values of the company quences of a “worst-case scenario”, which, it comes to health and M A S S O E able to learn from its international peers, while and in order to make it happen, leaders must according to da Silva, would be a blowout at safety. N E 30 SONANGOL UNIVERSO SUMMER 2004 31 A REGIONAL FOCUS L O G Benguela’s tree-lined streets are among the N A most pleasing in Angola – and it is small E D wonder that its citizens seem to smile a lot. I S N stroll down Benguela’s boulevards is Goods from all parts of the world arrive I Picture like a breath of fresh air – with the city’s through the port city of Lobito, about 30 kms Awide, open spaces, picturesque squares north of the provincial capital. Even during the and cooling ocean breeze complementing its war years, it continued to supply the province acacia-lined streets. with at least the basics, thereby stimulating It is from these trees with their ruby-red business. “Having the port meant that even blossom that the capital of the province, takes during the war years we received significant its sobriquet, A Cidade das Acacias Rubras investment in Benguela,” Ricardo says. Per fect (City of the Red Acacias). Although today it is only operating at 45 But visitors at any time of year cannot fail percent of its capacity, the port is growing all to be won over by Benguela’s easy coastal the time. Coupled with the ongoing recon- charm and its magnificent views over the struction of the famous Benguela railway, Atlantic Ocean. there is plenty of potential to attract still more “I simply adore Benguela,” says one for- products for distribution across Angola and mer resident who regretted having to leave beyond its borders. when her children started university in “[The port] is recovering its pride as the Luanda. “It’s so calm, so tranquil, so lovely,” major emporium of commodities from the she says. “It has everything.” western coast of the African continent thanks Stylish shops and continental cafes can be to its connections with Benguela Railways found on many of its street corners, while a which links the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean,” choice of restaurants serve fresh fish and states a Port Authority brochure. seafood prepared in local tradition or using The province has also proved to be a mag- recipes from as far as Portugal or Brazil. net for other industries. A trip deeper into the province itself (also “The most important activity launched in called Benguela) will reveal why residents and Benguela province in the last 10 years is visitors alike rave about Benguela’s beauty and Sonamet. It has had a major impact on the why its people seem to be forever smiling. lives of the local people. Substantial resources Lying around 500 kilometres directly have been allocated to the workers and to their south of Luanda, the fertile province of 1.9 families, and this money is a considerable con- million people was one of those least affected tribution to the local economy,” says one local by the war – and it shows.

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