Working together for a safer energy sector – 17 Operating Companies Sign STOW Charter
One of the headline events at the Energy Chamber’s recent Trinidad and Tobago Energy Conference was the signing of the Safe TO Work (STOW) Charter by seventeen of the biggest energy sector companies operating in Trinidad & Tobago.
Executives of the companies signed the STOW Charter center stage before approximately five hundred delegates, including the Minister of Energy and other senior Government officials. The Charter outlines their mutual support of STOW and their agreement to adopt the STOW certification system to prequalify service contractors seeking work with their respective companies.
The signing of the Charter is an impressive achievement for the Energy Chamber and is the result of three years work with the major oil and gas companies, to develop and implement a uniform system to determine whether service contractors meet the health, safety and environmental (HSE) requirements of operators in the energy industry.
In the past each of the major customers in the energy sector had their unique way of auditing and evaluating a service company or contractor’s HSE capability before putting them on their bid lists.
Signatories to the STOW Charter now have a uniform way of identifying and prequalifying service contractors whose HSE management systems are aligned with minimum internationally acceptable HSE principles.
Service contractors who want to work with any one of the 17 signatories have to be assessed against the STOW minimum HSE requirements by an Independent Assessor, trained and certified through the STOW programme. The actual certification of companies will be granted by the STOW Implementation Board, a standing committee of the Energy Chamber made up of representatives of the major oil and gas companies, plus the CEO of the Chamber.
Now that the Charter is in effect, the STOW Implementation Board will set deadlines for “mandatory” STOW certification for suppliers and energy service contractors. STOW certification is not a legal requirement under the laws of Trinidad & Tobago, however after the stipulated deadline, it will become a basic requirement for doing business with the signatories to the Charter. The intention is to move towards “mandatory” certification on a phased basis starting with service companies and contractors that regularly provide high risk services, before moving to high risk service companies and contractors that are used occasionally and then to medium risk companies and so on.
The independent assessment of service companies through STOW simplifies and streamlines the procurement process for the energy sector companies. In the past their project managers and HSE staff were expending a huge amount of time, effort and resources in compliance and audit work with contractors during the procurement process. It also reduces the associated costs of prequalifying companies.
Likewise, getting on a bid list is an expensive exercise for service contractors. Under STOW, service contractors will be certified every two years. Signatories to the Charter have agreed that within this time period and as far as reasonable, service contractors will be allowed to submit only their STOW certificate rather than extensive HSE documentation when prequalifying for work with the respective companies; eliminating duplication of effort.
The Energy Chamber is currently testing the STOW certification system on a pilot group of four (4) small and medium sized service contractors using funds from a generous grant from the Inter-American Development Bank. The pilot will be extended to another 26 eligible companies who will also receive a grant to become STOW certified.
Service contractors that are not eligible for the pilot or are not selected can also get a head start on STOW certification by completing the online STOW HSE Management System Self Check Questionnaire at http://stcic.org/ftpcontractorsdb /cdbstart.php. The results of the questionnaire will indicate the gaps between the company’s HSE management system and STOW.
The Energy Chamber will also be hosting a series of workshops during the year to give participants a clear understanding of the STOW HSE requirements so they are able to interpret them and begin implementation of the requirements in their respective companies.
The Energy Chamber expects that the remaining major energy sector companies will adopt the STOW certification system after proper review of their in-house prequalification process and upon completion of the pilot.
Further information at http://www.stcic.org/
The following are the signatories to the STOW Charter:-
L to R: Trinity Power Limited - Jacqueline Look Loy, General Manager; BHP Billiton Trinidad & Tobago - Vincent Pereira, President; National Energy Corporation of Trinidad & Tobago - Andrew Jupiter, President; Methanol Holdings (Trinidad) Limited - Rampersad Motilal, Chief Executive Officer; Repsol E&P Trinidad & Tobago Limited - Allan Russell, Business Advisor; EOG Resources Trinidad Limited - Brian Baptiste, Manager Project Coordination; BG Trinidad & Tobago Limited - Derek Hudson, President & Asset General Manager; Methanex Trinidad Limited - Charles Percy, Managing Director; Nu-Iron Unlimited Trinidad & Tobago - Lester Hart, Managing Director & General Manager; The National Gas Company of Trinidad & Tobago Limited - Andrew Mc Intosh, President; bpTT - Norman Christie, Vice President, Commercial and Market; Phoenix Park Gas Processors - Eugene Tiah, President; Petroleum Company of Trinidad & Tobago Limited – Kenneth Allum, President; Atlantic LNG Company of Trinidad & Tobago - Oscar Prieto, Chief Executive Officer; Yara Trinidad Limited - Francois Servantie, President; Ten Degrees North Energy Limited - Joel Pemberton, Chief Executive Officer.
