The South Trinidad Chamber of Industry and Commerce (STCIC) is pleased to announce that it is now accepting applications from its energy services members to be among the initial group of companies in the pilot of the Safe TO Work (STOW) project. Selected members will be beneficiaries of grant funds to be utilized towards becoming compliant to the STOW Minimum heath, safety and environmental (HSE) Requirements.
STOW is a joint effort of the STCIC, Association of Upstream Operators of Trinidad & Tobago (AUOTT) and Point Lisas Energy Association (PLEA) to develop consistent health, safety and environmental (HSE) requirements to pre-qualify contractors in the energy sector. The ultimate expectation is that local service contractors will have a better chance of winning contracts with the major oil and gas companies in Trinidad & Tobago.
At present certification to the STOW Minimum HSE Requirements is voluntary, but the STOW Implementation Board, the STCIC and the major oil and gas companies are actively moving towards having the STOW certification mandatory for all service providers in the energy sector.
During the pilot, selected energy services companies will work with Independent Assessors who have been authorized by the STOW Implementation Board to advise and assess companies on the STOW Minimum HSE Requirements.
The pilot, which tests the STOW independent certification system, will commence with an initial group of eight (8) companies selected from the STCIC’s membership and will continue with a wider group of twenty-two (22) companies.
The first eight (8) companies will be reimbursed 50% of Independent Assessor fees up to a maximum of $TT 30,000 for implementation and $TT 12,000 for assessment. The remaining twenty-two (22) companies will be reimbursed 30% of Independent Assessor fees up to a maximum of $TT 18,000 for implementation and $TT 7,200 for assessment.
The grant funds for the pilot are part of a larger grant from the Inter-American Development Bank to implement the STOW project.Companies eligible for the first group of the pilot must be:-
• Owned, controlled and operated by Trinidad & Tobago nationals
• Companies with gross annual sales less than or equal to $TT 30.0 million
• Able and committed to providing counterpart (own) funds to become certified to the STOW HSE Minimum Requirements
• Providing services to Trinidad & Tobago’s energy sector
• Members of the STCIC for at least 2 years
Interested STCIC members are asked to visit the STOW website at www.stowtt.stcic.org and download the Procedural Manual on the STOW pilot programme which contains the application form and other information pertinent to applying for the grant.
Applications must reach the STOW Project Office by 16th October 2009.
