ENERGY CHAMBER
In April 2012, the Energy Chamber conducted an online among its 350 members to get feedback on the Safe TO Work (STOW) contractor safety management initiative. One hundred and thirty people from 104 different contracting companies responded to the survey, the results of which we would like to share with our stakeholders. STOW is a uniform certification programme for contractors' health, safety and environment (HSE) management systems and is accepted as an industry standard by the major oil, gas and petrochemical companies operating in the T&T energy sector.
People's awareness of STOW
Almost all the respondents of the survey, that is, 126 out of the 130 respondents (97 per cent), indicated they are aware of STOW and most of them believe the Energy Chamber's stated purpose for starting the STOW programme. A few respondents believe the Energy Chamber is self serving in administering the STOW programme and is also seeking to make life difficult for smaller contractors.
STOW has been in effect in the energy industry for the past two years and there is currently a June 30, 2012, deadline for all high risk contractors in the energy sector to be STOW certified. Therefore, it is not surprising STOW is well known among the contracting population. The Energy Chamber embarked on STOW to provide all contractors in the energy industry with one set of clearly defined, industry-approved principles for managing HSE which will enable them to improve their HSE performance. Most of the respondents believe that this is true. Of the 115 persons who responded to a question on the purpose of STOW, 80 per cent agreed that we embarked on STOW to develop consistent HSE prequalification requirements in T&T's energy industry and to improve contractor HSE performance. These respondents are also of the opinion that STOW is necessary for the energy industry. The other 20 per cent however, believe that the Energy Chamber is implementing STOW to generate revenue for the chamber, to market the organisation or to penalise small contractors. They are split almost 50/50 between thinking that the programme is unnecessary and being unsure of the value of the STOW.
Certification process and assessment
Most respondents indicated they understand the certification process and while applying for the STOW audit is relatively easy, the certification assessment itself is difficult. Ninety-one out of 113 persons (80 per cent) indicated they clearly understand the process involved in STOW certification, while 20 per cent are not clear on the cost of certification, the scoring used during the audit, why internationally certified companies need STOW certification and which companies do not require certification. Additionally, new companies with no history to show compliance find the process confusing. Sixty-eight respondents had applied to the Energy Chamber for the certification audit and 74 per cent found the application process easy/very easy, although most of them (68 per cent) noted that the time taken to be assigned an assessor was moderate rather than short. If the 68 respondents whose companies had applied for the audit, 64 indicated the company had gone through the STOW certification audit. Forty-six (72 per cent) respondents found the audit difficult; five (7 per cent) found it very difficult and 13 respondents (20 per cent) thought the audit was easy.
Assessors: STOW's foot soldiers
Independent assessors are the foot soldiers of STOW. They assess contractors' HSE management systems for conformance to the STOW HSE requirements and also provide consultancy services to contractors who need guidance to get STOW certified. They are the interface between the STOW Implementation Board and the contractor, so we felt it extremely important to get contractors' feedback on assessors' performance and communication skills. A higher percentage of respondents rated assessors' performance and communication skills favourably, compared to those who gave poor ratings. Of the 94 respondents who rated assessors, 61 per cent and 58 per cent rated assessors good/very good for performance and communication skills, respectively. It is significant to note that 30 per cent of respondents had no opinion of the assessors with whom they interacted. Encouragingly a higher percentage of respondents (56 per cent) think that Assessor's rates are reasonable than those who believe their rates are high (41 per cent). The Energy Chamber has been receiving complaints about the rates of assessors for some time now, so these results are welcome.
Guidance needed
The results indicate the Energy Chamber still has a bit of work to do in terms of its guidance to contractors, communication with stakeholders and provision of information. More than 30 per cent of respondents in each instance were not pleased with the Energy Chamber's performance in the areas identified. Eighty-four persons responded to questions relating to the Energy Chamber's involvement with STOW. Sixty-nine per cent of these respondents were pleased with the level of assistance provided by the chamber on STOW while 31 per cent are not pleased. Sixty-four per cent felt the chamber is doing a good job of communicating with stakeholders on the STOW programme, while 36 per cent believe our communication is poor. Additionally, 61 per cent believe the chamber and the board are providing stakeholders with the information they need on STOW. However, 39 per cent believe it is slightly easy/not easy at all to get information from the chamber and the STOW board. The Energy Chamber, the STOW Implementation Board and the assessors cannot ignore the statistics and will continue to meet with stakeholders and put measures in place to engage and assist stakeholders in a meaningful way.
Already, we have created a sample STOW manual, free of charge, for smaller contractors to tailor to their operations. We have also created online STOW training modules to be administered at the Energy Chamber's Learning Centre which will help contractors understand STOW and how to implement the HSE requirements. Additionally, we recently redesigned the STOW Web site to better serve the needs of our stakeholders and to disseminate as much information on the project as we can. The Energy Chamber will be hosting a luncheon on STOW, on June 21, 2012, when contractor and operator companies will get insight on the way forward for STOW.
Speaking at the luncheon will be Eugene Tiah, president of Phoenix Park Gas Processors, giving his take on how executive board level support for STOW helps supply chain management and Nazamudin Mohamed, managing director of Kennicon Engineering, will give a contractor's perspective, providing recommendations on the key things contractors should consider in order to become STOW certified.
The event will also provide another opportunity for contractors to give us feedback so we can continuously improve the programme.
For more information please: visit: www.stowtt.energy.tt or call: 6-ENERGY.