Hi all I was just looking for some advice. What type of staffing levels are required on a large power and water plant in the Middle East we have around 120 permanent employees and around 50-150 contract staff day to day. The culture is currently poor and I was thinking of a Health and Safety manager, a Health and Safety Officer a Trainee Health and Safety Officer, and a nurse. I was wondering on other people's view of this department and is it enough or too much. The department would also have to look after the permit system aswell. Any advice would be great

Dear Jim Thanks very much for your reply any advice is great. Im quite familar with the UK setups and to be honest some stations dont even have one guy. The main difference is the the UK is heavily regulated and demands high competancy levels of anyone you employee, or your contractor employes and usually you can get the standard quite easily. The differance is in the Middle East the skills simply arent there. If they are there the basic hazard awareness and understanding or risk certainly is not. Its a real eye opener to be honest and not quite as i expected. I also agree with you regarding the permit system and to be honest the team wouldnt be looking after actual permit preperation just ensuring compliance with the safety rules etc. The issue is the PTW is relatively new to them and they cant understand why they cant just work on anything anytime. So we need to montior the situation and there are some improvements reuqired also and so training needs. My main reason for the having the Health and Safety Officier is to act as a policeman monitoring the site daily and ensuring the safety culture improves. The other aspect is succession management if i can develop the Health and Safety Officier to a level were by he can take over the role of health and safety manager and then the trainee step up to officier. This would have less of an affect on the long term plan and the standards shouldnt drop. With regard to cost the roles should be relatively cheap as labour is extremely cheap in this part of the world hence the standard. But with the right people and a good development plan i think we will be able to gain the rewards. Best Regards Adam

Its an interesting question, I'm in a different industry (A maintenance Unit) consisting of 240 employees and 150 contractors. There used to be A Senior Safety Engineer and a Safety Engineer (That's me) but Ive been on my own since December last year when the Senior Safety Engineer retired and am waiting for his (Host Nation National) to arrive in place.

In my view the system for managing H&S is the same the world over e.g. It is the direct line manager backed up by senior management who should manage. However as labour is so cheap hire some people in to ensure that H&S is adhered to and keep the H&S people as people that the employees/managers can turn to and trust and to be providers of guidance etc. That said we all exist in the real world so do what you can and take care to show respect to local custom and culture