MUSCAT : In line with the World Day for Safety and Health at Work, which falls on 28th April of each year as designated by the International Labor Organization, aiming to focus on the safety, health, and wellbeing of the work environment and employees, the Oman Electricity Transmission Company (OETC) organized a two-day event on 28th and 29th April 2024. The event included various awareness and interactive workshops, accompanied by an exhibition featuring participation from numerous contractors and specialists in the field of occupational health and safety. The exhibition aimed to raise awareness and knowledge about the important and best practices in this regard and to introduce preventive measures to avoid potential risks during work operations. Additionally, the exhibition showcased the OETC’s significant initiatives and projects in the field of occupational health and safety, along with the achievements made in this area. The event also included a celebration to honor those who have excelled in quality, health, safety, security, and environmental fields, as an acknowledgment of the efforts made by employees, contractors, and all stakeholders committed to enhancing the QHSSE’s performance.

This year’s World Day for Safety and Health at Work focuses on “The Impact of Climate Change on Occupational Safety and Health,” aligning with a global effort to mitigate the effects and changes caused by industrial sectors, pollutants, and other factors resulting in climate change. These impacts directly affect the work environment, workers, and their health, encompassing risks such as heat stress, exposure to ultraviolet radiation, air pollution, major industrial accidents, and weather phenomena.

Considering the initiatives and activities carried out by OETC to promote safety and health in the work environment, Mr. Fahad Nasser Al-Kiyumi, Acting General Manager of the Quality, Health, Safety, Security, and Environment Department, emphasized the company’s commitment, along with specialized teams, to adhere to the highest internationally recognized standards to improve the work environment, ensure employees’ safety, and smooth operation processes. This commitment includes the development of various systems, regulations, policies, and necessary procedures, as well as conducting continuous audit campaigns and follow-ups to ensure everyone’s compliance and implementation of these systems.

Al-Kiyumi added, “Specialized teams are keen on conducting field visits, inspection and monitoring campaigns to ensure full compliance with international standards in this regard. This is evident through our achievement of accreditation and obtaining the ISO’s Integrated Management System (IMS) certification for six integrated systems, including the occupational health and safety system, in which we recently successfully completed the second phase of external auditing. Furthermore, these plans and strategies have positively contributed in not registering any fatal or time-wasting injuries for over 1,465 working days and have resulted in recording over 48.1 million safe working hours since the last work-related injury, according to statistics as of March 2024”.

It is worth mentioning that OETC, a member of the Nama Group, is the only company responsible for the transmission and control of electricity across the Sultanate’s network. The electricity is transmitted from production stations to distributed load centers in the governorates. The transmission network operates at a voltage of 132kV and above to cover most of the governorates in the Sultanate, whether in the north or the south. Furthermore, OETC manages the interconnection lines between Oman and the GCC interconnection network, which operates at a voltage of 220kV.