McDermott International, a leading provider of integrated engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) services for upstream field developments worldwide, has reached 45-million man-hours without a lost time incident (LTI) in its Middle East operations.

The company achieved this industry-leading quality, health, safety, environment and security (QHSES) milestone partly through the company-wide adoption of its 'Taking the Lead' programme which embeds excellence in QHSES performance into the company culture, said a statement from McDermott International.

Operating in 20 countries across the world, McDermott sets an example for sub-contractors, partners and clients for outstanding QHSES performance and will continue to raise further awareness of Taking the Lead with its vendors and partners around the world in 2017.

On its achievement, John Macpherson, the senior director at Global QHSES, said: "The safety of our staff, partners, clients and vendors is of utmost importance to McDermott and we strive to be an industry leader in QHSES."

"We have reached significant QHSES achievements at facilities around the world, and the Middle East sets a new record achievement in reaching 45-million man-hours LTI-free. We hope to continue setting a positive QHSES example across the globe," stated Macpherson.

To further evolve the QHSES culture instilled by Taking the Lead, the McDermott Operational Values (MOV) were created to identify key procedures and processes fostering safety first attitudes and behaviours, he added.

The nine MOVs are readiness planning, permit to work, energy isolation, ground disturbance, work at height, confined space entry, plant and equipment, lifting operations, management of change.

Following a global MOV rollout event in Dubai, Linh Austin, McDermott’s vice president for Middle East and Caspian region, said: "We don’t have a safety initiative, we have a safety culture; a culture where high QHSES standards are part of the McDermott DNA."

"This is thanks in part to our employee-driven initiatives like Taking the Lead and McDermott Operational Values. Our staff embodies these initiatives to find better, safer ways of working, which translates into not only improved quality of work for them, but for our customers as well," he added.-TradeArabia News Service