Ras Laffan Emergency and Safety College (RLESC), a partnership and collaboration between Qatar Petroleum and the Ministry of Interior, was opened at the Ras Laffan Industrial City, Doha.

It is an emergency and safety training college, designed to provide advance training to professionals in the oil, gas, petrochemical, civil defence, civil and military aviation in the Mena region and Africa.

The college is spread over a total of one million metres and equipped with modern classrooms, range of simulators and indoor and outdoor facilities.

It was inaugurated by the Prime Minister and Interior Minister of Qatar Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nasser Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, in the presence of other dignitaries including ministers, senior officials, foreign guests and a number of oil and gas industry leaders and safety professionals.  

Dr Al-Sada said: “RLESC is aimed at raising the level of local and regional capabilities in public safety and emergency management, which makes it one of the most important initiatives in this field.”

“The college will serve the industrial sector from its location in the world’s biggest natural gas liquefaction site and as an important tool in protecting lives and properties,” he added.

RLESC will initially offer training and courses in fire emergency and safety, industrial fire fighting, search and rescue, hazardous materials, emergency medical services, and civil defence and aviation, while additional courses in health, safety and environment, public safety, and business community will further enrich its subject list at a later stage.

It features some of the most advanced equipment at teaching facilities, including industrial props, that have been procured specifically for the on- and off-shore oil and gas industry; civil defence training featuring a high-rise building, a commercial building, a villa, a cinema, a shopping centre, a warehouse and forensics investigation structures; and search and rescue props boasts a confined space as well as a “collapsed” building.

The training partner and provider of Emergency Training at RLESC is Texas Engineering Extension Service (TEEX), which is a leader in the area of advanced practical emergency and safety training.

Currently, RLESC has begun a joint field-research in liquefied natural gas (LNG), which is being supervised by Texas A&M University at Qatar with support from British Petroleum.

Meanwhile, a deal was signed with the University of New Haven, Connecticut (US) for offering diplomas and a four-year degree in the fire safety management and fire protection engineering. A study plan is expected to be signed in the second quarter of 2014 and course  to start by September 2014. - TradeArabia News Service