No occupational injuries have been suffered by employees at Statoil's Tjeldbergodden methanol plant in mid-Norway over the past 12 months.
This is the first time such a large facility operated by the group has met the corporate goal of zero injuries for such a long period. Occupational injuries include all job-related incidents requiring medical treatment.
Tjeldbergodden can also report zero lost-time injuries over the past 12 months. The same result has been achieved by crew on the Navion Munin ship producing the Lufeng oil field in the South China Sea.
The last time Statoil personnel could report a year without lost-time injuries was in 1998, on the Veslefrikk and Yme fields in the North Sea.
"Ever since the construction period for this plant started in 1994, employees and contractors alike have had the zero goal in mind," says Lena Skogly, operations manager at Tjeldbergodden and responsible for health, the environment and safety there.
"We're now reaping our reward for these efforts."
She believes that the flat organisational structure adopted at the plant has contributed to this result. Two-thirds of the roughly 100 employees are on continuous shift work.
All of them are involved in operation and maintenance, while simultaneously taking responsibility for safety.
And the 13 work-years performed over the past 12 months by Reinertsen Vigor, the maintenance and modification contractor, were also injury-free.
Ms Skogly explains that great emphasis is placed on openness in reporting incidents at Tjeldbergodden. To avoid stigmatising people who have been unlucky and to prevent incidents going unreported, no names are mentioned.
The aim is to learn from previous accidents, Ms Skogly says, and maintains that the results achieved show the organisation has indeed done this.
"They indicate that it's possible to operate without injuries, and represent an encouragement in our continued efforts to meet the group's HES goal of zero injuries, accidents or loss," adds senior vice president for HES, Arve Thorvik