HR faces complex challenges in high-risk ... - International SOS

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David Smith – People director, ASDA
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RISK MANAGEMENT PSN CASE STUDY
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CASE STUDY
HR FACES
COMPLEX
CHALLENGES
IN HIGH-RISK
ENVIRONMENT
ABERDEEN-BASED PRODUCTION SERVICES NETWORK (PSN) HAS PUT TOGETHER AN HR PROGRAMME WHICH RESPONDS TO SPECIFIC
CHALLENGES BY ASSESSING THE RISK TO EMPLOYEES IN ANY GIVEN SITUATION, IN CONJUNCTION WITH AN EMERGENCY PLAN TO COPE
WITH EVERY EVENTUALITY, FROM WORKPLACE ACCIDENTS TO NATURAL DISASTERS.
There can be few more complex challenges for the modern HR
executive, than those posed by maintaining a constantly moving
workforce in the high-risk environment of the oil and gas
industry. As well as the risks inherent in the production of highly
flammable materials, employers working in this sector must also
negotiate the pitfalls of sending workers into unfamiliar and
often politically sensitive, even dangerous, areas.
This, combined with the enactment of the UK’s new
corporate manslaughter legislation, has increased the pressures
on those responsible for the safety and wellbeing of employees.
PSN, an independent international service contractor to
oil and gas production companies, is one of the top ten
privately owned businesses in Scotland and has a global
workforce of around 8,000 employees in 23 different
countries. Of them, around 3,500 will, at any time, be in a
situation which demands careful risk assessment and
emergency planning.
“an effective tracking system”
For HR director Dean Hunter, that means ensuring the
workforce is prepared for working environments as diverse as
Kazakhstan, sub-Saharan Africa, Vietnam and the USA.
"What we have found is that it is important not
only to do all the planning and risk assessments
before the staff go to a country, but also to have an
effective tracking system in place so you know where
all of your people are at any given time," he says.
"Once we have people in the country, we check
proactively every day so we know what is happening,
whether there are new and specific risks and, if so, what
they are.
"If something is flagged up to us, we can work with our
clients to ensure they are always kept safe."
In striving to maintain that aspect of control and stay
ahead of any potential risks, PSN uses International SOS, the
world’s leading provider of medical assistance, international
healthcare and security services.
Hunter continues: "We tend to work hand in hand with
companies like International SOS, and use their people on
the ground who know the area. That knowledge cannot be
underestimated.
"We have seven core values, and numbers one and two
on the list are safety and people. But we also put a high
value on localisation.
"If you are going to manage risk then you must have a
local approach. And we avoid thinking that we have all the
solutions for all locations, just because we have worked in
the North Sea for 30 years."
Under the new legislation, employers will also need to
have taken every reasonable and practicable step to ensure
their employees’ wellbeing and nurture a safety culture in
the workplace.
And, according to Dr Neil Nerwich, medical director
of International SOS, that makes it even more important
that companies like PSN have all their systems in place
with all the relevant data on security and medical
implications; in some cases this has to happen before an
employee even takes up a role, or joins the company.
"Before you send someone to work, or live and
work, in any environment, you have to ensure that certain key
questions have been asked and answered," says Dr Nerwich.
"It’s important to have a look at the site where they are
working, the closest medical facilities and access to your
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HRDIRECTOR – DECEMBER 07

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RISK MANAGEMENT PSN CASE STUDY
own medical people on site. You also have to identify any
potential difficulties and plan for them.
"You have to know how you would get people out of the area
if necessary, either for medical treatment or in an emergency."
For all companies, there will also be different sorts of risks to
evaluate: "If, for example, you only have staff travelling between
European cities, a very different assessment is required than if you
have people travelling from Asia to West Africa and Eastern
Europe," Nerwich explains.
And, in all of these cases, the risk of staff being hit by crimes
or acts of terrorism, or the likelihood of a natural disaster, also has
to be taken into account.
One example serves as a reminder of the importance of these
constant checks and an awareness of the area, not only in terms
of medical facilities but also of political and economic stability.
"We have people in Chad and trying to get someone out of
there in a medical emergency is much more difficult than taking
someone off a platform in the North Sea, for example," says Hunter.
"We recently had a guy who sadly died of natural causes in
sub-Saharan Africa on Christmas Eve. Trying to work out what to
do in a situation like that if you did not have a process in place
would be extremely difficult.
"I think the key is not only to have an emergency response
prepared, but to have one for every single region. Even within Africa,
different regions can have different facilities and different risks."
One problem, of which there is perhaps greater awareness
than in the past, is the risk of either random or targeted acts
of terrorism.
Some areas, such as the Niger Delta of Nigeria, have been
targeted by kidnappers who aim to hold western workers for
ransom. As a result, many companies, including PSN, have opted
not to work in that region.
However, terrorism in all forms is a risk which companies have
to take into account and put in place medical plans to cope with.
Hunter explains: "From a medical point of view we have, this
year, done a lot of work with different groups, to look at how we
protect our workforce across the globe. We treat every risk as a
serious one, and don’t assume, for example, terrorism is the same
as other security risks."
That is a sentiment echoed by International SOS. It says the risk of
a terrorist attack is something which should be assessed automatically,
in the same way as the risk of being the victim of a crime.
While some regions might be classified as high risk for
earthquakes, hurricanes or tsunamis, the possibility of an unforeseen
phenomenon cannot be overlooked, whatever the location.
"Natural disasters in Aberdeen are every bit as likely as
anywhere, and you must have an emergency response in
place for that sort of thing wherever you are working,"
comments Dean Hunter. The strategy at his company is to
treat every situation on its own merits.
International SOS often finds itself called in to evacuate
personnel from client companies who find themselves
caught up in unexpected natural disasters. At the time of
the Asian tsunami, for example, that also involved a large
number of company executives who were on holiday.
The key in those situations is, according to Dr Nerwich, for
the company to know where its staff are, and for those staff to
know that there is an emergency plan and what they have to do.
"Again that comes back to assessing every eventuality,
putting plans in place and making sure your staff have been
trained in current procedures," he says.
In practice, that means HR professionals have to look at
every detail of a country, its political stability, the risks of certain
diseases, even the indigenous plants and creatures which could
prove hazardous.
Only by doing that can they be sure they have taken every
reasonable and practicable step to ensure employee safety.
“there will always be an element
of complete unpredictability”
However, there are circumstances where specialist reports are
necessary, depending on where in the world people are travelling.
"What you should do is look at where people are going and use
the best available information analysis to decide what measures need
to be taken for the employee to go there as safely as possible," says
Dr Nerwich. "Ask ‘What do I need to do to mitigate these risks?’
"The brief you give to the employee will then be based on that.
For example, anyone going to Moscow would be briefed about
crime and where not to go in the city. For other parts of the world,
you might need to brief people on planning for an evacuation."
There is one area, however, where there will always be an element
of complete unpredictability in risk assessment: natural disasters.
For further information:
www.internationalsos.com
www.psnworld.com
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