OREANDA-NEWS. August 30, 2010. Karachaganak Petroleum Operating B.V. (KPO) announced that 135 health, safety and environment (HSE) professionals of the company and contracting organisations were awarded with certificates of the UK Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) as a result of successful completion of the internationally-recognised Safety Training and Enhancement Programme (STEP), reported the press-centre of KPO.

STEP was jointly developed by KPO Field HSE and Training & Development departments, IOSH, and Kazakh company Abiroy Technical Training.  KPO’s investments into the programme made up USD1 million. KPO is cascading this programme further to develop KPO non-HSE related personnel (production and maintenance) and HSE staff of contractor companies.

Graham Scotton, KPO Operations Director, said: “The STEP programme is aimed at raising the competence of national personnel of KPO and contractors to international HSE standards through building up formal compliance of regulations with conscious application of HSE best practices in daily performance.

“The enhancement of individual and corporate proficiency in industrial safety will also contribute to continued development and career growth of programme’s participants”, added Graham Scotton.

KPO Field Manager, Roberto De Mitri, said: “KPO has developed a completely new approach to the professional development of the field’s HSE personnel.  STEP programme is based on IOSH “Managing Safely “course, which is recognized among HSE professionals worldwide.”

“This programme enables KPO to adhere the RoK government strategy of harmonizing its legal system to accommodate international HSE standards.  In addition, the STEP initiative manifests the KPO compliance with the OSHAS 18001 safety accreditation for continuous improvement and training of KPO HSE personnel”, added Roberto De Mitri.

KPO supports the development of local capacity and is pushing forward the implementation of the nationalisation and long- term local personnel development programmes.  Since signing the Final Production Sharing Agreement (FPSA), KPO has invested over USD140 million in training and development initiatives.