There is a need to closely and strictly supervise the implementation of safety procedures in the Kingdom's workplaces in order to minimize industrial accidents, according to local safety practitioners. “Supervision of workers who implement safety procedures is the key to ultimate safety,” said Engineer Renato Rey G. Barraca, a safety engineer working in the oil, gas, and petrochemical industry. Without supervision and the proper monitoring of how hazardous materials are disposed of by industries, including health institutions such as hospitals, the problems of industrial accidents, as well as environmental degradation, increase, according to Engineer Fernando M. Crisosto, an industrial safety engineer working on oil and gas installations in Al-Khafji, Eastern Province. Barraca and Crisosto addressed last weekend a gathering of about 200 safety engineers and workers who attended a technical presentation and workshop seminar on spill prevention and control and hazardous materials and hazardous waste operations. According to Barraca, industries in the Kingdom implement strict safety procedures that conform to international standards. “But accidents do happen because the safety supervisors who oversee how safety workers are implementing their job sometimes are negligent in their supervision. Instructions are not enough; 90 percent of the job is accomplished by close supervision.” Barraca and Crisosto lauded safety engineers and workers who oversee and manage the tough working conditions in most of the local industries in relation to safety. “The oil sector's safety procedures in the Kingdom are among the highest in the world, but we cannot be complacent,” they said. Both cited the training programs being implemented by the Philippine Society of Safety Practioners-Middle East Region for Filipino engineers and technicians, who constitute the bulk of the Asian safety workers in the Kingdom and the Gulf region.
