Health and Safety
WOQOD is committed to ensuring its employees and contractors are safe and healthy.
WOQOD Sustainability Overview
WOQOD is committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of its employees and contractors. Our workforce collectively drives extensive distances each year to deliver fuel and other essential products for our customers' convenience. They operate across a wide range of facilities, including LPG bottling plants, product storage and loading facilities, and bitumen blending plants—many of which run around the clock. Occupational safety and employee wellness are top priorities for WOQOD. We utilize our Integrated Management System (IMS) to systematically identify, manage, and mitigate operational risks. Through our strict safety policies, employees receive continuous training and are empowered to take proactive responsibility for identifying and addressing unsafe working conditions.
Personal Safety:
Personal safety is systematically managed through various processes within the Integrated Management System (IMS). Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are a fundamental component of our safety approach, ensuring a structured and safety-focused work environment.
A key element of these SOPs is our Permit-to-Work (PTW) system, which guarantees that potentially hazardous tasks—such as electrical work or confined space entry—are thoroughly assessed, properly authorized, safely executed, and formally documented upon completion. This system is primarily driven by operational personnel and reinforced by our Health, Safety, and Environment (HSE) team, which conducts Job Safety Analyses (JSA) for various tasks to proactively mitigate risks.
We have established a comprehensive incident investigation process to assess all incidents, including near misses, to proactively prevent potential future consequences. This process aligns with international best practices, with a focus on identifying and mitigating high-potential incidents. The findings are systematically analyzed and communicated to all relevant stakeholders through our Safety Alert Mechanism, fostering greater awareness and continuous improvement.
As part of WOQOD’s commitment to safety, we mandate that all partners and contractors actively participate in safety training sessions and toolbox talks alongside our employees to reinforce a unified safety culture.
Road Safety:
Supplying the entire fuel needs of the State of Qatar is a significant task. For that, road safety is a critical priority for the largest fleet in the country. It is also a major challenge because motor vehicle accidents remain a key risk in our business.
This journey starts with a strong leadership commitment in demonstrating compliance and encouraging performance improvement. Part of our corporate controls is to rely on metrics to improve our road safety record. These metrics include the vehicle accident rate and its resulting consequences, such as injury, spill, or rollover. The data is used for decision-making and as an input for our vehicle specifications, which are more stringent than those required by regulation.
Driver behavior is a key component of our road safety program. Drivers are hired only once they achieve a measurable set of competencies. They are trained in proper defensive driving techniques and undergo specific tanker training to target rollover risks, load assessment, driver fatigue, and driver fitness to work. We use a Vehicle Tracking System to monitor driver behavior by recording their performance, such as daily routes, speeding events, hard braking, sharp acceleration, and seat belts compliance. This system is currently installed in all our vehicles as part of our road safety program.
Occupational Health:
Our goal is to reduce occupational health risks and hazardous substance exposure. As a downstream and retail driven organization our employees and stakeholders are targeted with our internal processes to reduce occupational exposure to substances such as hydrocarbon vapors.
WOQOD provides support services to ensure our staff lead healthy lifestyles. These services include training and awareness campaigns for fatigue, stress and ergonomics.
Life Saving Rule:
Life Saving Rule:
Competent and safety-oriented staff and contractors are the backbone of our ongoing safe operations and the delivery of services to our valued customers. In line with our commitment to zero harm to personnel, we have established and implemented 10 Life-Saving Rules.
Work Authorization
Work with a valid permit when required:
- I have confirmed whether a permit is required
- I am authorised to perform the work
- I understand the permit
- I have confirmed that hazards are controlled and it is safe to start
- I stop and reassess if conditions change
Driving
Follow safe driving rules:
- I always wear a seatbelt
- I do not exceed the speed limit, and reduce my speed according to road conditions
- I do not use a phone or operate devices while driving
- I am fit, rested and fully alert while driving
- I follow journey management requirements
Confined Space
Obtain authorization before entering
a confined space:
- I confirm energy sources are isolated
- I confirm the atmosphere has been tested and is monitored
- I check and use my breathing apparatus when required
- I confirm there is an attendant standing by
- I confirm a rescue plan is in place
- I obtain authorisation to enter
Safe Mechanical Lifting
Plan lifting operations and control the area:
- I confirm that the equipment and load have been inspected and are fit for purpose
- I only operate equipment that I am qualified to use
- I establish and obey barriers and exclusion zones
- I never walk under a suspended load
System Override
Obtain authorization before overriding or disabling safety controls:
- I understand and use safety- critical equipment and procedures which apply to my task
- I obtain authorization before:
- disabling or overriding safety equipment
- deviating from procedures
- crossing a barrier
Ignition Sources
Control flammables and ignition sources:
- I identify and control ignition sources
- Before starting any hot work:
- I confirm flammable material has been removed or isolated
- I obtain authorization
- Before starting hot work in a hazardous area I confirm:
- a gas test has been completed
- gas will be monitored continually
Working at Height
Follow safe driving rules:
- I inspect my fall protection equipment before use
- I secure tools and work materials to prevent dropped objects
- I tie off 100% to approved anchor points while outside a protected area
Energy Isolation
Verify isolation and zero energy before work begin:
- I have identified all energy sources
- I confirm that hazardous energy sources have been isolated, locked, and tagged
- I have checked there is zero energy and tested for residual or stored energy
Line of Fire
Keep yourself and others out of the line of fire:
- I position myself to avoid:
- moving objects
- vehicles
- pressure releases
- dropped objects
- I establish and obey barriers and exclusion zones
- I take action to secure loose objects and report potential dropped objects
Personal Protective Equipment
Wear your personal protective equipment (PPE):
- I understand and know the PPE required of the workplace
- I always wear the required PPE
- I check PPE’s condition before use
HSE Observations:
Maintaining a safe and healthy workplace for our employees, contractors, and visitors is one of our commitments and objectives. We promote a positive safety culture and a proactive approach to accident prevention within or outside our work locations, and it is managed through our HSE Observation Reporting system. It is designed to identify, through careful observation of plant, people, processes, and performance, behavior (unsafe acts or good safety practices) and unsafe conditions in the workplace. This serves as the basis for a structured conversation between observer(s) and observee(s) to promote the observed safe behavior or to correct unsafe acts/conditions.
HSE observation of work activities is a well-established tool for improving HSE performance. All WOQOD employees, contractors, or visitors are responsible for reporting unsafe actions/conditions or safe practices.
a) Focuses on behavior in a proactive manner to prevent workplace incidents
b) Encourages observations of work methods and individuals’ behavior, and workplace or equipment conditions.
c) Provides a method to give positive feedback to team members
d) Provides an accurate, proactive, or leading measurement indicator.
HSE observations can be reported manually through HSE observation cards or electronically through our HSE Observation portal. This system promotes a no-blame culture and empowers employees to stop work in case of conditions or actions compromising safety or health of people.
