Under the patronage of Colonel Abdullah Bin Saleh Al- Ghailani – Commander of ROP North Al Batinah Governorate HQ, SOHAR Port and Freezone’s second annual Safety Week, has come to a close after another hugely successful year.

Entitled ‘Be Safe SOHAR’, this year’s annual Safety Week ran from 14-16 December. Exhibitors from the Civil Defence, Lifeline Hospital, Ministry of Manpower, International College of Engineering and Management and SOHAR Port and Freezone’s Corporate Affairs team all took part in the three-day event.

As part of the event, youngsters from local schools and colleges were invited to participate. Two seminars were also held to educate people on health and safety procedures at SOHAR Port and Freezone. Orthopaedic Specialist, Dr Mohammed Niaz, held a seminar on back pain, its causes and how to avoid it. Nurses from Sohar Hospital were also on hand to check staff members’ blood pressure, weight, BMI and blood sugar levels.

Engineer, Ayman Najeeb from Oman Petro Environmental Services Company LLC, also held a seminar which focused on the precautions and safety measurements of ship-to-ship bunkering.

Exhibitors were awarded trophies to thank them for their contribution and participants received a certificate to mark their successful completion of the programme. At the closing ceremony, Colonel Abdullah expressed his gratitude and appreciation to the team at SOHAR Port and Freezone for all of their efforts to raise awareness of safety and security on a day-to-day basis as well as in the Port area.

As well as this, Port and Freezone road users were invited to attend a defensive driving course with activities aimed at highlighting the need for a focus on local road safety. TPS/DriveWise, the company that led the course, worked with attendees on professional driving simulators to assess their skills and measure knowledge of rules and regulations, as well as driver behaviour.

“The safety of our staff and road users is of the upmost importance to us here at SOHAR Port and Freezone. While the numbers of road traffic incidents in Oman has reduced in recent years, there is still a lot to be done in terms of educating road users about the day-to-day risks involved with driving,” said Suwaid Al Shamaisi, Executive Manager Corporate Affairs.

He continued: “We have over 150 staff in our headquarters and many of them spend a significant amount of time sitting at computers for long periods of time. This has long been known to cause a number of health risks such as back and neck pain, stiffening of muscles and inflammation, which is why we invited external specialists in to educate our staff on work-related injuries and stress the importance of looking after your health.”