Despite the gloomy and rainy weather due to the monsoon season in the East Coast region, the Malaysian Gas Association (MGA) with the support of members successfully organised the fourth Prestige or Practical Environmental, Safety and Industrial Guidance program for engineering students.
A total of 58 final-year students from the three universities and college participated in this two-day program held in Primula Beach Hotel, Kuala Terengganu from December 18-19 where they were exposed to the importance of Health, Safety and Environment (HSE). This is the third year that this program has been organised following the success of the 3 PRESTIGE programs held in Klang Valley in 2008, up north in Penang in 2009 and down south in Melaka in early 2010.

This program and workshop is adapted from the module run by Shell Malaysia in East Malaysia. It is important to inculcate HSE awareness at an early stage to counter the take for granted attitude and unsafe practices in the workplace. Complacency and careless work ethics and practices, can lead to incidents that can disrupt operations and productivity, causing not only monetary loss, environmental pollution but in some cases injury and death. As such it is critical to train young graduates who will soon be entering the job market on the importance of having a sound HSE mindset.

This comprehensive workshop incorporates activities and scenarios designed to test the students’ abilities to understand and apply HSE concepts. It also coves sharing of experiences from industry experts, disseminations of practical information and tools to enhance awareness on HSE and its critical role not only in the daily operations at the workplace but also in our daily lives.

The objectives of PRESTIGE are:

*to create HSE awareness of the
proper usage, delivery and
application of gas products

*to raise understanding of the
HSE and sustainable development
issues faced by the industry
today

*to enhance the students’
understanding in HSE by sharing
tools and practices and its
application

*to provide an overview of the
career opportunities available
in the gas industry

*to create awareness amongst the
students on the value chain of
gas commercialization

The students participants in the PRESTIGE program were nominated and selected by their respective universities based on their academic achievement, leadership skills and involvement in co-curriculum activities.

As part of the workshop, the students were exposed to a whole host of issues and challenges faced by the gas industry; from overview of the operations of PETRONAS Gas Berhad, to safety, health and its impact on the environment and the career opportunities and development. The invited speakers included representatives from the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH), the Department of Environment (DOE), ExxonMobil, Gas Malaysia, PETRONAS Gas, PETRONAS and Shell Malaysia.

In the opening address, Mr Ho Sook Wah, the Secretary-General of MGA and the Chairman of the Coordination Committee of the International Gas Union (IGU), exhorted the participants to make full use of the program to learn of the importance of HSE as they will be the leaders for implanting HSE practices, behaviors and applications when they venture out to join the workforce.

Meanwhile, Tuan Syed Zulkarnain Syed Abu Bakar, General Manager of LNG Business, Shell Malaysia, in his closing message, pointed out that HSE mindset is of absolute paramount importance for the long term well-being and sustainability of our society at large.

The concerted effort to educate our youths with health and safety in engineering fields comes in line with one of the topics covered in the 25th world Gas Conference (WGC 2012) that will be held in Malaysia from 4-8 June 2012. Malaysia leads as the President of the International Gas Union (IGU) for the triennium of 2009-2012 where one the important focus of our Presidency is to develop strategies to reach out to the youth and educate them on careers leading to gas-related industries, especially those in engineering disciplines.

The participants expressed their appreciation and gratitude for the opportunity to attend this program where they have gained valuable and practical knowledge for HSE. Comments received in the feedback forms and verbal expressions of the students provided insight to the success of this program:-

-“fantastic exposure to the HSE
program and thanked MGA for
organising the event and hope
to be invited again for such
program in the near future”.

-“enjoyed the program, gained
additional knowledge that is
not taught in the university,
impactful experience as safety
subject used to be boring but
now realised the importance
with this exposure, to increase
HSE awareness”.

-“Mr Zulkarnain is the best!”.

-“Good program, update and
upgrade ourselves as students
with the safety and hazard,
have learn a lot but hope can
extend the program to three-
days next time”.

-“ Time duration between
seminars or workshop is too
close, we need time to digest
the information but overall
this program is very good.”

The group from Institut Teknologi Petroleum PETRONAS (INSTEP) won the HSE competition and was awarded the MGA PRESTIGE Award comprising of a champion trophy, cash incentive of RM5,000 for the university and RM1,500 worth of book vouchers for the students.