By Patience Chat Moses
The $6.5 billion Train 7 Project of Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited has achieved a significant milestone of 50 million man-hours Lost-Time Injury (LTI) free on the 6th of August 2024. This was revealed by NLNG Train 7 Project Health, Safety, Security and Environment and Safety Procedure Manager, Niran Fadeyibi. According to Fadeyibi, the milestone was achieved with a workforce of 11,000 members across three major locations.
Nigeria LNG Train 7 Project
The Nigeria LNG Train 7 project is an ongoing expansion of the Nigeria LNG Terminal at Bonny Island, Nigeria, which currently has a total of six operational LNG processing units, four 84,200m LNG storage tanks, four 65,000m refrigerated storage tanks, and three 36,000m condensate storage tanks. The terminal also has a common LNG processing fractionation plant, a common condensate stabilization plant, two LNG export jetties, 23 dedicated LNG ships and materials off-loading jetty, and ten gas turbine generators with a combined capacity of more than 320MW. Owned and operated by Nigeria LNG Company, a joint venture between Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), Shell Gas, Total, and Eni, the terminal currently has the capacity to produce 22Mtpa of LNG and 5Mtpa of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and condensate per annum (Mtpa).
The multi-billion-dollar project at Bonny Island, the company’s production location in Rivers State, was awarded to a consortium of three international Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) firms, including Saipem, Chyodda and Daewoo, otherwise called the SCD consortium, led by Saipem. The Train 7 project will primarily add a seventh LNG processing unit with a production capacity of 4.2Mtpa and supporting infrastructure including an 84,200m storage tank, a 36,000m condensate tank, and three gas turbine generators at the terminal. The project, which began in July 2018 has an estimated cost of approximately 6.5 billion dollars. Upon completion, the Nigeria LNG Train 7 project will increase the Nigeria LNG Terminal production capacity by 35% from the current 22mtpa to 30mtpa.
The Journey So Far
Earlier in July, NLNG General Manager, External Relations and Sustainable Development, Mr. Andy Odeh, revealed that the Train-7 project had reached 67 per cent completion, and achieved a significant construction milestone of over 45 million man-hours without any Lost Time Injury (LTI). Thus, the recent 50 million LTI free man-hours achievement is an unprecedented height that has not been attained by NLNG, hence the cause for celebration.
According to the project Safety Manager, Niran Fadeyibi, the count down for the LTI began on 13th May 2020, when the Final Investment Decision (FID) was signed, and resources mobilization for the execution phase of the Train 7 project started. He added that there was little hope of making up to 10mmhrs LTI free, considering the make-up of the team, local content requirements, and the fact that there hasn’t been such a project in Nigeria in over 16 years, multilingual team, personnel from over 10 different countries, a cocktail of diverse safety and organizational cultures, and the number of subcontractors involved, these are few among numerous potential challenges the project was expected to surmount. While referring to when the journey started, Fadeyibi revealed that the leadership team meeting at The Hague, Netherlands in 2019, was where the resolution to run the safest project on earth was made. He stated that the project mantra “We’ll as One Team deliver Train 7 Project with No Harm and No Leaks” formed the foundation of workers’ beliefs, spelt out in the project charter, which helped in developing actions. He further recognized the place of teamwork when he said “The excellent harmony between the strategic, tactical, and operational work fronts built on one team philosophy, significantly contributed to our success story.”
“Most importantly, God is with us on the project, considering some major incidents that would have tripped us, but we failed safe, rather than failed lucky or even recorded injuries.
“The base++ elements were also key game changers among loads of de-risking strategies and frameworks, added to the conventional HSE Management System elements, ” he added.
Fadeyibi expressed gratitude to other safety leaders like Ali Uwais, Chris Cooper, Tony Attah, Amadi Amadi, Paul Bakare, Philip Mshelbila, Tolulope Longe, Franscesco Fiorini, Luca Princivalli, Domenico Vizzari among others for their contributions to making the journey a success.
He noted that visible and felt leadership was also exceptional from both the EPC contractors, Owners Team Leadership and NLNG Corporate Divisions. “We are not there yet, and we’ll continue to take the consistent steps as we journey to our aspired future of Incident and Injury Free Project completion, he concluded.
Overview of LTI Free
In the construction and manufacturing world, Lost-Time Injury (LTI) Free is used when a workplace or project has not experienced any injuries severe enough to result in an employee missing workdays or being unable to perform their job tasks for a significant period.
In safety, LTI Free is a metric used to measure the success of a company’s or organization’s safety program. It indicates that:
No employees have been injured severely enough to miss work.
No work-related injuries have resulted in lost workdays or restricted duties.
LTI Free is often used in conjunction with other safety metrics, such as:
– Recordable Injury Rate (RIR)
– Total Recordable Case Rate (TRCR)
– Work-Related Injury and Illness Rate (WRIIR)
Achieving LTI Free status demonstrates a strong commitment to workplace safety, effective risk management, and a culture of prevention. It also:
– Reduces workers’ compensation claims and associated costs
– Minimizes downtime and lost productivity
– Enhances employee well-being and job satisfaction
– Supports regulatory compliance and reputation
Achieving LTI Free milestone has significant economic benefits, including reduced workers’ compensation claims, resulting in cost savings, lower medical and rehabilitation costs, increased productivity, reduced downtime and lost workdays, increased efficiency and reduced waste among others. With this 50 million man-hour LTI free feat, the completion of the NLNG Train 7 project is highly anticipated with expectations of maintaining this achievement and encouraging continued efforts to maintain a safe and healthy work environment.