Fire Training builds practical skills and cultural bridges

August 17, 2010

The threat of FIRE in our industry is a real one and as professional, responsible operators, NCS must be vigilant about fire safety and training. Consistent training and reinforcement of processes and use of equipment is necessary to ensure that staff have the knowledge AND experience to respond to a fire emergency and minimise the threat to our people, facilities and sites.

Fire training is also crucial for all of our staff as our sites are in remote, isolated locations. We need to establish and manage real life situations and utilise the appropriate equipment and processes. NCS is conducting fire training at every site.

The topics covered included:

The three conditions needed for a fire to start including fuel types, heat & oxygen

Operation of dry chemical extinguishers, fire blankets & water on the appropriate fuel source

Evacuation plans and strategies for our sites

Staff at the Lae Office undertook their training earlier this year, with staff at Basamuk and Kurumbukari attending fire training sessions in March. The benefits of that training were not only to build crucial safety knowledge and skills about fire safety on site – but also demonstrated great teamwork and co-operation that bridged our cultural challenges.

Basamuk and Kurumbukari ready to respond in a real

At the Ramu NiCo sites where NCS caters to Chinese and PNG workers, we employ Chinese citizens as Chefs.

“Our Chinese Chefs are every bit NCS as our National staff and we are focused on building our relationships to overcome language and cultural differences. We need to work together” said Assistant Manager Andrew Clinkaberry.

“We had a fire emergency situation on one site very soon after the staff completed their training session. The staff on duty followed procedures and attempted to extinguish the fire with the equipment available and evacuated all personnel safely.”

“Having everyone clearly briefed and trained about the skills and evacuation plans – really helped when we needed it – in a REAL EMERGENCY,” continued Mr Clinkaberry. Congratulations to NCS staff at Basamuk and Kurumbukari for applying their training, co-operating with each other and keeping SAFE.