Falck Nutec
Safety first
Developed on the basis of its 100-plus years of experience in rescue services, Falck has come to be recognised as the world’s leading provider of rescue and safety training and services, especially for the offshore and maritime sectors.
Marketed under the name of Falck Nutec, its activities are concentrated upon the training of staff at all levels in safe behaviour in order to avoid accidents and incidents in the workplace. These activities take place at the company’s 26 purpose-equipped training centres located throughout the globe.
“Over the last several years, what has defined Falck Nutec has been the geographic expansion strategy it has embarked on that has helped transform it from an international company to a truly global organisation,” states senior vice president of training, Peter Svarrer. “In the last three years the company has opened centres in the US, where it now has a total of four, in Nigeria, which is a very big market today, in Vietnam, the United Arab Emirates, and most recently in Azerbaijan to cover the Caspian region – we want to be where our customers are operating.
“In addition to these new centres, Falck Nutec has also worked to expand its existing facilities in a number of the more buoyant oil and gas markets, for example Brazil, which is seeing its third phase of expansion in a little over four years. What the company has always done is to ensure that it moves in the same direction as its global customers. This naturally means taking the business into new regions, while also expanding its presence in existing locations in order to meet expected demand.”
As Peter describes, that global expansion also provides Falck Nutec with a series of exciting challenges: “It is always an interesting experience to enter a new area or country where the present safety standards are not so developed. Working with local authorities and regulatory bodies the company is able to introduce the very best of standards that it uses elsewhere and then watch as the industry in that region develops over time.
“The challenge then is to ensure that the local talent that is brought onboard can be trained and developed using the appropriate resources. By sending these individuals abroad they can be provided with the necessary experience to begin work and upon returning they can be assured that there will be an accredited Falck centre present to keep them up-to-date with the latest advances in what is an extremely fast-moving industry. Although it is proud to be recognised as a global entity, having local content wherever it operates is equally as important to the company.”
While health and safety has always been a facet of the oil and gas industry, it is hard to argue that with some of the more publicised offshore incidents, such as the Deepwater Horizon disaster, dominating the headlines in recent years, even greater attention has been drawn to the level of health and safety training and preparations taken by oil and gas companies.
“While one can never discount the possibility of an accident or incident being a black swan, which is the term given to what is essentially a freak occurrence, there is almost always an element of human behaviour that either contributes to or helps remedy an accident,” Peter says. “What the company has witnessed in recent times is that a much tighter degree of co-operation between the industry and the governing authorities has been forged, something that is a huge positive for everyone as this will ultimately lead to higher standards being adopted.”
Boasting a work force made up of individuals that share a passion for safety, it is clear when listening to Peter that when he says that this passion is what makes up the DNA of Falck Nutec, he couldn’t be more correct: “In 2012 alone, the company expects to train close to 250,000 people. That is a quarter of a million men and women whose working lives Falck Nutec will make safer and that is an incredible accomplishment in itself.
“The facts and statistics prove beyond doubt that Falck Nutec remains the only, true global provider of emergency health and safety training. The long and distinguished history of the business means that not only can it confidently claim to be the leading authority in this field, but also its clients can draw confidence knowing that at any one time it can call upon the abilities of experts, some of who have spent the last 25 years doing nothing but save lives. If you ask anyone I am sure they will agree that this a particularly fantastic base to be working from.”
Falck Nutec
Services: Emergency safety training