KUALA LUMPUR, April 16 - ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Malaysia Inc. (EMEPMI) today presented awards to its employees and contractors in recognition of their safety excellence during 2008. 

Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, Chairman of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) presented the awards at a luncheon held at a hotel in the city.  Also present were EMEPMI General Manager - Production Operations Dinesh Sivasamboo, EMEPMI employees and the management of EMEPMI's contractor companies.

Speaking at the luncheon, Dinesh congratulated the winners and attributed the excellent safety performance to tremendous team work and a constant focus on continuous improvement. 

"ExxonMobil strives for an incident-free workplace with the objective of "Nobody Gets Hurt", while running operations in a safe, reliable, and environmentally responsible manner. Today's awards are given to recognise employees' and contractors' efforts in maintaining ExxonMobil's high safety and quality standards. This reflects their commitment to safety as the number one priority," he said.

"The quest for safety excellence is a never-ending journey and our challenge is to maintain a consistent high standard of safety performance," added Dinesh.

Four offshore worksites - Guntong D, Larut A, Tapis B and Irong Barat A platforms - received the Injury Free Worksite Award for completing 2008 without any injuries to their respective workforce, inclusive of both employees and contractors.

Twelve employees and contractor personnel were given the Chairman's Safety Award for their leadership and contributions towards safety related performance.

A total of 39 contractor companies were recognised for their safety achievements. EMEPMI presented the Grand Award to Tioman Drilling Sdn Bhd for achieving over 300,000 workhours without any injuries during 2008. Tioman Drilling provided drilling services for EMEPMI's offshore drilling programme.

Three contractors - Barmada McDermott Sdn Bhd, Dimension Bid (M) Sdn Bhd and Integrated Petroleum Services - received the Gold Award for completing between 100,000 to 300,000 workhours without any injuriesduring the same period. These contractors were involved in pipeline installation and drilling activities at EMEPMI's offshore facilities.

Another 35 contractor companies who completed below 100,000 workhours of injury free operations received Recognition Awards.