Fabricom Oil & Gas, a subsidiary of GTI, has won the Merck Sharp & Dohme Award for Excellence in Safety. The prize is part of the award programme of the British Institution of Chemical Engineers. Fabricom received the award for its Offshore Access System (OAS). The Institution says the system makes a significant contribution to the safety of people working at sea.

Safely from ship to drilling platform
The Offshore Access System is a system developed by Fabricom that enables people to be transferred safely from ship to drilling platform. It uses a hydraulic footbridge attached to the ship that can be locked onto the platform. The system makes the transfer much safer for drilling workers than it used to be. The footbridge can be used in all kinds of weather conditions, and there is no risk even in heavy seas with 2.5-metre waves.

The Offshore Access System is available to customers through a partnership between Fabricom Oil & Gas and Amec, an international project management and engineering services company.

Special contribution to safety
The Institution of Chemical Engineers' annual award programme is designed to encourage innovation and improvement. The prizes recognise and promote organisations that make a special contribution to safety. The awards are recognised internationally and the programme has twelve different sections.

Fabricom Oil & Gas provides project management, maintenance support service, design engineering and fabrication to the Oil & Gas sector both on & offshore.

Together with the companies Axima, Elyo, ENDEL, INEO, Tractebel Engineering and Fabricom GTI, GTI is part of SUEZ Energy Services.

SUEZ Energy Services, European leader in installation and technical services, develops value added solutions for its clients in the industry, the building services and the infrastructure as for design, realization and maintenance of technical installations along with energy management and long-term multi-technical management. SUEZ Energy Services employs 66,000 people and achieved revenues of € 10.3 billion in 2005. SUEZ Energy Services is one of the four business lines of the international industrial group SUEZ. SUEZ's stocks are  listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

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