Assessment of the Effects Of Geothermal Well Drilling Occupation on the Safety and Health Status Of Workers in Kenya: A Case Study of Menengai Geothermal Prospect

Abstract

The global trend today is towards generation of clean, green and renewable energy. Geothermal well drilling is the process of sinking a hole into the earth to tap the energy stored in form of steam or hot water reservoirs using a facility called a drilling rig. In Kenya, the government has prioritized geothermal power generation and specially formed the Geothermal Development Company (GDC) in 2008 to drive this agenda. The geothermal drilling industry is highly specialised and concentrates safety critical static rig systems and vehicular plant within a relatively small footprint. Furthermore, the operating parameters are safety critical and the environmental setting is also prone to risks and hazards such as blowouts, excessive noise, severe manual handling, working at heights and occupational stress. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of geothermal well drilling occupation on the safety and health and status of workers in GDC. To assess the adequacy and effectiveness of the onsite plant safety programmes, the study employed a survey study design. The study infers instances of inadequacies and ineffective on the onsite plant safety programme as regards six out of the nine elements assessed. The study also graphically illustrated the noise distribution at the well site during a drilling ahead activity without air drilling. The results indicated that the workers are exposed well beyond the permissible noise levels on the 3 dB (A) exchange rate. Finally, the study employed an observation checklist and interviews to assess the eight main components of the OSH management system in place at GDC and the scores in descending order were as follows: organising co-operation (75%); policy (71%); organising communication (71%); measuring performance (64%); auditing and reviewing (63%); planning and implementation (54%); organising control (50%); and organising competence (50%). The overall score of the evaluation of the OSH management system was 60%. The results showed that the effectiveness and efficacy of the OSH Management System is moderate.