SAFETY IS ON THE CARDS AFTER SUCCESSFUL KTP PROJECT

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

RGU is well-known for the incredibly strong links it has fostered with businesses across a wide range of sectors, local, nationally and internationally. These links provide many benefits to our staff and students, but also to the organisations we collaborate with.

One of the key strands to this industry engagement is the successful transferral of knowledge between the university and the organisations it works in partnership with.

A recent Knowledge Transfer Partnership between RGU and Petrofac, which was awarded the second highest grade of ‘Very Good’ by a panel of independent assessors, delved into motivations for safe behaviour amongst multicultural workforces.

The research project was led by Dr Natascha Mueller- Hirth, a Senior Lecturer in Sociology from the School of Applied Social Studies, along with KTP Associate and safety engineer, Beate Houette.

A key area of achievement was to increase the understanding of which rewards and recognition practices, across multinational workforces, incentivise safety behaviours.

In order to cater to a range of learning styles – visual, auditory and practical – and overcome communication barriers, the team also developed training materials for working at height, including

innovative playing cards, which help to consolidate the learning from site photographs and accident stories.

Natascha, who had little prior experience working in the oil and gas sector but provided a wealth of knowledge in qualitative research, was delighted by the success of the KTP and the doors it has opened.

“I think I learnt a lot from working with and engaging with another sector. We are always encouraged to be working cross-sectorally, but how does that actually work in the real world?

“I feel that this, and likely other KTPs at the university, provide something which we can take back into our teaching, so students at the university are benefitting.

“The KTP project has already led onto a new research grant for myself and the School as it has put me into an area where I have not been working before. This is something I don’t think I ever would’ve gone for had I not been involved in the original KTP, and I don’t think I would’ve got it because I just didn’t have the experience. It has given me the confidence to go for something new, outwith what I considered to be my area of expertise.

Beate reflects on her experience and the opportunities for graduates taking on a role as a KTP Associate.

“I had the academic support on one hand from the university, helping me and guiding me, and on the other hand I had support from the industry, which allowed me to visit work sites in Malaysia, Mexico and Oman and get close to the people who we wanted to engage with.

“I think I developed as a person throughout the course of the KTP because it was not only about the work I was doing with Petrofac, I was also given the opportunity to take part in management training and I attended a lead auditor course for occupational health and

safety. The whole project side of things was extremely well organised by the KTP Team. We also had the opportunity to meet with other KTP Associates every six months, where we could share our experiences and provide updates from our own projects.

“For me, personally, it was an incredible opportunity. I had the chance to work alongside professionals both from academia and the industry, made new friends and learned many new skills.”