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Comprehensive Oil and Natural Gas Safety Training in the Middle East

Teaching Oil and Gas Safety
Teaching Oil and Gas Safety

This was a train-the-trainer class that I taught in-country.  Some trainers had 0 experience with oil or more specifically natural gas, others had a fair amount, which made teaching the class hard.  The ones with experience wanted more substance and the ones with no experience were running the risk of brain overload.

We had to introduce the concept of JSA’s (job safety analysis), which many have never hear of.  In the states, in the oil and gas business, before ANY job can be started, a JSA or JSEA (job safety environmental analysis) must be filled out to locate and mitigate any hazards that are present or could become present.  Some didn’t know about wearing safety glasses, so needless to say, it was a lot to cover for them and me.

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Sea of Galilee and Jordan River

Panoramic shot of the South end of the Sea of Galilee and Jordan River
Panoramic shot of the South end of the Sea of Galilee and Jordan River

 

This pic covers the south end of the Sea of Galilee, and right where the sea ends, the Jordan Rivers comes out and continues to the right (South).  On the far side of the Sea is Jordan.

 

Jordan River
Jordan River

 

Here is a pic of the Jordan River taken at a place called Yardnit (I probably misspelled it).  It’s free to enter the area and walk down to the water and get baptized, but it cost to use the bathroom.  The water is quite clear and the water temperature was very comfortable when I was there (October).  A lot of catfish hang around there.  As you can see, the river is not that wide, hard to believe that so much history took place in and around this small river.

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Floating in the Dead Sea

Sitting in the Dead Sea
Sitting in the Dead Sea

To me, the Dead Sea felt a bit like floating in vegetable oil – thick and oily.  They don’t allow splashing, because if the water get’s in your eyes it will cause intense pain.  They also mention to not shave for 2-3 days before getting in, let me tell you, they are speaking the truth.  I had a small cut that I didn’t know about until I got it the water, then that small cut became a big nuisance.