Outreach and Govt. Affairs Committee of American Society of Safety Professionals – Kuwait Chapter organized a Beach Cleanup Drive on 18th May 2024 at Mahboula Beach from 7:30 AM to 9:30 AM. The program theme was “The Ocean takes care of Us, Let’s return the Favour!”. During the event around 120 people including Kent employees, children and ASSP Members participated.
The program began with a welcome speech from Mr. Mohamed Yusuff, acting Vice-President of ASSP Kuwait Chapter, who thanked everyone for their presence and active participation. This campaign is about more than just cleaning the beach,” said Mr. Safdar Khan President ASSP in his speech, “We want to awareness amongst the community about the impact of plastic pollution on our marine ecosystems and expressed gratitude to Kent Company staff for sponsoring the event.
Mr. Declan Finn (GM Kent) thanked ASSP Kuwait Chapter for organizing Beach Cleanup and he was happy to see large number of participants including children from Kent staff, ASSP members and their families.
Outreach Committee Head Mr. Balvant Singh briefed about the Safety precautions during the Beach cleanup activity and availability of First aider with first aid kit.
ASSP Kuwait Chapter informed the participants that “Our goal for Cleanup Day at Mahboula Beach is not only to pick up every piece of trash we can reach but also to educate the public on the responsibility of keeping the beaches clean and saving our environment.”
Kent sponsored this Beach Cleanup Drive. Kent’s core services include consulting, engineering & projects, completion, commissioning & start-up, operations & maintenance. Key personnel from Kent Kuwait who attended the event were, Declan Finn – General Manager, Vishnu Nair – Quality Systems Manager, Samantha Hogg – Country Human Resource Manager, Vijay Mohan – HSSEQ Lead, Tamer Alassad – Project Manager , David Choi – Commissioning Manager, Syam Komalavally – Project Lead, Febin Sunny – Procurement Specialist and Satish Kumar Matta – HSSE Supervisor.
T-Shirts, Caps, Hand Gloves, Trash Bag and masks were distributed to all the participants and thereafter trash collection kicked off.
During the closing notes, Mr. Safdar Ali Khan, President of ASSP Kuwait Chapter, Mr. Mohamed Yusuff, acting Vice-President of ASSP Kuwait Chapter, and Declan Finn, General Manager – Kent Kuwait, thanked all participants. ASSP Kuwait Chapter’s Advisory Committee members Mr. Ashok Garlapati, Mr. CH. Rama Krushna Chary and Mentor Mr. Jignesh Shah participated, promoting the theme “Think Globally and Act Locally”.
Participants expressed the Beach Cleanup theme “The Ocean takes care of Us, Let’s Return the Favour!” in languages such as Telugu, Gujarati, Pilipino, Swahili, Bengali, Arabic and Hindi. A memento of appreciation was presented to Mr. Declan Finn, General Manager, Kent, by ASSP Kuwait Chapter President Mr. Safdar Ali Khan, Mr. Ashok Garlapati, Mr. CH. Rama Krushna Chary and Mr. Jignesh Shah. The program concluded with the distribution of refreshments.
The ASSP – Kuwait Chapter has been organizing these events in Kuwait for several years. ASSP want to educate the community about the impact of pollution on our marine ecosystems. ASSP hopes that the event will serve as a catalyst for ongoing environmental efforts and inspire other communities to take similar action.