In the last 15 years, Petrotrin has recorded 14 work-related deaths and 29 loss-of-time injuries but chairman of the Occupational Health and Safety Agency (OHSA), Dr Victor Coombs, says no one is being fired for safety violations.
Coombs, who spent 30 years at Petrotrin and served as its chief medical officer, said despite training people on proper health and safety methods and providing signage, consequence management is lacking within the local energy industry.
In the feature address at the annual Production Alliances' HSE leadership forum at the Pointe-a-Pierre Staff Club, he said even when 40 people died in a fire at Petrotrin's Pointe-a-Pierre port decades ago, no one lost their job.
The Production Alliance comprises Petrotrin and its contractors and is aimed at developing and enforcing proper safety management systems.
Coombs said there were too many "yes men" as managers who were afraid to speak out. He told HSE professionals and managers at the forum they should always speak the truth, even if it cost them their jobs, as it might save lives.
"Yes we go and we teach people HSE. Yes we put the colour coding but consequence management is lacking.
"When last you heard somebody getting fired in Petrotrin for some HSE breach? Some fellas who thief a couple barrels of oil on the port, they get fired one time. When last you heard a manager get fired for any HSE breach?" he asked
"I can recall one but they did not fire him, they asked him to resign. They gave him an early retirement. In the 30 years I have been around, there was one who was asked to go. Even in that fire down at the port where 40 people died, nobody got fired.
"Where is consequence management? If we are really serious about HSE and we are really going to practise consequence management, people have to take responsibility for those beneath them," Combs added.
Petrotrin president, Fitzroy Harewood, said while the company's approach to survive low oil and gas prices was important, its greatest burden was its inability to be proud of its safety performance completely.
He said the company averaged a work-related death every 14-15 months when the only acceptable figure for fatalities was zero.
Harewood said Petrotrin did not categorise incidents based on employees or contractors as it sought to develop effective safety management systems throughout the company.
He said Petrotrin was also challenged with squatting and land encroachment as it also owed a duty of care to the communities around its large acreage, adding that they will have to take look into how citizens interact with their many facilities.