Emotional Intelligence: A Modern Approach to Health and Safety in the Oil and Gas Industry, Effects of Covid-19 Pandemic in Work Environments, and Solutions to Enhance Work Deliverability - A Case Study of Nigeria

Abstract

Assurance of reliable public health and safety of/in work environments patently depends on the Emotional Intelligence (EI) of workers. EI, which is the ability to understand and regulate emotions of one-self and others, is one of the uncommonly utilized strategies to optimizing deliverability in workplaces. Work pressure can never be overemphasized, as when not managed effectively, can retard compliance to industry set rules, integrity, and values, as well as distort deliverability of workers. The oil and gas sector were not left out in the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic which did not only affect the economy of the global oil market, but also, jeopardized the health and safety of its workers and the environment at large. This paper highlights Emotional Intelligence (EI) as a method to curb the negative effects which the pandemic has caused. It further positions Affability as a must-have skill for oil and gas workers for the purpose of assuring health and safety in work environments. Conceptual and critical thinking processes were utilized to introduce and prioritize Affability as an aspect of EI to proffering solutions to threats regarding safe and workable environment in the industry. Using SPSS, a comprehensive analytical result was generated for 102 oil and gas workers in Nigeria, who took an Emotional Intelligence test compiled by Global Leadership Foundation. A mean of 45.35% was calculated with 57% of 102 scoring below %50. A critical observation indicates that, EI among oil and gas workers was unreliable. This is due to unawareness to effectiveness of developing affable skills to combat safety and health threats in work environments. In an informative way, this paper introduces Affability as a core aspect of Emotional Intelligence and its effectual contribution to promoting a healthy and safe oil and gas work environment.