What Could Be More Motivating?

Case Study: Hamid Ebrahimi - Total


Hamid Ebrahimi believes that with the right kind of motivation people can achieve anything. And for Hamid, there is nothing more motivating than people’s safety.

Hamid grew up and was educated in Abadan in Iran. Abadan is located at the western point of the Persian Gulf, close to the border with Iraq and near to Kuwait. It is an important centre for oil and gas production in the region.

Almost inevitably Hamid chose a career in oil and gas. He was employed by several companies, but it was as a Material Controller for Total - responsible for providing materials and services for effective operation - that his career path changed. Total’s head of engineering for a project he was working on at the time was particularly impressed by Hamid’s attitude towards safety. He persuaded him to change jobs and take on a health, safety and environmental (HSE) role.

Hamid had already gained a lot of HSE experience by simply following and understanding procedures. He strongly valued safety, because he could see the importance of protecting lives and “ensuring the happiness” of the families of his fellow workers.

He found this responsibility for HSE to be a huge motivation for him to gain further knowledge and to, in his words, “save people”.

Following around 15 years experience in HSE, Hamid reached the point where he wanted to do more. In particular, he realised that passing on his knowledge and experience would help him protect even more lives. He also became aware that with this ambition he would need to gain suitable qualifications.

Hamid passed his NEBOSH International Diploma in Occupational Health and Safety and is studying for an Msc in Risk and Safety Management. Now at the age of 37 he is not only a NEBOSH and other HSE course tutor, but is also responsible for the development of international HSE markets for training provider TWI in Central Asia and Turkey.

As TWI Global HSE Programme Manager he has developed their NEBOSH Oil & Gas Certificate course. Hamid is also developing a course for NEBOSH’s most recent qualification, the International Certificate in Fire Safety and Risk Management.

The countries he is attracting students from now include Pakistan, Turkey, Iraq, Azerbaijan and other parts of the Middle East. He says there is a “fever” for NEBOSH qualifications in these and many other countries and that this is developing “every day”.

His thirst for knowledge continues. Hamid is already planning to take the NEBOSH Diploma in Environmental Management.

Extending our reach throughout the world is important to NEBOSH as we believe this contributes to better safety standards and protects more lives. Hamid knows and understands this and we would like to thank him very much for his support.