It is being rolled out across thirty countries worldwide throughout Asia, Africa, and the United States over the next two years. A second translation, into Bahasa Malay, will be released later this month.

IMIST has been developed by oil and gas training standards body OPITO and will be applied to every member of the current workforce and all new entrants to the industry.

Delivered in partnership with Atlas via eLearning and tailored to meet each region's specific workforce, language, and geographic needs, the course assesses basic safety knowledge in nine subject areas. These include risk assessment, asset integrity, the use of hazardous substances, working at heights, and mechanical lifting, as well as other subjects.

John Rowley, chief executive officer of Atlas says, "Originally developed in UK and American English, IMIST provides the platform for increasing the performance of the national workforce whilst ensuring a standardised playing field in terms of safety and competency."

"With an estimated 221 million Arabic speakers in 57 countries worldwide, this move is the first step towards increasing its accessibility, bringing the benefits of IMIST to a wider pool of oil and gas workers."