RISK assessment specialists Risktec Solutions has won two major health and safety contracts in two of the world's most inhospitable regions.

The Billingham business is providing health, safety and environment (HSE) risk assessment services for the operation of the Vityaz offshore complex on Sakhalin's Island in the Sea of Okhotsk, off the east coast of Russia.

It is also providing a safety operations plan for the drilling of oil wells and well testing in the Kazakhstan area of the Caspian Sea.

Each of the locations places hazardous industries in areas of outstanding natural beauty and extreme environmental sensitivity, where temperatures can fall to as low as -30 degrees Celsius.

Risktec director Andre ter Weele said: "An HSE case is designed to ensure operations are carried out without endangering personnel, the environment, the asset or the company's reputation. By observing and assessing a number of industrial installations in areas of extreme climatic change, we have gained a body of knowledge of the potentially hazardous effects of extreme cold on operations and employees."

He added: "We base our solutions on understanding the client's business and the issues it faces, and the best way to do this means putting on your warmest clothing and seeing - and feeling - for yourself just what those issues are.