Many foreign workers have little appreciation of local physical and cultural conditions and cannot always be cocooned with the protective walls of the company compound.

Late last year the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation convened the country's first industry conference on the subject, underscoring the importance Abuja attaches to building local capacity and taking on more of the inspection burden.

Dangers posed range from simple security precautions to disease prevention, and companies with long-term presence are increasingly aware of the benefits to be gained by palpably improving local health infrastructure.