With 18 active OSHA Voluntary Protection Program STAR sites and a slew of other recognitions and accomplishments that attest to Chevron Phillips Chemical Co.'s outstanding safety culture, Greg Hendrickson was being somewhat humble when he said, "I think we've got a strong safety performance."
An engineering fellow at Chevron Phillips Chemical, Hendrickson credits this exemplary safety record, at least in part, to the application of process technology in aging assets and safety programs classified as "Operational Excellence Systems."
Addressing delegates at the 30th Annual Texas/Louisiana Environmental, Health & Safety Seminar held recently in Galveston, Texas, Hendrickson shared Chevron Phillips' "Guiding Principles of Operation." The multitiered principles accentuate the importance of management leadership and commitment, operational hierarchy, stop-work authority, life-saving rules, product safety and stewardship, continuous improvement and strategic planning, process safety metrics, accident investigation, industry participation and other priorities.
One of the most prominent inclusions of these guiding principles are 10 tenets all employees and contractors are required to adhere to.
"These life-saving rules are non-negotiable," Hendrickson insisted. "They are very critical to the work at Chevron Phillips Chemical."
The 10 tenets instruct workers to:
- Never operate equipment outside of design or environmental limits.
- Always move to a safe, controlled condition and seek assistance when a situation is not understood.
- Always operate with safety and environmental protection devices enabled.
- Always follow all safety/environmental work practices and procedures, and act to stop unsafe conditions and actions.
- Always produce a product that meets or exceeds the customer's requirements.
- Never contaminate or compromise a dedicated system.
- Always address abnormal conditions, and clarify and understand procedures before proceeding.
- Always develop and follow written procedures for high-risk or unusual situations.
- Always involve people with expertise and firsthand knowledge in decisions, improvements and changes that affect procedures and equipment.
Safety and skill sets
Hendrickson believes safety performance can be improved in the safe handling of chemicals and developing chemical engineering skill sets.
"We are doing that in three different focus areas," Hendrickson said. "One is mentoring. It's become the expectation of the senior engineers to be forthcoming with information when the young engineers ask."
Regarding safe handling of chemicals, Chevron Phillips has implemented the Hazardous Chemical Knowledge Database, which provides information regarding associated hazards, best practices, incidents, material compatibility, storage, safety data sheets, toxicity and other general information.
"When an engineer or an operator is assigned to a unit that uses a chemical, he can take this database training about that chemical," Hendrickson said. "We have also put together a training course we call Process Engineering 101. That is the skill sets we expect engineers to have."
The course highlights roles and responsibilities, equipment design and operation, and troubleshooting, among other topics.
Implementing a sound safety program to technologically enhanced processes can result in significant, measurable financial advantage, not just improved safety performance, Hendrickson said, adding the total value of these savings can be millions of dollars per year.
"Application of technology will enable refocusing the cost of safety into improved reliability and increased profitability," he concluded.
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