The safe handling and transportation of raw material intermediates and finished products in the supply chain has long been recognized as highly important in the chemical industry. Companies transporting chemical materials must ensure safety before the shipment leaves the rack or dock for the appropriate protection of people, the product and the environment.
“Accidents happen, but they are preventable and avoidable. Professionals don’t take chances, but they minimize risks,” said David Sandidge, senior director, Responsible Care® & Value Chain Outreach, American Chemistry Council (ACC). “Some implications of poor performance by your logistics service provider include legal and costs issues, fines and penalties, remediation costs and loss of business. All of those, once they occur, are subject to a difficult investigation process that leads to a lot of inefficiency. The No. 1 goal is to prevent that from happening by having a system in place to help you evaluate your logistics systems partners.”
Sandidge presented key suggestions for fueling safety improvements in chemical shipments and communicated emerging trends within the ACC Responsible Care Partner growth program at the recent Texas/Louisiana EHS Seminar.
“How we move forward is a joint effort in how we manage risk assessment,” he said. “You conduct your risk assessment based upon what role your transportation supplier and chain partner plays. You also assign probability and severity measures using a consistent methodology, and you look at the entire cycle of the operations, including return and management of waste. Each hazard should be scored, and the high scores should be addressed.
“Some of the impacts the chemical industry has on the public can be in its transport of the products — accidents on the road, mishaps, rail.”
Sandidge was adamant the one solution to supply chain safety issues is ACC Responsible Care partners. Partners are those that don’t manufacture chemicals but are involved in the supply chain. Examples include railroads, bulk motor carriers, terminals, logistics management companies and marine operators.”
Partner programs, for example, offer third-party certification that verifies implementation of the Responsible Care Management System.
“One of the advantages to a partner program is that there is a commercial value proposition,” Sandidge said. “But not everything of value is on a balance sheet. There are some aspects of improving environmental health and safety that you don’t necessarily have to spend a whole lot of time to quantify.”
Regardless of whether a company is a partner or not, internal programs should be in place when performing a carrier evaluation. “You need to look for a policy or statement,” Sandidge said.
“You need to look to see if they have a process around accident investigation. Training of their people is very critical and [so is] how they perform security planning.”
Internal plans include things like an accident investigation/corrective action policy, a training program (new hire and in-service) and security planning.
Sandidge pointed to two new codes that may be of interest to those in the logistics world.
“One is on process safety, and one’s on product safety,” he said. “Process safety is really about preventing unwanted loss of containment and asset integrity, like what’s in the railcar or the truck. Some of the applications of process safety in the logistics world include bulk motor carrier systems and hose testing. It’s more about hardware than it is employee injury and illness programs.
“Product safety code is the other initiative in the industry, and it’s meeting the challenge of ensuring the consumer we have proper safety handling information down the supply chain.”
Safety in and by a supply chain isn’t just a responsibility for the safety department, Sandidge added.
“Safety needs to be incorporated into the business planning and assessment phases of new business and should be a part of your basic company philosophy and policy,” he said. “Make it important and not an afterthought.”
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