Headquartered in Lafayette, Louisiana, and led by President and CEO Phil Finley, Bilfinger Salamis Inc. (BSI) is a leader in safety within the Bilfinger organization, offering insulation, scaffolding and painting services as well as NDT in the oil and gas and petrochemical industries. BSI has been a preferred contractor for major clients in the Gulf of Mexico for over 35 years and has maintained this status by providing value, innovation and, most importantly, a passion for safety. For Finley and his team, safety goes beyond operational procedures and rules to a culture that has resulted in over 12 years and 6.5 million man-hours without a single lost-time incident. This safety record does not happen by itself. It is a combination of management inputs, initiatives, training, continuous improvement plans and innovation.
As an example, BSI was contracted by a major client for a ballast tank remediation project that required a special scaffolding effort and technique. This involved building a full-scale replica of the tank scaffold in the BSI facility in Louisiana. The structure was then dismantled, packaged in reverse order and shipped offshore.
"BSI is unique in the industry by being one of the only companies with a track record of numerous successful ballast tank remediation projects -- this recent project being a prime example, where we brought it in 10-percent under budget and 15-percent ahead of schedule," Finley explained. "The work is technically challenging and requires the right procedures, systems, specialist equipment and the most experienced personnel. Apart from the difficulties around access, egress, associated rescue plans and coating selection, the main challenge is maintaining a safe, controlled, dehumidified and air conditioned atmosphere inside the tank. To achieve this, we changed a volume of 36,724 cubic feet of air from within the tank every three minutes utilizing the most advanced air movement and management systems."
Finley and his team also examine marketplace practices to evaluate and invest in areas of improvement. A good example of this is BSI's recognition that standard marketplace ultra-high-pressure (UHP) equipment is prone to breakdowns due to electrical and electronic components failing in the marine environment. BSI designed, engineered and built the Gulf of Mexico's only nonelectronic, intrinsically safe, air-start 40,000-psi UHP machine. Since that time, the company has measured reliability rates of more than 98 percent -- compared to typical market figures of less than 70 percent -- resulting in savings of more than $50,000/unit/year.
Finley has also invested in employees' safety education by creating the Bilfinger Salamis annual training and development program, which includes a yearly safety conference. These two-day events, held at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette as well as in Port Lavaca and Deer Park, Texas, are timed intentionally to capture as many Bilfinger employees as possible prior to their return to work following the holidays.
"One of the main themes for this year's events centered around the current and forecasted shortage of skilled craft resources in the construction industry in general and the potential impact this could have on HSE performance if not mitigated correctly," explained Finley.
For more information, visit www.bissalamis.com or call (337) 289-0092.
