Petroleum Service Corp.'s (PSC's) workplace safety and operational excellence programs are rooted in this basic philosophy: It's always better to prevent an incident than to investigate one.
That's easier said than done with approximately 3,400 PSC employees working at more than 125 chemical plants, refineries, terminals and marine sites across North America. But it's vitally important, given the inherently dangerous nature of the work those employees are doing -- rail switching, truck and railcar loading, packaging, warehousing, railcar repair, barge tanking and dock operations.
Observations in the field have always been a major focus of PSC's safety program, with supervisors and managers examining workplace behaviors and reacting as needed with one-on-one employee coaching and training. Historically, paper checklists were used, and the processes for collecting and reporting the data varied considerably from site to site and leader to leader.
Once a specific category has been identified by a work group as an area of focus (leading indicator),proactive actions can be initiated, and performance improvement can be tracked to validate results.
As the company's headcount and number of site operations increased, the mostly manual and site-specific observation system became increasingly difficult to manage. In 2019, PSC's safety leaders overhauled the system, making a significant investment in technology tools to allow for behavior- based safety data to be captured and monitored in real time, with more robust data analysis and reporting capabilities.
"The goal was to develop a system that would allow us to focus on leading indicators and construct proactive responses to address potential risks ahead of failure," said William Myers, vice president of special projects for PSC. "We wanted to make it easier for our leaders to conduct their field observations using the connectivity of cellphones and tablets, while significantly reducing our administrative time compiling and acting on the data."
After working to standardize the observation forms and configure the online reporting system, the processes were pilot tested at a few sites and then rolled out across all sites at the start of this year. The new system now captures data for an average of 3,000 to 4,000 observations each month, representing approximately 80,000 to 90,000 specific tasks.
"The observation database is live for all of our supervisors and managers to utilize anywhere, and the tools we use for the data analytics are pretty extensive now, so you can quickly drill down and see a variety of information," Myers said. "We have dashboard reports to show us where we are having issues that might need to be addressed in safety meetings or with certain employees regarding specific tasks. We also have a report that identifies our 'all-star' employees, so that we can provide them with positive reinforcement and recognition."
Operations managers and senior leaders can easily view data for all the sites and lines of business they manage. The site-specific observation data is also shared and discussed with customers.
A real-time display of the top at-risk activities and individual performance can be viewed by employees on monitors set up in breakrooms.
"It gives everyone on the team very quick feedback and adds another layer of accountability," Myers explained.
PSC was also able to utilize the observation reporting system to collect data regarding the impact of COVID-19 at each site operation.
"Throughout the pandemic, we've been able to easily collect, review and report data related to facility operating status and production levels and the number of employees sick and/or quarantined at any one time," Myers said. "We've been able to analyze that data by region to see where we had hot spots and proactively address resource availability issues."
A positive trendline
"The new digital observation system is just one of more than a dozen initiatives we've launched in the past five years that has helped us improve safety performance and drive down our total recordable incident rate (TRIR), even as our company's headcount increased," said Adam Gilmore, senior vice president of operations for PSC. "In 2015, our company-wide TRIR was 0.48. Year-to-date for 2020, our company- wide TRIR now stands at 0.18."
In the company's rail operations, PSC has increased usage of video systems to observe workplace behaviors and investigate incidents. In addition to cameras mounted on the outside of locomotives to record train movements and radio communications, the company is now using body camera technology at some sites as part of the behavior-based observation process.
"Using the body cameras helps improve training through real-life examples and augments the operating discipline of the wearer through the awareness that their actions are being recorded," said Dan LaPrairie, director of operational excellence for PSC. "Short sections of video footage are reviewed at a pre-determined frequency, and positive reviews are celebrated while undesirable results provide a proactive coaching opportunity."
Operator fatigue is also another risk area that PSC has worked to minimize by investing in fatigue-monitoring technology that provides real-time feedback to operators.
One clear indicator of the impact of Petroleum Service Corp.’s (PSC’s)safety initiatives is OSHA’s TRIR. PSC’s trendline shows continuous improvement,even as the company’s headcount has increased.
"With the nature of some of our roles and tasks, there is an increased risk of operator fatigue and subsequently a reduction in alertness. When operator fatigue is combined with high-risk activities such as heavy equipment operation, there is increased potential for serious incidents," LaPrairie said. "This technology provides for immediate operator self-management as well as for supervisor monitoring and intervention. It has helped us greatly reduce the number of fatigue-related incidents."
In pursuit of the ultimate goal of zero incidents and injuries, the use of advanced technology solutions and data analytics will continue to be a major focus for PSC.
"Improving our ability to identify risks and opportunities for improvement and being more proactive in addressing issues before they result in an incident is always going to be a win-win for us, our customers and our employees," Gilmore stated. "Adapting and continuously improving our processes and systems to meet changing industry needs is an ongoing priority in fulfilling our mission to be the best at what we do."
For more information, visit www.petroleumservice.com or call (281) 991-3500.