Managing risks inherent to front-line jobs

Ensuring the safety of industrial facilities means:

• Implementing safety rules from the design of facilities
• Using recognized technical standards
• Enforcing and improving operating procedures
• Efficient maintenance and inspection operations
• Managing the skills of all staff

As an example, a directive on conducting "sensitive operations in terms of safety" was issued in 2006. It recommends meticulous planning and coordination of such operations, reinforced supervision during their execution and preparation for certain maneuvers in the event of accidents.

Risk management also involves reinforcing the skills of operators in charge of running units. We rely on simulation tools to train our staff for new facilities or to maintain their skills by practicing existing processes.

The Safety Inspection Task Force

In 2009, we were confronted with a series of very serious accidents.
Due to these exceptional circumstances and in addition to regular audits performed throughout the year, we decided to launch a general inspection of 13 French sites presenting technological risks and representative of our business: six refineries, two petrochemical plants, three fertilizer sites, one hydrocarbon production facility and one natural gas storage unit.

Our objective was to determine:

• Why potentially high-risk situations still occur in our facilities
• Why a significant variation persists between our requirements and practices in the field

From September 2009 to January 2010, eleven professionals from all fields in the Group questioned hundreds of people on seven themes (conducting operations, outside companies, managing skills...). In addition to reports for each site, their work produced 58 practical recommendations designed to reinforce requirements for the most important processes and rules for their implementation at all of our sites and facilities.

While the Safety Inspection Task Force observed that operations on our sites are based on a robust foundation, particularly the professionalism of our teams, however, at all time we must ensure that it remains sound.

This foundation, which ensures our control of operations, consists in technical standards, organizational procedures and operating rules that must be followed to the letter to avoid potential failures.

To be effective in all these areas, management must shift its priorities towards the field and use its leadership to guide its teams. It is in the field that examples must be given, non-compliance with rules must be dealt with and operational standards must be maintained at their highest level.

The recommendations published by the Safety Inspection Task Force concern the Group in general and all its entities. They are important components in jump-starting progress in the field of safety.

When the task force was launched, the Group decided to share its conclusions with its stakeholders – employee representatives, media, administrative authorities – this is also one of the aims of this document.

To know more, read the interview of Gérard Roussel, General Manager of the Normandy refinery and head of the task force.

Closing of the 2009 IGS program
(France)

A program to review and close IGS actions following the inspections conducted in France in 2009/2010 has been established for 2012/2013, the fi rst inspections having been performed on the TIGF site in Lussagnet, on the refi nery in Feyzin, on the petrochemical platforms in Carling and Gonfreville, and on the fertiliser plant in Grand-Quevilly. The initial fi nding is that considerable progress has been made on these sites since 2009, particularly in the management of HSE action plans and in closing the gap between management and the field.

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