BACK FROM BIBIYANA (HABIGANJ) GAS PLANT: I was climbing up the stairs when suddenly I heard somebody says, ‘‘Please use the hand rails when climbing the stairs’’.
I was slightly taken aback by that peculiar request which I thought was meant for elderly people. But then, I saw a few younger men going up the stairs holding the hand rails, which surprised me.
Seeing the look on my face, Sabreena Rahman, the Assistant Manager of Communications at Chevron explained to me, ‘‘At Chevron, it is mandatory for everyone to use the hand rails while ascending and descending the stairs in order to avoid any kind of accidents in the staircase. It is better to be cautious and alert, don’t you think?”
Once we reached the conference room, we were greeted by Shah Paran, Senior Health Environment and Safety Specialist of Bibiyana Gas Field, who then shared Chevron Bangladesh’s safety measures with us. We were briefed on the safety measures and informed about the muster points and the fire alarm in case of an emergency.
He clarified, “Each person that enters the premises must register first. We then provide a card with their name on it for them to be allowed to enter the gas plant, which they return to us before leaving”.
He added, “We follow this system so that in case of an emergency, we can do an accurate headcount of the exact number of people in the plant. This allows us to detect if anyone is missing and to initiate the rescue operation without wasting any time, if required”.
During the presentation, the high safety standard maintained by each and every worker was highlighted. Paran explained to us that ‘‘a huge amount of effort is put behind this. We encourage all of our staff to respect our safety measures, which have allowed us to achieve such high safety standards”.
Out of the many tools the workers have at their disposal to improve the safety environment, Stop Work Authority (SWA) is one that intrigued me. This allows any worker at any time to stop his work or his colleague’s work if an unsafe condition or a “high-risk” behavior is observed.
One could think that many such recommendations exist in multinational companies but are seldom applied. However for Chevron, in 2014 alone, SWA were enforced 9872 times. What needs to be mentioned here is that SWA is a significant tool which puts equal emphasis on personal as well as process safety.
In addition to preventing grave process safety incidents, these measures are meant to eliminate the smallest of incidents, such as cuts and bruises, from the daily work life. Effective management of process safety also contributes to protecting the environment, another core value for Chevron.
Another element that corroborates this fact is that every month, each Chevron staff must submit “Behavior Based Safety” (BBS) observation reports. What this means is that not only must the employees focus on their own behavior, but also be observant of the behavior of others.
It is compulsory that each staff report on the positive or negative behavior of colleagues. The different approach adopted here is that the person reporting engages in a dialogue with the person reported in order to give feedback with the aim of improving the behavior at risk.
Other safety tools include - incident/near miss report and investigation, Hazard Identification (HID) and Risk Management.
Chevron actively seeks to identify and understand potential risks associated with their operations. By understanding the risks, they develop safeguards to mitigate the potential consequences of those risks.
To elaborate on the HID, Paran shared a past experience with us, ‘‘someone once left a bag on top of a shelf at the office. Another person identified that as a hazard and reported saying that the bag might fall on someone and injure that person. The bag was then immediately put in a safer location”.
To many of us these measures may seem insignificant or unnecessary, but at Chevron Bangladesh, process safety and personal safety are given utmost importance.
After the presentation we headed to the plant’s canteen for lunch. The consistency and the standard there amazed me even further: dishes were served in a row on the right side with a sink next to it, a bowl was kept there for used utensils and on the other side were three plastic bins, each labeled in bold letters for different kinds of leftovers (leftover food, plastic waste material, tissue, polythene bags, etc.).
We have all heard of such measures, encouraged by big companies for better waste-management as well as reducing environmental damage, but this was the first time I saw employees systematically apply them to their work, as if it were an instinct.
Once we had finished our lunch and were getting ready to leave the gas plant in the microbus, the driver reminded us all to fasten our seatbelts. I was in the back seat of the vehicle and thought to myself “at the most this can apply to people sitting in the front seat”, but then the driver turned and pointed towards a sticker that read ‘‘No seatbelt, no gear’’, he then told me that he would not start the car until all the seatbelts were fastened.
As I was still trying to understand how all these people could meticulously apply so many safety measures to their daily routine, something else surprised me: our bus was advancing at a snail’s pace, allowing a number of auto-rickshaws to speedily drive past us. I figured that in a country like Bangladesh where there is no such thing as speed limit, it must be the car’s engine that was causing us to go so slowly.
I was in for another shock as the driver explained it to us that the maximum allowed speed from the plant to the main road is of 10 kilometers per hour.
After that statement I could not resist asking, “Who would even know if you crossed the limit?”
To which he replied, “It is mandatory for all vehicles to stay within the speed limit of 30 kilometers on normal roads and on the highways the allowed speed-limit is 70 kilometers per hour. All Chevron vehicles have GPRS systems installed in them and everything is constantly monitored. All our staff have the Chevron safety culture instilled in them and are accustomed to respecting these rules”.
Safe work practices are important everywhere, especially in the oil and gas industry. It is hence crucial that all necessary safety measures be in place. All the projects and tasks are to be approved one day ahead.
The same rule is applied for visitors at the plant. Before a visitor enters the plant, they receive a safety orientation to make sure the safety culture is maintained. If you are wondering if the gas plant is the only place where rigorous rules are maintained, the answer is ‘no’, the same rules are applied at all the Chevron offices.
Safety is a part of every single day at Chevron Bangladesh. The emphasis is not only on doing a task but on how to conduct the day’s planned tasks in the right way.
Asset integrity and operational procedures are highly maintained in all the Chevron facilities. Facility designs follow or exceed the industry-accepted design standards.
Billy Johnston, Bibiyana Gas Plant Superintendent said, “I am impressed every day by the strong safety culture at Chevron Bangladesh. Although Chevron operates in many countries and has the same safety policies worldwide, what we have here in Bangladesh is a highly committed group of people with profound respect for Chevron’s safety values. This is a team that takes great pride in keeping themselves and their coworkers safe from injury”.
Chevron’s workforce is playing a critical role in transferring their knowledge beyond Chevron’s fences, to the contractors and in the communities in which they live and thrive. Since opening in April 2012, the Health, Environment and Safety training center has worked with and trained more than 11,000 people.
“It gives me tremendous confidence working in a company that cares so much about the safety of its people,” said Presley Jeyson Gomes, a contractor working with the facilities engineering in Bibiyana. He added, “Even if I go elsewhere, whatever I have learnt here will see me through”.
Chevron’s fields are vital to the energy security of Bangladesh; together they provide over 50 percent of the nation’s natural gas. However, what truly distinguishes these fields is their record on safety and environmental stewardship.
Chevron Bangladesh has been continually recognized within the corporation for its safety performance; earning Zero (incident) is Attainable awards25 times. In addition, these fields have had no significant process safety incidents, fires or spills.
The model followed by Chevron in Bangladesh has also been praised by many visitors, who believe that these same measures and work ethics should be applied to government offices allowing Bangladesh to set new safety records in its various sectors.
BDST: 1854 HRS, AUG 19, 2015
RR/SMS
