Process Safety Management

We maintain design standards and procedures, and routinely review our processes and implement changes to further reduce the likelihood of incidents.

The elimination and control of process hazards in our facilities is achieved through a comprehensive collection of Process Safety Management (PSM) programs. Our Board of Directors is informed of our progress towards maintaining and improving our PSM programs through the use of metrics and quarterly presentations to the Environmental, Health & Safety Committee of our Board.

The success of our PSM programs is built on a strong foundation of experienced employees and a large electronic infrastructure of process safety information and tracking systems. For new and modified installations, our electronic Management of Change (MOC) and capital projects approval processes help ensure adherence to our PSM programs. Our Pre-Startup Safety Review requirements confirm that design and construction specifications have been met, and that affected employees have been properly trained or notified.

Existing processes undergo periodic Process Hazard Analyses (PHAs) to ensure that potential hazards are properly identified, controlled and, where possible, eliminated through the use of inherent safety design principles. Furthermore, our ongoing preventive/predictive maintenance activities and procedures, coupled with our mechanical integrity inspection programs, enable us to operate our process equipment safely and reliably.

Our facilities are operated by people who have been trained on routine and non-routine procedures governing the safe, efficient and uniform operation of our chemical processes. Our employees are also trained on emergency procedures, and we maintain a group of emergency responders who are trained in fire-fighting, hazardous material incident response techniques, industrial rescue techniques and emergency medical response.

We maintain an incident reporting system for deviations from expected performance, including minor deviations. For significant incidents or near misses, we conduct formal incident investigations led by employees trained in root cause investigation techniques to identify causes and contributing factors. Action items from these investigations are tracked through completion to help prevent recurrence of these types of incidents.