Sustaining GoodSafety Performance in TUCNOn, Saturday, 15th October, 2016, Total worldwide achieved600days without Fatality. Mr. Guy MAURICE-VP EP Africa broke the news with thecongratulatory message to all the MDs of the Africa affiliates. He wrote ‘On Saturday, wehave reached 600 days without any fatality in Africa. This is a greatachievement obtained thanks to your action.Pleasecommend your team for this result. The fight continues.’ The congratulatory message wascascaded to TUCN to top management by the MD of TUCN, Mr. Nicolas TERRAZ. He wrote‘Please convey the congratulations of our SVPAfrica to your teams and all OIMs, as this result was made possible by thedaily vigilance of each and everyone on all our operated sites. For TUCN, wehave now reached 1,692 days without a fatality and 239 days without LTI, whichis also a great result. Let's continue to carry safety as a core value, andlet's all remain fully mobilized, day after day, to make sure that everyone onour sites remains safe.’
The recognition of the HSE performance comes at a time whenthe Total worldwide has set a clear target to be best in class in 2017 andreference for safety in the industry by the 2020; hence, it is indeedheartwarming and gratifying that the company is line with meeting theorganization objectives. At this juncture, it isimportant to ask three basic questions;
Is this safetyperformance a flash in the pan? I will say, “No”;
Is this safetyperformance sustainable? I will say, “Yes” ;
Lastly, canfatality still happen? Sadly, I will say “Yes”.
The obvious responses for thefirst two questions would not be any difficult challenge to any of our staff orcontractor employees on any of our sites or offices. Although, TUCN sites andoffices have passed through the usual cyclic safety performance of ups anddowns which is peculiar to companies under safety culture evolution. In fact, the four fatalitiesin 2012 was a rude awakening for the company which led to several actions suchas top management active participation in evolution of new strategies, re-organizationof the assets operational structure and re-creation of safety awareness campaignsat all levels among staff and contracted employees which 12 Golden rules andother tools have contributed in no small measures to the present achievements. Meanwhile, with regards to the thirdquestion, it is important to remind ourselves that a Nicaragua refinery which was built in 1962 was gutted by fire in 2016after more than 50years of operation; 1 fatality occurred on the 22ndAugust, 2016 during a routine maintenance activity on the Refinery’s VacuumDistillation Unit (VDU) while 26 fatalities occurred when a firehappened at Mexico Pemex gas in September, 2012.In view ofthese sad events, we can’t drop ourguards at anytime because the risks are always there.In fact, Deepwater Horizon event inApril, 2010 after seven years without a single accident serious enough to haltoperations, where it was eventually discovered that ‘years of cutting corners, not one careless mistake, causedthe explosion’- J.B. Meigs (2016) always come to mind.Lastly, on Tuesday, 25th October, 2016,TUCN achieved 1700days without Fatalities. This achievement has shownclearly that the company’s safety culture is maturing gradually into an “Integrated Culture” on our sites/officesfrom the “Informal Culture”. In conclusion, we all have to sustain allthe good safe practices across the districts which have taken us thisfar and always remember that “Safety performance is a journey, not adestination”.http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2016/09/bp_is_to_blame_for_deepwater_horizon_but_its_mistake_was_actually_years.html?wpsrc=sh_all_mob_em_ruhttp://www.france24.com/en/20160819-nicaragua-struggles-control-fire-sole-oil-refineryhttp://www.ogj.com/articles/2016/08/fire-hits-rompetrol-rafinare-petromidia-refinery.htmlhttp://www.reuters.com/article/us-pemex-fire-idUSBRE88H1DA20120918
