Guiding a Process Safety Culture Implementation Among Chemical Transportation Companies

The project enhances the chemicals transportation safety practices through guiding local carriers towards risk management, promoting a step change on their process safety culture. The risk management program became a legal requirement to the local carriers that operate with dangerous chemicals transportation at Camacari's Petrochemical Pool and needs to be implemented until Sept.2009. Monsanto Camaçari once informed about this requirement went beyond the carriers duties and has decided to lead the program implementation through its partners. This initiative has been recognized by the Committee of Industrial Foment of Camaçari as a reference of program's implementation process and has been adopted as a model, reaching 100% of the Chemical Companies at the Complex and all carriers that transit on Petrochemical Complex routes and the connecting roads to Aratu Port.Risk Management Program is a reality in chemical plants, however, is not part of the reality of chemical?s carriers that do not have the technical expertise in Process Safety culture. Knowing the benefits brought by the implementation of this type of program and due to the risks involved on chemical transportation to the surround population, the local legal agencies have extended this requirement to carriers that transit around the Petrochemicals Complex Communities and the connecting roads to Aratu Port. Figure ? 01 shows the Petrochemical area and Communities covered by the project. The program assembled to the carrier's partners was customized to their operations and took into consideration the existent local and international practices of risk management programs. The program is the systematic application of management policies, procedures and practices of analysis, evaluation and control of the risk with the objective to protect people, stakeholders, environment and equipment and facilities reducing process or activity interruption. The program has 10 elements' management , and each element structure runs the PDCA cycle The strategy defined to implement the program was divided in 05 phases. In Oct2007, the first step was done through a workshop with the current 08 carriers to disseminate the concept and the importance of the program. After obtaining 100% of carrier's adherence the diagnostics phase starts where an assessment protocol was developed and each carrier were assessed on the 10 program's elements. The level of Program attendance by element obtained varies from 10% to 65%. The next step was developing specific action plans with recommendations to eliminate the gaps identified on the diagnostic phase. Since June, 2008 the action plans are being monitored in a monthly basis and the deadline to accomplish them is May, 2009. The final step of the program implementation will be carried out in July, 2009 with a final audit with 100% of the carriers. The Committee of Industrial Foment of Camaçari knowing about this Monsanto initiative has recognized us as the first company at the Petrochemical Complex to be in the right track to be compliance with the local legal requirement until Sept.2009. Monsanto has become a reference on the implementation of this program with carriers. Our program was adopted as a model of a strategic action to make possible for the other Companies to implement the Program on the deadline required. It means 100% of the Chemical Companies at the Complex and around 20 up to 50 carriers will be reached by the Monsanto Program. Monsanto Camaçari strong believes that this effort of leading the implementation of this program among the transportation partners and Chemical's Companies located at the Petrochemical complex will experience an improvement at the quality of the transportation services, increase the overall local knowledge about the preventive importance of loss control by the risk management concept, transferring the focus on the Process Safety culture to the transportation operations and continuing challenging the community to create an incident free environment in the distribution. Besides, Monsanto will have the opportunity to promote a step change on the Monsanto Program 5 ? Distribution through the integration of both programs.