Health, safety and environment are issues that need to be more than a brochure for a company. In the petrochemical industry, attention to these is not a choice.
A slip-up anywhere in the process of manufacturing chemicals is not just an accident for a company, but a potential disaster for the entire community. But the Gulf manufacturers have managed to keep their operation running reliably and safely.
So we spoke to Tahir Jamal Qadir, Director of Responsible Care at the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA) to explore the strategies for success.
Responsible Care is the chemical industry’s comprehensive environment, health, safety & security (EHS&S) performance improvement initiative. Originally conceived in 1984 by the Canadian Chemical Producers Association, the initiative was brought to the United States by American Chemistry Council (ACC) in 1988.
The GPCA adopted the initiative in 2009 in the Gulf and Middle East Region. GPCA’s Responsible Care programme is aligned with the initiatives of the international entities like UNEP, UNDP, and International Council of Chemical Association (ICCA).
GPCA has designed its Responsible Care Programme, keeping in view the experience, gained by international associations in their journey towards responsible care issues.
GPCA has forged alliance with American Chemistry Council (ACC), the European Chemistry Council (CEFIC), and the Canadian Chemical Producers Association (CCPA) to address the global issues in a concerted manner.
GPCA’s programme has the flexibility to incorporate the current and the future global initiatives in a manner consistent with the regional demands and requirements, says Tahir Jamal Qadir, director, Responsible Care.
Qadir says responsible care is a very simple initiative. “When we talk about petrochemicals and the chemical industry – the industry is working under a very structured approach.
In the manufacturing of all petrochemicals or associated chemicals, all HSE measures are taken – as it is cost effective to be safe.
With Responsible Care, all we are saying is that the HSE initiatives should not be restricted to the member companies, but needs to be expanded across the whole value chain, right from the beginning to the end. We need to open up the fence lines to wherever the product goes.”
At each stage, Qadir says the manufacturers need to address concerns relating to health, safety and security.
He says responsible care as an initiative is extremely active with the supply chain members where they are coming up with safety and security codes for the Middle Eastern countries.
He is trying to replicate the involvement across the plastics and fertilisers committee members of the GPCA as well.
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With regard to plastics, he says the GPCA would like to see its member companies get more involved with smaller converters down the value chain and educate them about the material.
He reckons awareness drives for the conversion industry will help integrate the basic plastic bag manufacturer into the folds of the downstream industry, whereby they will be obliged to follow the HSE guideline the larger producers follow.
Qadir could be quite successful in his recommendations, as the Responsible Care in the GCC has topped the ranking of International Council of Chemical Association’s (ICCA) member associations in 55 countries worldwide in December 2012.
“That’s true, ICCA’s latest report indicates the tremendous progress this region has made in implementing the Responsible Care Initiative in the Gulf Region in a very short time since signing the ICCA’s Global Charter,” says Qadir.
Now the GPCA has prepared seven codes of management practices that relates to the entire value chain and have issued it to the member companies.
The companies have been given until 2016 to implement the codes. GPCA is also devising a mechanism to verify the implementation either through external or internal verification.
“We want the member companies to understand all the codes and not just tick the boxes. We feel this exercise will go a long way in building a culture whereby the company looks at their activities as promoting a healthy planet concept. We know this will take time but it will definitely happen one day,” says Qadir.
As Qadir, points out, the most successful committee of the Responsible Care division is the supply chain committee.
The committee made some interesting observations last month at the annual meet of the GPCA supply chain members and said that the perception is that the region is blessed with energy resources and therefore is not cautious about this, but that must be changed. The supply chain industry here is as cautious as other regions, if not more so.
As a testimony to this Sabic is rolling out five initiatives that will improve fuel efficiency, reduce CO2 emissions and energy consumption.
These five initiatives are: reduce transportation time between plants and consumers; replace 200,000 trucks with 2,700 trains to run on Saudi Arabia’s railway network with the support of SAR; implementing a fuel savings programme which will also reduce CO2; use larger and more sophisticated ships to transport products more efficiently to distant markets, such as the US and Asia; and to use pipelines more for the transport of liquid products.
By implementing these initiatives, Sabicaims to reduce its energy consumption by 0.7 MMBOE (million barrels of oil equivalent) by 2016.
The fifth supply chain conference was opened by Saleh Al-Shabnan, Vice Chairman of GPCA Supply Chain Committee and Vice President of Global Supply Chain Centre of Excellence, SABIC. Al-Shabnan said that sustainability will be one key area to focus on going forward as the industry continues to develop.
Sustainability has to be built into the Middle East industry now as it is expected that this region will continue dominating production. “Over 25 years, three of the top 10 chemical firms will be in that region. By 2020, the Middle East will become the central hub for the global petrochemical supply,” McCool said.
To ensure the Middle East stays ahead of its competitors, the GCC petrochemical industry will need to develop in a more sustainable way and be more flexible to better respond to the changing market dynamics.
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Don’t shut down
Safety pioneers – HIMA Safety’s Safyan Ali says HiMax will help routine maintenance without shutting down the system
The traditional purpose of process safety solutions is to protect people, equipment, and the environment from damage by ensuring Safety Instrumented Functions (SIF). In a modern sense, however, process safety also contributes significantly to the availability of process assets, which can have a significant impact on a plants overall profitability.
German manufacturers HIMA Safety Systems promote their products, especially the next generation HIMax process safety control system to address the demanding needs of process users in the oil & gas, refining, and chemical industries by providing a previously unattainable level of high availability and system performance.
HIMax is a SIL3 platform designed especially for continuous processes that absolutely cannot be interrupted.
The system maximizes availability, not only by ensuing continuous operation in the event of a component failure, but also by allowing the user to perform routine maintenance operations or hardware changes without shutting down the system. This includes every conceivable task, from hot-swapping components or modules to on-the-fly program and hardware changes.
Redundancy levels from dual to quadruple are possible and each module is powered by its own separate power supply.
To ensure a smooth integration, HIMA’s DCS Competence Team is available to test and verify compatibility, says Safyan Ali, Sales Support & Marketing Engineer, HIMA Middle East FZE.
HIMA already has an enviable client base in the Middle East including leading industry players like Kuwait Oil Company (KOC), Kuwait, Borouge-3, UAE (Commissioning under process), Qatar Petrochemical Company (QAPCO), Qatar and Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), Oman.
The company has more than 400 installations in the world. When asked what sets the German company apart, Ali said “HIMA invests steadily in the field of research and development, and has a high number of employees work in this field. A series of technical milestones bear testimony to this living philosophy of innovation.”
He adds that it all began in 1970 with the world’s first TÜV-approved safety system, and has since developed into a globally leading enterprise in the field of safety-related automation. “HIMA has had a decisive influence on modern safety technology with a string of ground-breaking innovations – and is set to continue to do so into the future,” concludes Ali.
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Cover Up
We spoke to Lisa Harwood, general manager UAE, Magus International to find out about the products available from the company for improving health and safety of workers at refineries and petrochemical plants.
What is the product you most recommend for the industry?
Reusable Chemical Workwear Exclusively represented in UAE & KSA by Magus International, Respirex is one of the world’s leading suppliers of Hazmat solutions, specializing in the design and manufacture of high-performance chemical, particulate and respiratory protective clothing and specialist protective footwear.
Respirex are also able to tailor equipment solutions to our customers’ individual requirements, and provide unrivalled training, aftercare and support.
How does it help?
With over 40 years experience supplying the petrochemical industry, Respirex understands the requirement of modern plants to provide effective protection for staff at an affordable price.
Where the chemical hazards in a plant are known, and chemical protective suits are used frequently, reusable Neoprene workwear provides industry proven protection, at lower cost than disposable garments.
Neoprene workwear is designed to be laundered and re-used, providing a lower lifetime cost of ownership than the equivalent number of disposable garments, without the associated problems of disposal of contaminated garments.
The life of these reusable garments can be further extended through maintenance and repair, available from the Respirex Service Centre at Magus International.
In addition, Neoprene is a much stronger fabric than those used in disposable garments providing greater tear and puncture resistance, and the liquid tight rubber cuff and glove system used prevents chemical ingress up the sleeves of jackets and suits, providing greater protection than elasticated sleeves found in disposable garments.
Any existing client who you have installed it to?
We supply Respirex products to numerous companies within the petrochemical sector, including Saudi Kayan, ACT, Samref & Al Khafgi.
Magus International, an ISO 9001:2000 accredited company is the leading supplier of safety products, personal protective equipment, Corporate Clothing and workwear.
