EXXONMOBIL’S CONTINUED COMMITMENT TO SAFETY
BY WIM BLOKKER
Safety is a core value and integral part of the culture at ExxonMobil. We are committed to safeguarding the security and health of our employees, those involved with our operations, our customers and the public. As Chemical Plant Manager for our Baytown Area operations, I play a leading role in our commitment to safety across our site. Safety is the first consideration with every decision made, and I am proud to help drive that culture from leadership to those in the field.
I believe the answer lies in three uncompromising pursuits: exceptional technology, rigorous standards and an unwavering commitment to best-practice safety procedures.
Like all industrial processes, energy development involves risk. Effective emergency preparedness depends on competent response teams and rigorous systems. For instance, we have 275 dedicated responders who undergo rigorous, ongoing training to ensure world-class response capabilities. We work closely with the City of Baytown to coordinate mutual aid and off-site assistance, helping to safeguard our employees, contractors, neighbors and facilities. Our response teams routinely test emergency notification equipment and simulate emergency scenarios with city teams to ensure preparedness and coordination.
The cornerstone of our commitment to safety is our longstanding Operations Integrity Management System (OIMS). From the drilling of a well to the delivery petroleum products, these expectations provide the foundation for managing risk and achieving excellence in performance in each of our business lines. Since the inception of OIMS, safety, security, health and environmental performance has improved substantially across our entire corporation. Industry-leading lost-time incident rates have been significantly reduced. Additionally, environmental risks have been reduced, with a remarkable decline in marine spills and continuing reductions in emissions.
Another key aspect of safety is process safety, which focuses on managing the hazards can be created from the vast equipment and complex processes that are essential to our business. The primary purpose is to keep hydrocarbons, chemicals and process water controlled and safely managed at all times through all phases of our operations.
Process safety events can potentially impact the workforce, the community and the environment. Because of this, we set high expectations for ourselves. Everyone involved in our operations plays an important role in driving process safety excellence and nurturing a precision culture with precise execution for our higher risk tasks and safeguards. This is essential for managing the higher consequence risk scenarios.
We are now in the fourth year of a corporate-wide Process Safety initiative. From 2016 through 2021, we achieved a 31% reduction in Tier 1 process safety events (those of greatest consequence) with further improvement steps underway.
Nothing is more important than managing process safety risk effectively; for ourselves, our coworkers and our community.
