On any given day, more than 250,000 employees and contractors from varying cultural and educational backgrounds work on our projects and in our operations. Through disciplined implementation of our Operational Excellence Management System, our diverse workforce applies OE processes, procedures and behaviors in our daily operations. On the following pages, employees in leadership positions share their insights about Chevron's OEMS in action.
Reducing the Risk of Incidents
Kinnesh Dalal
Manager of Operational Excellence/Health, Environment and Safety
Chevron Bangladesh
"It's been a seven-year journey to achieving zero incidents in Bangladesh—one that required a cultural 'paradigm shift.' We started with an environment that had low safety awareness. By establishing a strong leadership commitment to safety, significant oversight of contractors, continual training and effective implementation of standard processes—such as management of safe-work practices—we changed the safety culture. Now, we have accumulated more than 31 million workforce hours without a Days Away From Work injury."
Artur Custodio
Manager of Production Operations
Chevron Angola
"We strive to reduce the risk of incidents by disciplined application of Chevron and industry process safety standards and best practices, with a particular focus on our Asset Integrity Management Program. In 2011, as part of this program, we verified the integrity of more than 8,700 critical components of our facilities, including key pressure vessels and piping. We use the Chevron Risk Management Process for regular reviews of all facilities and capital projects and for action planning to reduce health, environmental and safety risks across our operations."
Assuring Compliance
Jane Fruin
General Manager of the Corporate OE Audit Group
"It's our job in the OE audit group to verify that we have the right people, processes and equipment in place to mitigate risks at all levels of our operations—from major capital projects to daily maintenance programs. These audits are conducted at an established frequency and involve hundreds of interviews, data collection and checks that systems are in place to reduce risks. Chevron operates to the same standards around the globe, and we are always looking for ways to improve upon what we are doing to reach our goal of operating incident-free."
Lane Blanchard
Contractor Management Advisor for Health, Environment and Safety, U.S. Gulf of Mexico
"Members of my team go into the field to assess contractor knowledge and then provide immediate feedback. We collect data to help break the incident chain before incidents happen. We've conducted more than 14,000 safe-work-practice assessments over a two-year period, and this effort has helped us significantly reduce our Days Away From Work incidents."
Improving Performance
Andrew Mingst
Environmental Manager of the Wheatstone Project, Chevron Australia
"In 2011, we welcomed the Australian government's environmental approval for our Wheatstone Project in Western Australia. Because we have had unwavering support for comprehensive terrestrial and marine assessment and understanding of habitats and species, we have been able to show that Chevron can manage the environmental impacts and potential risks. Protecting the environment is a fundamental part of our Chevron Way values."
Todd Levy
Vice President of Chevron Upstream
"Our ultimate goal is zero incidents, so it is important that we learn from the past and make improvements to prevent the same incident from being repeated. We conduct reviews of all incidents and major near misses throughout Chevron. We use a team of subject-matter experts to examine the root causes of the serious incidents and near misses in our annual Major Incident Study. This helps us look for common trends, determine where processes and procedures may need to be improved, and identify opportunities to strengthen our OE culture and leadership."
Preparing for Emergency Response
Jeff Patry
Manager of Emergency Response for Corporate Health, Environment and Safety
"Our first priority is to prevent emergencies, such as spills and releases, but we also need to be prepared to respond to them when they do occur. Our operating units develop site-specific emergency response and business-continuity plans that address and provide resources for all significant risks. We continually train our workforce and conduct drills to improve readiness. Our tiered emergency response system includes local incident command teams supported by corporate and external resources, which we recently deployed in Brazil and Nigeria."
Updated: May 2012