This will start happening as soon as the company’s near-
miss process – another essential – starts to work and the
analytical data starts coming in.
After that, the formal risk assessment process is
required. A common error can be to focus on large,
catastrophic, often environmental, process-related or
political risks, while ignoring those resulting from social
impacts. This can affect both local communities and the
project workforce. It can also be a result from regular
construction activity, such as daily transportation to
site or hygiene levels in construction camps that could
potentially generate major losses.
Establishing a risk tolerance might be required, as
some risks might be too insignificant to be brought to
the attention of the top management. But no risk is too
small to be ignored during the assessment itself.
When implemented with the right level of detail and
commitment, these processes – if nothing else – help
focus people’s attention on the risks associated with
the project. They are also more likely to plan better and
concentrate on the HSE aspects of their work, lowering
the level of uncertainty that they themselves experience.
Another common flaw can be to think that risks are
something that should be dealt with by the HSE/risk
people exclusively. Risk ownership should be spread across
the project developer and contractor teams, to ensure
everyone is equally involved. Identify a team of experts and
ask them to come up with a shortlist of the most significant
risks in various disciplines. Establish risk likelihood and the
severity of the potential impact. Add to the company’s
tolerability threshold by establishing which risks it cannot
afford to take. Identify controls and watch the/a incident,
near miss, equipment failure and damage statistics in the
coming months – do these controls prove effective?
Prepare for things to go wrong, and plan accordingly.
Robust emergency response plans
Emergency response planning in the fluid environment
of a pipeline construction project is every HSE
manager’s greatest challenge. Emergency preparedness
and response is a fundamental requirement of the
international environmental and social standards for
international pipeline projects. In addition, multiple
contractors, inaccessibility of high standard medical
assistance, remote locations, and the distances travelled
by staff on a daily basis, combined with the weight
of responsibility over a human life, make emergency
response planning in respect of health and safety one of
the most important and demanding tasks a manager will
have to complete over the project’s lifespan.
The most important elements of successful
emergency response planning are:
)
)
Establishing and maintaining an emergency
preparedness and response system to respond to
accidental and emergency situations associated with
the project in a manner appropriate to prevent and
mitigate any harm to people and/or the environment.
)
)
Simple and concise assessments, narrowed down to
the most likely potential scenarios.
)
)
Clear criteria for emergency team member
qualification and training.
)
)
Clear criteria for rapid and accurate assessment of an
emergency, identification of escalation potential and
involvement of third parties.
)
)
Specific instructions for every member of the
emergency response team for the main identified
scenarios. A defined chain of notification and
command.
)
)
Clear means of assistance to casualties, notification
of next-of-kin notification and ensuring project
continuity.
)
)
The emergency preparedness and response activities
will need to be periodically reviewed and revised, as
necessary, to reflect changing conditions.
Once the emergency response plan is written, there
are two further steps required to successfully put it
into effect: training and drills. These elements are often
overlooked but are the key to effective implementation.
Not all people are naturally prepared when facing
a crisis, particularly a major environmental incident
or an industrial accident with potentially multiple
casualties. A manager needs to be able to rely on their
emergency response team to successfully lead a project
out of a range of situations – and they need to be well
prepared.
Consider getting specialists to conduct this training.
Companies that focus on this type of training can
identify gaps in a company’s system and may bring
first-hand experience that the team can draw on. Once
everyone is trained, regular drills will complete the all-
round defence of the project and ensure that the many
HSE risks faced have been considered, prepared for and
minimised.
In summary
A typical international pipeline construction project has
a complex set of HSE risks, some of which are unique to
the project. Avoidance of adverse HSE impacts must be
recognised as a fundamental project goal which should
be achieved via a systematic methodology for the
identification, assessment, management and monitoring
of risks. A truly integrated approach to HSE management
in which developers and contractors co-operate is the
most effective way to meet this objective.
98
World Pipelines
/
FEBRUARY 2016
