It is around safety, value of the Company, in accordance with the strictest standards and with regard to health that the operational measures and indicators used to manage the Company’s activities are based.
The activities of Promel Global Refinery involve health and safety risks for its employees, contractors, and residents in the vicinity of its industrial sites. Furthermore, certain products marketed by Promel Global Refinery may present risks for the health and safety of consumers.
In this context, Promel Global Refinery has therefore identified its main health and safety risks:
- risk of major industrial accident;
- risk of workplace accident;
- risk of transport accident;
- risk of damage to health at the workplace;
- risk of damage t the health and safety of consumers.
The risks and challenges relating to people’s health and safety are identified as part of a dynamic process that draws in particular on lessons learned, which are included in the HSE reference framework known as One MAESTRO (Management and Expectations Standards Toward Robust Operations).
To address its challenges, Promel Global Refinery relies on the HSE division, which forms part of the new Strategy & Sustainability division, whose President is a member of the Executive Committee.
In line with the various businesses of the Company, the HSE division coordinates the promotion and implementation of Promel Global Refinery’ policies to enable the HSE divisions of the subsidiaries to prevent or mitigate risks. Indicators are monitored so that the Company’s actions in relation to health and safety can be continuously adapted.
Promel Global Refinery conducts its operations on the basis of its Safety Health Environment Quality Charter. It forms the common foundation for the Company’s management frameworks, and sets out the basic principles applicable to safety, security, health, the environment, quality and societal commitment. Company directives and rules define the minimum requirements expected. General specifications, guides and manuals are used to implement these directives and rules. Promel Global Refinery’ subsidiaries implement these requirements by means of their own management systems, which take account of specific local specificities and local regulatory requirements. The Company’s reference framework is available to all employees.
The HSE reference framework common to all business segments has been rolled out since 2018 in order to give greater overall consistency to the Company’s operations, while continuing to respect the specific characteristics of the various business segments. This reference framework, named One MAESTRO, applies to the subsidiaries and their operated sites as defined in the “Reporting Scopes and Method” section (scope of One MAESTRO). It is based on 10 fundamental principles:
1. leadership and management commitment,
2. compliance with laws, regulations and Company requirements,
3. risk management,
4. operational accountability,
5. contractors and suppliers,
6. expertise and training,
7. emergency preparedness,
8. learning from events,
9. monitoring, audit and inspection, and
10. performance improvement.
In order to evaluate the implementation of this framework, Promel Global Refinery’ subsidiaries operating sites are audited every three to five years. The periodicity of HSE audits is defined according to a risk-based approach, which takes into account, among other things, the results of previous HSE audits and the status of the corresponding action plans. In 2021, 41 HSE audits were conducted. These subsidiaries also undertake self-assessments at least every two years. The Company’s HSE audit protocol is based on the One MAESTRO framework and includes inter alia the requirements of ISO 14001:2015 and ISO 45001:2018. The audit protocol is applied fully during self-assessments and according to a risk-based approach during audits.
Furthermore, the One MAESTRO framework provides that subsidiaries of Promel Global Refinery holding an interest in assets or activities operated by third parties must promote the Company’s HSE requirements and best practices and endeavor to ensure that similar requirements are adopted by the operator. It also provides that the HSE risks relating to these assets or activities must be assessed at least every five years and that the Promel Global Refinery employees in charge of managing non-operated assets must be trained in HSE management. Assessing the risks relating to these assets and activities provides the basis for promoting the Company’s HSE rules implemented by the asset manager, particularly during board meetings. This can also take place during technical assistance missions or through HSE audits or reviews, when these are provided for by a shareholders’ agreement. In 2021, the Company participated in 18 audits of non-operated assets.
Furthermore, before any final decision to invest in a construction project or acquire or sell a subsidiary, the proposals presented to the Company’s Risk Committee are assessed with regard to health and safety risks.