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Safety, security and health management
Safety and operations integrity are the foundations of ExxonMobil’s business. Nothing is more important.
We hold our commitment to excellence in safety, security, and health in the workplace as a core value—one that shapes decision making at every level. This commitment is documented in our safety, health, and product safety policies and security expectations, which are implemented through our OIMS Framework. Both contractors and employees are required to follow these expectations as a condition of employment. In 2010, we deployed enhancements to the OIMS Framework, including expectations related to leadership, process safety, and assessment of OIMS effectiveness.
Personnel safety
In 2010, we once again recorded best ever combined employee and contractor workforce lost-time incident rates. We have reduced our workforce lost-time incident rate by an average of 9 percent per year since 2006 and 10 percent from 2009 to 2010. A key driver in this performance improvement is the expectation that all workers take action when they observe a coworker who may be in an at-risk situation. Where applicable, our recognition programs reinforce this proactive engagement.
View chart: Lost-Time Incident Rate
However, we are saddened to report that we experienced three worker fatalities in 2010. We thoroughly investigated the causes and contributing factors associated with each incident to learn from them and to prevent similar events in the future. We have also joined cross-industry working groups with representatives from oil and gas and other industries to better understand the precursors to serious injuries and fatalities. The groups aim to develop a set of principles, criteria, and methods for more effective intervention to prevent serious injuries and fatalities.
We will not be satisfied until we achieve our goal of a workplace where Nobody Gets Hurt. It is our responsibility to ensure that every individual who works at one of our sites returns home as safe and sound as when he or she reported to work.
View chart: Total Recordable Incident Rate
Personnel safety study
Achieving Nobody Gets Hurt in the workplace requires us to continuously assess and enhance our systems, programs, and practices. Experience has demonstrated that each enhancement can lead to a period of significant improvement, often followed by a plateau in performance at an improved incident rate. Recognizing this, we conducted a personnel safety study to identify new strategies to further improve our safety performance. Over the course of the study, the team identified two principal themes: the importance of leadership behavior and the role of performance metrics.
In 2010, we promoted the concept of “actively caring” for coworkers. This further establishes an environment where workers will approach each other when they see potential hazards or unsafe behaviors, regardless of whether the worker is a supervisor, experienced employee, or contractor. In addition, we are emphasizing safety leadership behaviors relevant to roles, workplaces, and organizations in training and coaching sessions. For example, in 2010, more than 1000 employees and contractors participated in safety leadership workshops in the Development, Production, Chemical, and Refining and Supply Companies.
Another emerging theme identified in the study is that traditional safety reporting and measurement based on incident rates and percentages alone may not always help drive improvement. To make safety more personal, we are expanding the use of a new metric, which captures all incidents, including firstaid and minor incidents. By adding a personal element, this metric will better communicate the real meaning of Nobody Gets Hurt. It will also enhance our “reporting culture” and our ability to capture, analyze, and learn from incidents with significant potential consequences, rather than just those with actual consequences. We aim not only to analyze safety incidents after they happen, but also to identify exposures and at-risk behaviors before they lead to safety incidents.
Addressing human factors
Because many of our employees and contractors work in shifts around the clock in diverse operations and locations, we recognize the important role of human factors in reducing workplace risks. These human factors may include worker fatigue, ergonomic considerations, and physical and mental demands. Our Human Factors Technology Center of Excellence supports ongoing efforts to incorporate human factors technology into engineering design and construction, workplace layout, safety systems and practices, and behavior-based systems. Incident investigation and analysis revealed employee awareness of potential hazards is often a significant contributor to the prevention of incidents. Our behavior-based safety approach, outlined in the Loss Prevention System, provides employees with consistent tools to identify and mitigate risks associated with specific tasks, to conduct self-assessments while working, to observe others and provide feedback on their behaviors, and to analyze losses and near-losses. By identifying and preventing at-risk behaviors, the likelihood of incidents occurring or escalating can often be greatly reduced. In 2010, many sites launched efforts to further engage employees and contractors in behavior-based safety systems.
Workplace security
At ExxonMobil, Security is Everybody’s Business. We provide security and safeguards to protect our people, facilities, business information, and other assets. In 2010, we completed a multiyear, comprehensive project to strengthen security at our facilities globally.
Process safety
Effective process safety management leads to the prevention of uncontrolled releases of hydrocarbons, chemicals, and other substances. Failure to contain these substances can lead to significant incidents such as fires and explosions, with potential for serious injuries and fatalities, widespread environmental impacts, and property damage. Our process safety management framework focuses on reducing risks and incidents through OIMS, including facility design and operation. We continuously seek to improve these areas by learning from incidents and near-misses in our own operations and across our industry. We are committed to learning lessons from the tragic Deepwater Horizon incident and are working with joint industry task forces to develop improved prevention, containment, and response plans. In 2010, we implemented new process safety metrics to enhance our ability to learn from all levels of incidents.
At our facilities, we focus on best practices in design, mechanical integrity, and upgrades using advanced technologies. In our operations, we focus on training employees in process safety and effective procedures, including best practices for our higher-risk activities, such as start-up and shut-down of operations when maintenance is conducted.
