QHSE, safety
Safety is a priority
Bourbon Offshore has set priority objectives for 2007 in the area of Quality, Health, Safety and Environment with a focus on ‘Continuous Improvement in ALL Key areas’ and on ISO Accreditation & Certification for ALL BOURBON Business units.
BOURBONs Strategy is Behavior- based with a Focus on these 3 key areas:
- executive commitment,
- training and qualification of employees,
- risk analysis, work preparation and the application of procedures specific to each operation,
- the selection of environmentally friendly equipment that is safe to use and easy to service.
In order to offer its customers the highest safety standards on the market, Bourbon Offshore has set a new requirement to apply to its fleet the best of the safety standard practices for oil tankers, by complying with the TMSA (Tanker Management Self Assessment).
In addition to procedures, a safety culture is a crucial element in the behavior of each employee in the Offshore Division and every person contributes individually to reach the target of “zero accidents, zero incidents”.
The globalization of the Safety Management System, the standardization of equipment and operations, expanding the field of procedures, increasing the number of people assigned to safety at all levels of the hierarchy, as well as the training of crews – all these are essential measures contributing to the goal of continuous improvement in performance in terms of safety.
All the actions taken are paying off. Thus the incident rate per one million hours worked (TRIR) was reduced from 10.6 in 2003 to 2.28 in 2007.
Crews
This management system is based on teams of specialists coordinated by Safety and Environmental Managers of the QHSE department who monitor the actions and see to it that the safety policy is applied properly in all subsidiaries and at all sites.
Their main duties are:
- to ensure application of the safety and environmental protection regulations onboard all vessels and on land,
- to co-ordinate the work of the Safety team on-site,
- to train officers and crew and raise their awareness of new procedures and policies relative to safety and the environment,
- to raise crew members’ awareness of problems related to safety and the environment.
At all Bourbon Offshore sites (in France and worldwide), there are around 30 people dedicated exclusively to this task.
Indicators
Safety indicators are used to assess the improvements made. The key indicators are:
- First Aid (FA): to deal with minor injuries that require only simple, one-off first aid treatment. Such minor injuries are not considered as accidents that need to be reported.
- Medical Treatment Case (MTC): this concerns injuries that require appropriate medical care and follow-up but that do not require time off (total or partial) or sick leave.
- Restricted Work Case (RWC): this involves injuries that necessitate leave or special work arrangements (assignment to a different position, reduced working hours, etc.).
- Lost Time Incident (LTI): this covers injuries that require immediate transfer to land for treatment.
Each of these indicators is carefully analyzed and every accident is reported. Action can then be taken without delay to prevent the same accident from happening again.
In 2007, Bourbon Offshore reduced its acceptable reported incident rate from 2.5 to 2 (i.e., 1 incident reported per person for 45 years of work).
Bourbon Offshore has developed its safety policy on the basis of the ISM code (International Safety Management code). This code defines international standards relative to vessel management and operational safety, and to pollution control in the marine environment. For optimal safety conditions, this code applies to vessels exceeding 500 UMS.
The aims of this Code are:
- to provide a set of safety practices applicable to vessel operation and ensuring a hazard-free work environment,
- to establish precautionary measures aimed at preventing all identified risks,
- to improve on a continuous basis the safety management skills of personnel on land and at sea.
Bourbon Offshore has decided to apply these regulations to all its vessels.
Drills are held regularly in order to train staff to deal with emergency situations on vessels, at bases and at head offices. Lastly, there is a program of internal and external audits to check that standards are enforced
