Creating a safety culture to achieve extraordinary turnaround success
Shell’s Scotford manufacturing center successfully completed all works within the planned 60 days
60 Days
Completed on schedule
Challenge
Located 40 km northeast of Edmonton, Alberta, Shell Scotford consists of an upgrader, refinery, and chemicals facility. It is one of North America’s most efficient, modern, and integrated hydrocarbon processing sites, converting oil sands into finished products via upgrading, refining, and chemical products. At the beginning of 2013, Scotford had a scheduled 60-day turnaround of their upgrader facility for maintenance and equipment replacement. This required a temporary shutdown. Around 1800 people were onsite for the turnaround, many of whom were transient workers together for only 30-40 days. This, combined with the short project duration, posed a particular challenge for safety. Creating a working, effective safety environment on the turnaround required an adjustment to the site’s existing approach, along with fast alignment among the diverse population.
Solution
The Scotford site’s ‘Goal Zero’ leadership team absorbed JMJ’s Incident and Injury-Free™ (IIF™) approach into their safety program and invited their four primary contractors to join the leadership team. With JMJ’s support, the team redesigned their site orientation to become more experiential with a focus on dialogue rather than slides and procedures. Ten orientation leaders were trained to deliver this redesigned orientation over a tight and well-defined schedule, reaching nearly 1800 people in around 60 days. The team also held two Commitment Workshops™ to allow management from Shell, contractors, and subcontractors to establish a relationship with each other and a shared safety commitment. Along with site-wide assessments, additional supervisor workshops, and a thorough, redesigned communications structure and protocol, these combined efforts began to break down mistrust that existed among the varying parties. Management became clear about the expectations between teams, and the ways to meet accountabilities were made more transparent. The aligned commitment to safety meant that any safety-critical items raised by anyone on site would be addressed and solved within 24 hours.
Client Goals
- Execute facility turnaround on schedule
- Improve productivity and efficiency
- Improved Total Recordable Incident (TRI) frequency
- Ensure everyone goes home safe every day with no exception
- Create a caring, collaborative environment—changing the existing work culture
The focus on a caring and collaborative approach was the initial step change.
People felt valued, and experienced being listened to and this created a positive atmosphere and enabled the team to work effectively together.
In contrast to previous turnaround projects, the reduction in the number of incidents was outstanding
Results
There was a shift in culture away from processes and procedures and towards care and concern. All works were completed within the planned 60 days and with a level of cooperation and a positive atmosphere that was unprecedented for the site.
Improved reporting
As a result of the more open environment, near miss reporting increased significantly as people felt confident to speak up
Reduced number of absences
Worker absenteeism dropped by 70%
Low incident rate
Only one minor incident across the entire turnaround
Award-winning safety program
Awarded the Dwight Bowhay Memorial Health & Safety Innovation Award