Safety is a prerequisite in our business. We can’t operate without it. Our company’s reliability and sustainability depend on safety, which explains why it is so crucial to understand industrial risks and be rigorous and systematic in applying safety rules. These rules inform our safety approach and create the conditions for achieving our objective of being the benchmark for safety in our industry.

 

Safety is the state of being “safe” (from French sauf), the condition of being protected from harm or other non-desirable outcomes. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk.

Types of safety

It is important to distinguish between products that meet standards, that are safe, and those that merely feel safe. The highway safety community uses these terms:

1. Normative safety

Normative safety is achieved when a product or design meets applicable standards and practices for design and construction or manufacture, regardless of the product’s actual safety history.

2. Substantive safety

Substantive or objective safety occurs when the real-world safety history is favorable, whether or not standards are met.

3. Perceived safety

Perceived or subjective safety refers to the users’ level of comfort and perception of risk, without consideration of standards or safety history. For example, traffic signals are perceived as safe, yet under some circumstances, they can increase traffic crashes at an intersection. Traffic roundabouts have a generally favorable safety record yet often make drivers nervous.

Low perceived safety can have costs. For example, after the 9/11/2001 attacks, many people chose to drive rather than fly, despite the fact that, even counting terrorist attacks, flying is safer than driving. Perceived risk discourages people from walking and bicycling for transportation, enjoyment or exercise, even though the health benefits outweigh the risk of injury.

4. Security

Also called social safety or public safety, security addresses the risk of harm due to intentional criminal acts such as assault, burglary or vandalism.

Because of the moral issues involved, security is of higher importance to many people than substantive safety. For example, a death due to murder is considered worse than a death in a car crash, even though in many countries, traffic deaths are more common than homicides.

To effectively anticipate potential issues, we systematically assess risks before a project or operation begins. Our comprehensive analytical methodology involves:

• Assessing all potential risks.
• Drawing up accident scenarios.
• Analyzing the most significant risks in detail.
• Implementing safety action plans in accordance with a priority scale that compares the level of severity with the likelihood of the event occurring.

The analysis continues throughout the operations in accordance with the same safety requirements.

To ensure safety every day, our first focus is to create a culture of high standards. This means working in accordance with specific rules and technical standards. To establish them, we have increased the number of working groups with our peers to exchange best practices and know-how.

We can also limit risks by performing inspections. Our installations undergo safety inspections throughout their entire life cycle. Monitoring involves verifying compliance with our operating procedures. Drills are regularly carried out to ensure that our maintenance work and inspections are effective. In addition, we continuously monitor the expertise of all of Total’s players, in every region and sector, from production to processing to distribution.

Lastly, to continuously improve our performance, we need to create a safety culture. By distributing the rules to as many people as possible, raising awareness among staff about safety issues, increasing training and offering effective tools, we are investing in safety every day so that it becomes an integral part of our working habits.

By: Regina M. Magcalas