Achieving Zero Lost Time Injury in a Refinery: A Practical Approach

Abstract

This paper aims to highlight and share some insight on how a modular crude oil refinery operating at 5000bopd capacity delivered refined products with zero LTI. The intention is to pass knowledge to upcoming modular refineries as projections from the Ministry of Petroleum Resources indicate that many more will spring up within the next few years. The refinery came live in November 2020 and was tasked with ensuring optimum production in a safe working environment. Since then, it has gone on to safely refine over one million barrels of crude oil In the Oil and Gas industry, safety is a crucial determinant of the overall success of a facility’s operations. Refineries have even greater responsibilities, given that there is the presence of highly volatile and flammable hydrocarbons within the facility, and personnel having consistent interactions with these liquids pose a huge danger. Achieving zero LTI implies that in the period under review, no incidents occurred that prevented the continuity of the core activities of the workplace, no productive work time was lost due to injuries to an employee and as such, is a key indicator in measuring safety performance, hence its adoption The steps taken to minimize and eliminate risks peculiar to the refinery were discussed, with these taking the form of engineering controls, policies and procedures. It is interesting to note that in the operation of a refinery, the areas that are most vulnerable to accidents are outside the core process areas. The array of process control systems, alarms, and fail-safes keep the system within operational limits. The systems involved in the storage and offloading of hydrocarbon products, however, handle more volumes of hydrocarbon, with higher frequency and is prone to human error. This work is a summarised document that contains proactive safety-inclined solutions and lessons learned along the way, hopefully translating into increased productivity and safety within the downstream space.