The Baker Panel Report - ABSA

Tracking of process safety indicators. BP does track some process safety metrics. A mid-2003 report to the EEAC, for example, discussedmonitoring process safety indicators. This report, which discussed BP’s HSSE performance in 2002, represented the Group HSSE “functionalopinion” regarding “BP’s process for delivering HSE Assurance.” The report provided that a review of BP’s major incident announcement andhigh potential incident databases indicated that plant and operational integrity required continuing attention. To address this key risk, GroupHSSE stated that the company would monitor and transparently report segment performance based upon two new metrics: percent overdueplanned inspections and the number of loss of containment incidents. The purpose of the metrics was to monitor progress in the overallapplication of the Group process safety/integrity management standard.Loss of containment. Loss of containment is an important process safety lagging indicator because a potential for an accident exists whenhydrocarbons “get outside the pipe.” At the Panel’s request, BP provided data showing loss of containment incidents at the U.S. refineries. Asshown in Table 55, the number of loss of containment incidents at the Texas City refinery increased each year from 2002 to 2004. 31 In 2002, therefinery experienced 399 loss of containment incidents. That number increased in 2003 to 493. The number of loss of containment incidents atTexas City peaked in 2004 at 607.Table 55Texas City Loss of Containment Incidents700NUMBER OF REPORTED LOSS OF CONTAINMENT INCIDENTS60050040030020010002002 2003 2004YEARPerformance Evaluation, Corrective Action, and Corporate Oversight C 187