The Baker Panel Report - ABSA

Refining Technology also belong to communities of practice. In addition to sharing experiences and best practices, communities of practicedefine and recommend minimum expectations with respect to their subject matter. Communities of practice have no direct responsibility andserve as support systems for the Networks.Refining has issued 15 process safety-related minimum expectations. Process safety minimum expectations are just minimum expectations;they are not best practices, and they apply only in the refining business. When a process safety minimum expectation is developed, it is ballotedto the refineries for their input on whether it is acceptable, should be revised, or should not be implemented. After Global Refining leadershipapproves a process safety minimum expectation, each refinery has 90 days to prepare a plan describing how it will be implemented, how longimplementation will take, and how much it will cost. Refining Technology tracks a refinery’s progress against each of the process safetyminimum expectations and reports quarterly on this progress to the Global Refining leadership through what is called a “gap analysis.”OTHER POSITIONS INFLUENCING U.S. REFINERY PROCESS SAFETYIn addition to the various functions discussed above, three other positions also influence process safety in the U.S. refineries.BP America. Prior to July 2006, the head of BP’s operations in the Western Hemisphere had no responsibilities for process safety in theU.S. refineries, even monitoring. BP restructured that position in July 2006, changed its focus, and added to its responsibilities. The new CEO ofBP America in the United States, Bob Malone, has the mandate to assure BP on the safety of all of its U.S. operations. BP made the new Safetyand Operations Vice-President for Operations Excellence a direct report to Malone while remaining an indirect report to Senior Group Vice-President, Safety and Operations (Mogford). An Operational Advisory Group, a Functional Advisory Board, and an External Advisory Board willalso advise Malone. The Panel does not yet have an understanding on how this position will impact process safety in the U.S. refineries becausethis restructuring and appointment is so recent.Vice-President of OMS/PSM Program Implementation. In August 2006, BP named Rick Porter, the plant manager at Cherry Point, to thenewly created position of Vice-President of Operating Management System/Process Safety Management (OMS/PSM) Program Implementation.In this position, Porter will report to the Group Vice-President, Refining. While Porter’s role encompasses all of BP’s refining operations, hisinitial focus will be on the U.S. refineries. Porter’s primary responsibilities will include accelerating delivery of improved process safetymanagement and regulatory compliance, implementing a comprehensive system of management that incorporates both Group standards andlocal influences, and influencing culture in the refineries. As of October 2006, an initial design and implementation team for the OSM/PSMprogram was composed of five managers within the Refining strategic performance unit. In addition, leads for design and implementation ofthe OMS/PSM Program had been named for each U.S. refinery.HRO Manager. BP’s Refining strategic performance unit aspires to be a “High Reliability Organization” (HRO). An HRO is one that producesproduct relatively error-free over a long period of time. This initiative began with a meeting of a handful of refining leaders in the fall of 2000.Their mission was to revitalize refining and to convince BP that refining was a valuable business, as it was their perception that BP regardedrefining as merely a “tolerated cousin.” The refining leaders articulated the values they believed were necessary to “make BP refining great,”which are known as Refining’s five “Stands”: safety, availability, financial performance, people, and environmental leadership. They adoptedthe HRO model and subsequently worked with several academics in tailoring the high reliability organization concept to BP’s refiningoperations.Refining management views HRO as a “way of life” and believes that it is a time-consuming journey to become a high reliability organization.BP Refining assesses its refineries against five HRO principles: preoccupation with failure, reluctance to simplify, sensitivity to operations,commitment to resilience, and deference to expertise. BP’s goal is to inculcate HRO throughout the refining business and thereby create andOverview of BP’s Organizational Structure and Its Five U.S. Refineries C 40