Health, Safety and Environmental Management Systems Auditing for an Integrated Oil and Gas Company in Trinidad and Tobago

Abstract

The Petroleum Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (Petrotrin) has developed and implemented a Health, Safety and Environmental (HSE) Management Audit System of its Exploration and Production, and Refining and Marketing Strategic Business Units. The main objective of this internal company audit was to determine the missing ‘gaps’ or elements from the current HSE Management System and to recommend alternate HSE Management System elements to create a more efficient Management System. The audit checklists and results effectively listed the observations, problems, and compliance issues, as well as corrective actions for improvement in accordance with the ISO 14001 and HSE Guidelines of the Exploration and Production Forum and 29CFR 1910.119 - Process Safety Management of Highly Hazardous Chemicals, Standards as well as the Company HSE key strategic directions including: • 100% compliance with local Environmental and Safety Regulations; • Targets of zero accidents and oil spills; and • Certification HSE Management Systems, for all Company operations. Senior personnel or drivers of the management systems within the Company were interviewed using this structured approach. The results from this company wide internal audit revealed that generally the overall HSE Management Strategies have been developed, but are not fully implemented, although they are formalized in the Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety Policies of the Company. HSE is undoubtedly regarded as a priority issue within Petrotrin’s operations, however there is the need to improve the documentation of formalized HSE Management System Procedures, thereby improving the enforcement and maintenance of the management system.