Blendcor, the Shell/BP joint venture company specialising in lubricant blending and manufacturing, has chosen Aurora-SHEQ from local IT solution provider, ApplyIT, to improve the management of safety, health, environment and quality (SHEQ) at its blending plant in Durban.
The system will assist in ensuring the compliance of Blendcor`s operations with local occupational health and safety legislation, international standards including ISO9001 (quality) and ISO14001 (environment) as well as the group standards set out by its global parents, Shell and BP.
The hazardous nature of operations in the petrochemicals industry means that management of health, safety and the environment are top priorities for both Blendcor and its shareholders.
"Every non-conformance, incident or potential incident on our plant needs to be recorded, the potential risks assessed and appropriate corrective action taken. Regular audits, management walk-abouts and most importantly, input from staff, reveals areas of potential risk that then need to be addressed as per our procedures," says Craig Williams, GM of Blendcor.
In addition, all incidents/potential incidents are subject to a detailed classification process and, based on this classification, certain KPIs and high-risk incidents are reported up to group level.
Blendcor`s existing management system included the use of a number of different paper-based forms for reporting incidents and a register of current incidents and actions was maintained in spreadsheets. With up to 50 new items logged each month, managing this process was difficult and time-consuming. Investigations resulted in large amounts of paperwork being shifted from one department to the next causing delays in investigations and case resolution. Reporting and analysis of information was a manual process.
"We identified the need for a solution that could help us keep an accurate, consistent record of all issues, whether they be related to quality, occupational health/safety, environment, security or asset damage, and ensure that corrective actions are tracked and brought to completion. For audit purposes, it was important for us to have records of all these actions and their status."
In order to address these challenges, a decision was taken to implement Aurora-SHEQ, the SHEQ management solution from ApplyIT, local IT specialist for the process manufacturing industry.
"Aurora-SHEQ allowed us to build our risk assessment and incident classification procedures into the system. This means that when incidents/potential incidents are reported, the system will prompt users with simple questions relating to the incident and based on their responses, incidents are correctly classified, prioritised according to the potential risks, and routed to the appropriate person to determine further action," says Williams.
Aurora-SHEQ also provides Blendcor with tools to manage investigations, analyse the root causes, evaluate any damages/losses experienced as a result of incidents and track all corrective and preventative actions. Management reports can be used to detect trends and problem areas. The system`s audit trail and e-mail-driven workflow will provide complete transparency and improved management of processes.
"Aurora-SHEQ will make up-to-date information about the status of incidents and outstanding actions readily available across the company," says Rajesh Narayan, SHEQ manager at Blendcor. "We will then be able to easily track and manage their status. E-mails can be sent to the responsible people with reminders of deadlines and if these are not met, the system automatically escalates overdue items up the management chain ensuring that no actions can fall through the cracks."
As a certified Microsoft partner, ApplyIT was able to offer Blendcor a solution built on leading Microsoft technologies. The system leverages off Blendcor`s existing IT infrastructure including Microsoft Terminal Services for deployment to thin clients, Microsoft SQL Server for the database platform, Microsoft Sharepoint Services for document management and Microsoft Excel for data analysis.
"By supporting management systems such as ISO9001 and ISO14001, Aurora-SHEQ improves the way a company records and resolves SHEQ related problems," says Gavin Halse, MD of ApplyIT. "The solution provides Blendcor`s management with proven software tools and methodologies to effectively manage SHEQ-related issues, ensuring defined procedures are adhered to and relevant parties are kept informed. The business value of a well designed, robust, proven software solution developed with the industry for the industry extends far beyond the replacement of the paper-based processes still used in many companies."
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