Risk Management of Major Industrial Complex Sites: Key Success Factors - OCP Example

Large industrial complex sites are exposed to risks that can affect safety of employees and surrounding populations, challenge their public image and also impact their shareholding. They have to establish an organisation and engage a risk management approach which can allow them to take reasonable decisions and engage adapted actions. This approach goes beyond the simple respect of applicable regulations. Mining and phosphate processing in mining sites and chemical complex sites are obviously confronted with this need to control the various risks associated with accidents at workplace, but also those which are considered as major risks for the environment generated by hazardous materials used in the process. The objective of this intervention is to present the active approach adopted by OCP to map the various risks at its various sites, and to evaluate them and define an organization and an improvement actions plan to ensure management of these risks. Key success factors of effective risk management have been identified as the design of processes and equipment (safety in design) taking into account the safety behavior of the OCP personnel, the establishment of an organization that provides change tracking and control, the knowledge of the hazardous zones to the off-site populations in order to ensure the land-use planning around the sites, and the definition of emergency plans. This approach is part of a process of on-going improvement of safety control introduced by a large international group, with the objective to be recognized as a leader in safety and to develop a reliable and sustainable safety culture. (C) 2012 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific Committee of SYMPHOS 2011