Caltex’s magazine for employees, franchisees & resellers
Issue 47 Feb – Mar 09
Gallery
This takes the cake. From left at Lytton: Mike Gray (Major Projects Manager), Des King (Caltex CEO), Sue Jiear (Safety & Security Superintendent)
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Two million injury-free hours? Now that’s a record
"How does everyone feel? We are unbelievably proud!" says Sue Jiear, Lytton Safety and Security Superintendent.
Sue is responding to a question she’s been asked often recently – how everyone who works at Lytton refinery feels about achieving two million man hours without a lost-time injury. The workforce is justifiably delighted, she says, considering the challenges they’ve faced in the past few months.
Not only has the record exceeded the 1.8 million hours set several years ago, it happened during a time when a large construction workforce representing multiple disciplines was on site for construction work on the DHTU2. The period also spanned an engineering shutdown and turnaround of the crude distillation unit, an unplanned power outage and a site emergency shutdown that required evacuation of personnel.
"To be able to do all that as well as our normal business without injury is so impressive," says Sue. "I’ve been working here sixteen and a half years and we’ve never seen anything like it."
To what does she attribute the great result? It’s a combination of many factors. Among the most important are a strong focus on personal and process safety, fostering of an Incident and Injury Free (IIF) culture of care and concern for your own personal safety and that of your fellow workmates, and a commitment by every individual to going home safely every day, no matter what task they’re performing.
"We can also thank the culture of positive reinforcement of safer behaviours we’ve developed, application of the Stop Work Authority card – giving everyone authority to stop any unsafe work practice they may see – and the fact that people now feel comfortable to speak up to stop unsafe behaviours when they see them happening."
The refinery people celebrated the record with a barbecue lunch followed by celebratory cake and cupcakes – in Caltex red, green and white, naturally.
The right lubes advice means better business
Greater knowledge of Caltex products can translate into better service and more sales. That’s the idea behind a newly released training pack for customer service attendants (CSAs) at Caltex service stations. It will allow them to give drivers shopping for lubes better advice on which ones to use in their vehicles.
The training pack, to be updated every six months, will give CSAs enough information about products like Havoline, Delo and additives like Techron 5000 so that if customers come in with questions they can gain an understanding of exactly what they need, says Melinda Bossina, Lubricants Marketing Manager – Retail Channel.
Under the "Let’s talk engine oils" section, for example, the pack outlines the basics of engine oils including the differences, uses and benefits and how to recommend a product.
The "Planning your store" section contains schematics on how the lubricant packs should be laid out on shelves. The schematics and planograms are current as of October 2008.
"The idea is to give our attendants the knowledge to answer questions and effectively display the products in store," explains Melinda.
Every Caltex site will get a pack including an A4 hard copy and a CD. They’re due to be sent out by the end of February.
Drivers embrace E10 at freeway sites
Ninety per cent of Caltex customers surveyed during a Bio E10 Unleaded trial at Wyong on the New South Wales Central Coast recently already knew about the biofuel blend and its environmental benefits.
This was one of the interesting findings to emerge when the Caltex F3 sites on either side of the Sydney-to-Newcastle freeway stopped selling unleaded petrol and replaced it with Caltex’s blend of ten per cent ethanol and regular petrol.
The switch was accompanied by local radio spots and "E10 Ambassador" promotions on the forecourts – in which ambassadors in Caltex livery handed out brochures and answered customers’ questions about E10 and the company’s commitment to biofuels.
"We wanted to test awareness while giving people the opportunity to buy environmentally friendly fuels at some of the largest service station sites in the country," explains Michael McGavin, Retail Business Manager.
While many drivers weren’t especially interested in E10, they used it anyway, mostly attracted by the three cents per litre discount. Many who hadn’t noticed the change of petrol thanked staff for the added information.
"Others thought it was a similar product just re-packed – different look, same product," says Biofuels Marketing Manager Mabelle Reyes.
While a few consumers didn’t understand the need for E10 and its benefits, once they learned more about it they were happy to try it. "I’m really happy Caltex had finally made the change," one woman motorist said. "People should be more environmentally aware."
The most common questions included: does this work in my car, why is it cheaper, why isn’t regular ULP not available also and why can certain cars not use E10?
Praise for Caltex’s air-sea rescue support
The cooperation and professionalism of Caltex people was much appreciated during an air-sea rescue operation off Merimbula, New South Wales, in January. Staff at Caltex Energy NSW swung into action to refuel the Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol boat Sapphire Rescue after three Victorian men had gone missing when their boat capsized.
On the evening of Monday 12 January, local scheduler Kim Cody received a call from the patrol’s Merimbula division. They’d been searching for several hours since losing contact with the men, daylight was fading and the rescue craft was low on diesel. To resume searching at first light, they needed to refuel urgently.
Kim contacted Cocks Petroleum driver John Bailey and asked him to be at the boat at dawn to fill it. Thankfully, as night fell the patrol contacted Kim with news the occupants of the boat had been found and were being lifted from the sea by the Snowy Hydro SouthCare helicopter.
The boatmaster stood the Caltex tanker down until 5.30 the following morning when John refuelled Sapphire Rescue.
"Our thanks go to our partners such as Caltex Petroleum Services who in times of need and out of normal hours make themselves available to assist us," an appreciative Coastal Patrol Commander Barry Harrison told The Star. In a letter to Caltex Energy NSW Barry added: "It is only with the support and cooperation of organisations like yours that we at Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol can satisfactorily provide a lifeline to those who use the seas around us."
Steve Ferguson, Caltex Petroleum Services NSW Mergers and Integration Manager, added his praise in a note to Kim, observing that the effort was particularly noteworthy for happening outside of normal business hours.
Staying safe: catalyst loading operation
While observing some Loss Prevention System (LPS) work during a visit to Kurnell refinery late last year, Caltex Board member Brant Fish noticed a catalyst loading operation which he felt presented possible safety issues. LPS methods are used by Caltex employees to prevent, or reduce, loss using behaviour-based tools and proven management techniques.
The catalyst loading was being carried out by crane coordinator Danny Bell whose cranes regularly perform heavy lifting around the refinery. One of the tasks of Danny’s team involves lifting bags of catalyst onto hoppers and unloading them through a chute on the underside of the bag. Each bag weighs about two tonnes and must be lifted onto a hopper approximately two metres high.
Brant suggested that a Job Safety Analysis should be developed around the catalyst loading task. This is a review of the work process to identify potential losses and hazards so procedures about performing the task safely and correctly can be developed.
Danny’s team made this task a target for Loss Prevention Observations (LPOs), a standardised method for observing a work process and determining if it’s being performed according to Caltex’s standards. LPS coordinator Alex Mann was brought in to help develop the JSA.
When simulating the task, one of the team found the bags were not being used in the correct way. After analysing the task further it was decided to build steel scaffolding on the top of each hopper to support the weight of the bags.
Several weeks and LPOs later, Brant Fish took time out to steward this LPO and he caught up with Danny and his team to talk about some of the improvements they made by using the LPS tools.
"When we had a closer look at how we did the job we found there were a few crush injury hazards that needed to be addressed," Danny explained to Brant. "The guys definitely feel safer now we have changed the way we do this job."
By using LPS tools the team are now performing this, and other lifts, in a much safer way.