Congratulations to…the Houston Team and All Site HSE Teams!

The Challenge:

On March 17, Intercontinental Terminals Co. (ITC), a refinery tank company, suffered a disastrous fire that churned through massive chemical storage tanks – continuously pumping plumes of black smoke and fumes across the region as firefighters fought to contain the blaze, which lasted for three days.

This is the type of event that reminds us of the stakes we face every day – WHY we prepare for these high-consequence crises – and more importantly, WHY we take every measure to prevent them from happening in the first place.

In the case of the ITC fire, the Houston site team handled several big challenges as a result of the crisis. First, the site lost its supply of hydrogen, as the pipeline that supplies it runs through the ITC tank farm. This created a large financial impact due to the inability to make certain products. Second – and more pressing during the actual crisis – the team had to bring the Houston site to two complete shutdowns and two additional partial shutdowns as a result of benzene contamination. Given the amount of coordination and precision required for even one shutdown, the team certainly faced heavy challenges during the crisis and its aftermath.

The Game Plan and Results:

Site Leader Maria Kraemer Gutierrez was continually impressed, throughout the crisis and beyond, with the Houston team’s willingness to work together and do what needed to be done.

“Every action the team took demonstrated their incredible training and expertise – as well as their eagerness to go above and beyond to get us through the challenges,” said Maria. “I actually had to turn away people who were willing to stay on site for the shutdown. And for those who did end up staying, it was no easy task, particularly wearing a respirator for such a long period of time. I am grateful to them and to everyone – really the entire site – who made sure we completed each shutdown safely and efficiently.”

While the team is still recovering from the loss of their hydrogen pipeline, they have focused on the things they CAN control.

“We took advantage of the down time – everything from changing catalysts to performing maintenance,” said Maria. “Now, our focus is on making up lost sales – and again, the team work on this has been incredible.”

The Learnings:

“After every incident, we make changes based on what we learned,” said Maria. “For example, we are now more actively monitoring benzine levels as an added safety enhancement, and we have set up new employee communications procedures for emergency situations.”

Perhaps the biggest learning from the challenge was the tangible reminder of the importance of solid HSE training and drills – throughout Monument. The Kentucky site, for example, hosts frequent drills that mimic real-world scenarios.

“One of our recent HSE team drills a forklift operator suffering a heart attack, which caused him to run into pallets and seriously injure another employee,” said Robbie Nash, Brandenburg Emergency Services, Safety & Security Coordinator. “Every drill teaches us how we can work together better. We keep our scenarios fresh, and we’re even trying to set up a time for a local MedEvac helicopter team to run through a drill with us.”

“While we do everything in our power to prevent a crisis,” added Maria, “our constant aim is to be prepared for anything – because that’s how we’ll keep each other safe and minimize impact in ANY situation.”