Implementing Process Safety In Petrochemical Complex - 20 Years of History In Camacari, Brazil

The objective of this paper is to share the lessons learned during 20 years of implementing a safety culture in Camaçari Petrochemical Complex, located on the State of Bahia, in Brazil. It started its operation in 1978, with the construction of a basic petrochemical unit and a fertilizers unit. Over the years, it has increased the number of sites installed to 60, with a capacity installed of over 11,5 million ton/year, 15.000 direct employees and 20.000 employees thought subcontractors. It is considered today the largest integrated industrial complex located on the South Hemisphere. COFIC was created with the mission to promote the development of the complex. It centralizes the administration of common areas in the complex, relationship with govern agencies and communities. The vision of the entity today is to be recognized as a reference in business excellence. In 1991, in order to renew the operation license of the complex, the environmental agency of the State of Bahia requested a risk assessment to be conducted for the whole complex. It was the first process safety activity developed in Camaçari. The project was called APPOLO 1 Project and involved the existing 25 companies of the Complex. First a qualitative risk analysis was developed, with the technique of PHA ? Preliminary Hazard Analysis, being followed by consequence analysis for the main scenarios. The success of this study gave the first incentives to the companies installed there to increase their activities related to process safety. Also the administrative agency COFIC, with high influence of the HSE professionals of the several companies, started different initiatives towards increase HSE aspects in the complex, as well on the surroundings communities, including: Mutual Assistance Plan, Mutual Medical Assistance Plan, Contingency Plan of Camaçari, Emergency Plan for Communities, Annual Evacuation Exercise, HSE Award, Project APPOLO (for risk assessment), Risk Management Program. The communities are highly involved on the activities in Camaçari, with direct participation on the Consultive Council and the programs Ver de Dentro (Looking from Inside), that permits the direct contact of the communities to the different sites installed in Camaçari, improving the relationship between industry and community and NUDECs (Community Defense Councils), created from suggestion of the Consultive Council to facilitate the implementation of Emergency Plan for the Communities. The companies have also a lot of involvement on the activities, with Committees that were created to take special care for Safety and Industrial Hygiene, Workers Health and Environment. The HSE Award is one of the main initiatives that today lead Camaçari Complex to very good performance in HSE. Through cross audits activities, with participation of HSE professionals from different companies and external auditors, using a protocol that emphasize aspects of process safety, as well as health, safety and environment practices, the companies are evaluated and rated as Excellent, Five Stars or Four Stars, considering the level of compliance to the protocol. Ten years after the firs risk analysis assessment, a second study denominated APPOLO 2 Project was conducted from 2001 to 2004, including this time 60 companies, with identification of over 20 thousand accidental scenarios and modeling of consequence effects and risk calculation, towards the nearby communities. The second study updated and expanded the initial one, with intense participation of the HSE professionals, with Risk Analysis training and collaboration on the hazard identification exercises. Additionally, a Risk Management Guideline was developed and it is now under implementation by the companies, showing a clear compromise with process safety, towards employees, communities, governs and other stakeholders. Besides the industrial sites, pipeways and dangerous good transportation are also included on the program. The several different activities towards excellence in Process Safety and HSE have transformed Camaçari Complex in a reference in Brazil.