At the St1 Refinery, we always put safety first. Indeed. Given the nature of the work and the products we handle daily, safety is the highest priority by necessity. Accordingly, we are constantly working on improving the health, safety, security, and environment (HSSE) processes and activities of our safety management system.
To focus more on HSSE and better meet our future needs in this area, the refinery and its management team were joined by a new HSSE manager. Karin Sandell, who has a background in chemical engineering and many years of experience in process industries, was welcomed to St1 in October 2021.
“My team and I are working on creating a stronger safety culture, establishing processes and structures, driving new approaches and attitudes, and developing work methods around behavioral safety. The HSSE work is crucial and extensive because safety and health are important for our employees as well as our community and neighbors. St1 has a clear vision to be the leading producer and seller of CO₂- aware energy. To reach that vision we need to work in a safe workplace, both from a human and an environmental perspective. Our employees should be safe, healthy, and happy,” says Karin Sandell HSSE Manager, St1 Refinery.
HSSE is about protecting our employees and facility, as well as our surroundings and our neighbors. To succeed with our HSSE work, we must work preventively.
“We need to work proactively and minimize the consequences of any discrepancies that may arise. We are working on building an HSSE culture amongst our employees, and we work both with behavior-based safety and with a concept called ‘Perfect days’,” says Sandell.
Our ‘Perfect days’ is a concept where we try to visualize our daily achievements from an HSSE perspective. A perfect day at the refinery is when we:
• Work safely and securely
• Protect our environment and each other (no spills or leaks)
• Meet the conditions in our permits
• Avoid unplanned downtime or production losses
• Respect our neighbors and nearby businesses (no complaints)
• Maintain our perimeter protection (no intrusion)
• Carry out at least one dialogue round
“The Perfect days is a good visualization of how we’re doing and what we need to improve. It is a way for us to continuously work on the HSSE issue and constantly evolve,” concludes Sandell.
Want to learn more? Take a deep dive into our Energy trade and logistics