Emergency annual exercise tests Engen Refinery’s preparedness
The exercise involved the simulation of a Hydrofluoric (HF) acid pinhole leak and patient rescue at the Refinery’s Alkylation Unit.
ENGEN Refinery places the highest premium on safety and carries out regular emergency response exercises to test and perfect preparedness for dealing with incidents that could potentially put people at risk. As such, plant personnel supported by emergency services conducted a major simulated emergency exercise on Wednesday, 23 October.
The purpose of this exercise was to test the Engen Refinery On-Site Emergency Plan (OSEP) that is followed during emergencies. The OSEP is in place to ensure the safety of people to prevent environmental impact and for the preservation of assets.
The exercise involved the simulation of a Hydrofluoric (HF) acid pinhole leak and patient rescue at the Refinery’s Alkylation Unit. Engen Emergency and Operations teams collaborated with eThekwini Fire and Emergency Services to ensure that the simulation was well executed.
Emergency exercises also test the interaction of the refinery and its mutual aid partners in the public sector such as the eThekwini Municipality, local hospitals and ambulance services. Representatives of the neighbouring community who are part of the Engen Community Stakeholder Forum (ECSF) were also present at the exercise. Engen is committed to effective and mutually beneficial engagement with the South Durban Basin community which is an important stakeholder.
A group of local evaluators and assessors observed the exercise to identify any shortcomings or ways in which procedures for dealing with incidents can be improved. The local evaluators said they were impressed by the level of professionalism displayed by all stakeholders to conduct the simulation.
General manager at the refinery, Sykry Hassim, thanked all stakeholders and staff for engaging in the exercise and emphasised the need to test emergency preparedness. “All incidents are preventable, however, we must always ensure that we are prepared in case of an emergency and testing our systems regularly enables us to achieve that state of readiness,” he said.
Sykry added that safety is entrenched in every aspect of the refinery’s operations. World-class standards and guidelines govern safety practices and these are applied rigorously to ensure operational excellence and constant improvement of safety performance.
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