Unsafe situations under control

3 minutes

Zero accidents and zero environmental incidents — this is the ambitious goal of the chemical company INEOS Köln. High safety standards are what has characterized the site for decades.  In order to further improve this exemplary achievement, the producer of basic chemicals has implemented Quentic software. Since 2014, the company has been using the software to record and analyze unsafe situations and incidents that could potentially endanger the environment. This has positively affected occupational Health, Safety & Environmental management (HSE) in countless ways.

About INEOS and INEOS in Köln

INEOS was founded in 1998 and is one of the largest chemical companies in the world. 25,000 employees in 39 businesses generate a product volume in the range of 66 million tons annually. As a petrochemical site with 2,500 employees, INEOS in Köln is an important supplier of raw materials to the chemical industry and is the third largest industrial employer in Cologne.

Environment and health take center stage

INEOS Köln has made it their priority to continuously improve the HSE areas. As a member of the German Chemical Industry Association (VCI: Verband der Chemischen Industrie) the company has committed itself to the VCI environmental guidelines and joined the “Responsible Care” Initiative. For years, the dedication of the company’s site to environmental issues has been documented in the environmental certificate ISO 14001. Furthermore, the quality management system of the site has been certified according to ISO 9001 and the energy management system according to ISO 50001.

An integral solution for a wide range of tasks

Safety, health and the environment are of utmost priority for INEOS Köln, with occupational safety being a particularly important issue. More than 800 employees work in shifts every day of the year, monitoring numerous facilities running around the clock. Preventing accidents and incidents presents a new challenge every day, since the company is aiming for the goal of zero accidents and zero environmental incidents. To that end, INEOS Köln implemented a sustainable HSE software solution in 2014. Quentic, the easy-to-use and web-based software, offers numerous advantages for time management and a comprehensive overview over all processes and product flows. All processes that had previously been performed in different applications can now be found in one central system. In addition, the software has led to improvements in the HSE area. Audits and site inspections can now be conveniently planned and documented.

Avoiding accidents

The chemical company uses the Health & Safety module to record all unsafe actions and near-miss situations or “almost” accidents. For example, if an unsafe situation is detected, it can be documented in the software and the information immediately reaches the responsible people, who take care of the entry, initiate prompt action and schedule a fixed deadline for the handling of the issue. All involved parties are informed about the progress of the process. In order to avoid similar incidents in future, the cause of the incident is thoroughly analyzed and subsequently eliminated. If an accident does occur, a mail-ready notice of accident can be generated within seconds and instantly sent to the responsible employer’s liability insurance association.

Transparent hazardous chemicals management

The hazardous chemicals register, including a list of all potentially dangerous materials and their corresponding safety data sheets, can be accessed in Quentic at any time. Using a filter, the employees can immediately find the working or hazardous chemicals they are looking for, including their properties and application areas. Identifying and labeling individual substances according to GHS/CLP is done easily with the click of the mouse. The software automatically alerts users when safety data sheets need to be updated which ensures that hazardous chemicals are handled safely across the entire company. Other areas, such as document management, equipment subject to regulations and a catalog of requirements, are also going to be handled step-by-step with the software.