CSR Mercuria 2019 - Flipbook - Page 45
DUE DILIGENCE ON OUR ASSETS
During 2019, we evaluated some businessessome of which we decided not to pursue further.
Others we evaluated and decided to pursue; even
recognizing that there were issues or concerns
we would need to address. We continue to believe that appropriate Due Diligence is a fundamental prerequisite for our consideration of any
acquisition, just as a KYC review is a prerequisite
for us to do business with any party. We accept
that there may be issues of concern identified,
and use the information from the Due Diligence
effort to build as part of our operational business
plan the corrective actions that we anticipate will
be needed to address concerns that were identified.
EMERGENCY RESPONSE PLANS
All of our operating businesses have in place
appropriate Emergency Response Plans (ERP’s)
which have been developed in accordance with
the character of each business’ operations and
satisfying the regulatory obligations of the jurisdictions in which they operate. We are looking to
further build upon those ERP’s and implement a
more robust, overarching system to help our organization with how we monitor and respond to
concerns and challenges.
The evolving pandemic related to the COVID-19
outbreak has called upon Mercuria and our Assets to call into action their respective Business
Continuity Plans (BCP’s) which generally exist as
a component part of the overarching ERP’s. In
advance each of these plans sets out a defined
strategy based on an assessment of foreseeable risks. Through this planning, key roles with
respective responsibilities are defined; tied to the
individual and shared goals and objectives within
each organization. This planning looks to aid in
providing an orderly an systematic approach for
crisis management; first responding to immediate events to mitigate injury or damage, followed
by organized efforts to re-establish regular business activities.
STOP WORK AUTHORITY
We hold a fundamental belief that the strongest
asset within our organization consists of the
people we employ. This extends from our more
seasoned, experienced staff down to our newer
employees joining through one of our internship
programs. With this belief in mind, we encourage
all employees to stand up and say something
when they perceive there is a matter of concern.
All employees and contractors exercising this authority in good faith are assured the company’s
management supports them. From a safety perspective, key to this is the “Stop Work Authority”
which all our employees and contractors at our
work sites are empowered with. This authority
provides that all persons should understand they
hold full authority, regardless of their position
within the organization, to openly express issues
of safety concerns. For present work activities,
this will involve the momentary halting of activities for more senior leadership to be made aware
of the concern and circumstances; and to determine whether a change is required for those activities to safely proceed. That leadership has a
further obligation to consult back with the individual raising the concern to ensure their perspective was understood; and to share with them how
their concern was being addressed.
SPECIALISED HSE TRAINING
All of our operating business units have HSE
Training as a core element. Many areas of training are fairly common across all of our businesses, although with obvious consideration to
the site-specific nature of some topics (such as
spill prevention and management). In addition
to these core topics, some businesses have additional focused considerations- such as marine
issues where the facilities have those exposures.
During 2019 a gap that was recognized was that
while we have sought to ensure appropriate HSE
training is being provided for our staff and contractors within our operating assets; we have not
provided the same level of attention to our office
workplace. During 2020, Mercuria is putting in
place a program to provide general HSE training
appropriate for office work staff to include:
• Basic first aid and CPR (general management for bleeding, airway/choking, and other
medical emergencies that can be given prior
to emergency professionals arriving at our offices).
• Office workplace security and threat management (consideration for management of
crisis events such as extreme weather, hostile
persons, or other threats of magnitude).
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