Community Matters - ExxonMobil in the UK

issue 51 WINTER 2012/13fepnewsThe newsletter for the employees of theFife Ethylene Plant, MossmorranLooking forward to a safer future:it’s in our own handsNew focus on LPS will complement existing commitment to safe workingIt’s difficult to deny the significantchallenges of the past few monthswith the Integrated Event and thenumber of issues that have comeup since then, but Plant ManagerTim Stedman is determined that thenecessary post mortem discussionsremain focused on learning the mostvaluable lessons for the future.He said: “The turnaround wasextremely challenging despite all thehard work which was done preparingand planning for it, and all the workwe did with contractors.“Probably the biggest disappointmentwas the recordable injuries, whichwere avoidable and underline ourneed to continue to drive the use ofLPS.“There were also disappointmentswith some of the work taking farlonger than expected and havingsome fairly significant quality issuesthat impacted the duration of theturnaround.”Plant Manager Tim Stedman.However Tim pointed out that therewere some clear success storiesduring the event and stressed that itwas also important that these wererecognised.“What really stands out to meis the commitment and energydemonstrated by ExxonMobilemployees and our base contractors,as well as many of the turnaroundcontractors, in addressing some ofthe challenges that were not of ourmaking, such as the problems wehad with the wind.“The organisation also excelledwhen we discovered theleak in the cold box as westarted up. This can be a hugelycomplex job and our original thoughtwas that it would take about fourweeks. However, in the event, we didit in two – safely and at a much lowercost than we had feared.“These were outstanding successesand demonstrate what theorganisation is capable of. Theyallowed us to start back up againbefore we started seeing the impactof the outages in the Norwegiansector of the North Sea, which couldhave held us back another twoweeks.”Looking ahead, said Tim, thepriorities remain unchanged: safety,learning lessons, and finding ways toimprove productivity.“We need to analyse those thingsthat went well and those that didn’t.Even with the acts of nature we hadto deal with – like the wind – thequestion needs to be asked howcould we have predicted these issuesand taken mitigating action aheadof time. These lessons are not onlyimportant for us but also for otherplants in the circuit, especially thoseSteam Crackers that will be comingdown for Turnarounds in the comingfew years.“From a safety point of view we needto get back to basics with LPS. Theturnaround was a bit of a hiatus withthat, so now we need to get back ontrack and make sure we are using thesystem effectively to improve safetyperformance.“Fundamentally though, whilethings were tough, they could havebeen a lot worse if it was not for thecommitment and ownership fromso many people in addressing theseissues and finding solutions. The hardwork, flexibility and creativeness thatpeople demonstrated was simplyoutstanding. For all the preparation inthe world, if you don’t have that kindof commitment in the field you willalways struggle. All it remains to saythen is, Thank You.”InsidethisissueFormer PMdrops inGordon Brown meetsthe traineesPage 3Cutting ourlossesNew emphasis onLPS implementationPage 3A givingbonanzaGifts galore for localgood causesPage 4-5

2 / FEP News Issue 51 Winter 2012/13The new head of Security, Safety,Health and the Environment(SSHE) at FEP is a well knownface.WINTER 2012/13LPS puts thefocus on safetySo much of the last year has beenspent thinking about the turnaround.We planned for it, we built a wholeturnaround village and brought inhundreds of contractors, we carriedout the work and, after it was allover, we looked at what we didwell and what we could have donebetter.But now, with lessons learned, it’stime to move on. Safety, as ever,remains at the core of everything wedo, and the focus in looking aheadwill be on implementation of LPS.LPS isn’t new to FEP: we startedintroducing it before the turnaround.But while some of the impetuswas lost over the last couple ofmonths, we look ahead to 2013with a wholehearted commitmentto implementing LPS and making itwork for us.Drew Sneddon has worked herefor almost 30 years, startingwhen the plant was still underconstruction and remaining hereever since.Looking forward to his new role,Drew said: “My remit takes insecurity, safety, health and theenvironment, but I am lookingat this primarily as a safety role:everything else follows on fromthat.“My plan is, right from the start,to get LPS (Loss PreventionSystem) relaunched and get itreinvigorated, because we losta bit of momentum during theturnaround.“We need to learn from thosereportable accidents and LPS willbe the main driver in that.“We already have a good safetyculture on site and we need tobuild on that and make sure weget the contractors on the sameside. The reportable accidentswe had involved contractors thatwere new to the site and perhapsbringing in different standards, sowe need to look at that.”The target remains zeroreportables and, ideally, zero FirstDrew Sneddon.Drew settles in asnew SHE headAids, but over the last 10 yearsthere has been an average ofone reportable accident a year.“Attitudes have changed. Manyyears ago the drive was to getthe job done but the focusis now on safety and gettingpeople to think about safety andsupporting them in that. Onereportable accident may notsound a lot, but you don’t wantanyone to be hurt: you wantall the guys to go home safeand the target always has to becontinual improvement.”Drew, who has taken over theSSHE post from Dave Mercer (nowwith a role in OIMS), described hisnew post as a very steep learningcurve and is glad of the support hehas been receiving from Dave, butstill said he was looking forward togetting his teeth into it.“It’s something fresh,” he said. “Anew challenge.”And that’s not a box ticking exercise– it’s a change in the way we all thinkand act, to ensure that we all gohome safe.The Community Affairs Teamcontact usWhether you have a goodnews story, comment orsuggestion for FEP News, thePlant wants to hear from you!Just drop Catherine Cubitt aline or give her a ring onext. 46341.catherine.cubitt@exxonmobil.comSecure access to your own dataThe newly launched GlobalEmployee Direct Access (GEDA)is a new application that givesemployees secure online accessto their personal data stored inthe HR SAP system, enablingthem to view and/or updatepersonal information.Employees can now view andprint pay statements, makechanges to their personal detailssuch as home address oremergency contacts, update theirbank details, and make changesto benefits such as the ShareIncentive Plan (SIP) and Bupa.Enabling employees to updatetheir own personal data in realtime will speed up the processof making changes and improvethe quality of data. Employees willalso have greater control over theirpersonal information, as they willbe able to view data and makeupdates whenever they choose.All employees are set to a defaultoption and can only view andprint pay statements via GEDA.Employees who wish to have apay statement sent to them canopt to do so by post, personalemail or by ExxonMobil email.If employees want to retainthe hard copy pay statementdelivered by post, they willneed to make an update toGEDA between December 7and February 16. If no changeis made, the final hard copypay statement employeesreceive will be for the Marchpayroll.Employees will be able to makechanges to delivery options onan ongoing basis and will alsohave access to pay statementsfor the previous 24 monthsthrough GEDA.

Former PM visits plant and chats to traineesLocal MP and former PrimeMinister the Rt Hon GordonBrown visited Fife Ethylene Plantrecently to be shown around andchat with some of the plant’syoung trainees.Mr Brown talked with PlantManager Tim Stedman aboutsome of the issues facing theplant and to learn about theshutdown for the turnaround.He also expressed much interestin the apprenticeship scheme andtook the chance to chat with someof the young trainees.FEP News Issue 51 Winter 2012/13 / 3He was impressed by the numberof trainees who have gone throughthe scheme and are now part of thebase workforce. Over 60 per centof the maintenance department areformer trainees, and over 20 percent of the process departmentGordon Brown meets with Tim Stedman and some of the current trainees.Getting back to basics with LPSThe final months of 2012 haveseen a renewed drive on LPSto make for increased safetythroughout the site.LPS, or Loss Prevention System,is a behaviour-based safetysystem which relies on everyonebeing actively involved.Esi Tunde-Anjous, EnvironmentalEngineer with the SSHE Groupand LPS Coordinator, is lookingto rebuild the momentumthat was achieved before theturnaround intervened.“During the turnaround we losta bit of focus and momentum,and now we need to rebuild thatto get back to where we werebefore and then go beyond that,”she said.“To help us do that we haveidentified a theme of ‘ActiveSafety’: we want everyone tobe actively involved in LPS andactively using all the tools.“Throughout November weconcentrated on SPSA – SafePerformance Self Assessment– encouraging people to usethe three steps in the processand take positive action if theyidentify a risk, to actively havediscussions with colleagues andsupervisors.“We also gave the supervisorssome assessment aids andunderlined to them the needto be out and about in the fieldhaving conversations with theirguys and asking the right sort ofquestions to make sure peopleare carrying out their SPSAs.”December kicked off with aone-day event when peoplewere able to come along andlearn about LPS tools andhow to engage with them andactively participate in the drive toincrease safety.“LPS is targeting people’sbehaviour to help them changeany questionable or negativebehaviour and promote positiveaction. That’s in line withExxonMobil’s prime focus onsafety, so we need to make LPSour number one priority and putall our focus on it.”‘LPS is targetingpeople’sbehaviour tohelp themchange anyquestionableor negativebehaviourand promotepositive action’

4 / fep News Issue 51 Winter 2012/13Safe working at FEP results ingiving bonanza for good causFEP’s Safety Initiative Scheme has beena tremendous source of donations tolocal charities and good causes overthe years.And, with the extra personnel andspecial focus on safety during therecent turnaround, the last few monthshave seen over £40,000 earned to helpgroups and individuals.Nominations have come from staff andcontractors and many of the recipientswere able to attend FEP and BraefootBay to receive their donations and givetheir thanks in person.Just a few of those presentations arefeatured in these pages.Fife Deaf Children’s Society received a cheque for £1000when the charity’s Gillian Barnes and Noreen Skivingtonvisited Turnaround Village.The group, which was founded in 1999 and has beensupported by FEP since our last turnaround, hasabout 130 families and aims to offer friendship,emotional and social support to families with a deafchild. It runs workshops for parents, allowing themto meet and share ideas.It also gives deaf children the chance to meet outsideschool and enjoy various types of social events.The charity was nominated by Dave Mercer, whopresented the cheque to Gillian and Noreen.Happy faces and cheques galore during turnaroLochgelly lass Mia Arnott suffers from CerebralPalsy. She received a donation of £1000 fromFEP to allow her to buy a specialised tricyclewhich will allow her improved movement andgreater independence.Nominated for the award by Senior PaediatricPhysiotherapist Pierette Melville, 10-year-oldMia was accompanied by her dad Jameswhen she visited the site to receive hercheque.It was a bit of a family affair whenThe Cottage Family Centre inKirkcaldy received a donation.Attending to receive the £1000cheque was Catherine Sneddon,who works with the organisation andis married to FEP SSHE ManagerDrew Sneddon, who nominated thecharity.The centre is in a deprived area ofKirkcaldy and works with familieswhich are vulnerable or in crisis,helping both children and adults witha range of services and activities.Cara Duffy (10) has a neurologicalcondition called Rett Syndrome, whichmeans she cannot walk, talk or feedherself. She received a £1000 chequewhich will help buy a new specialisedbed to replace the one she hasoutgrown.The new bed will be on wheels, makingthings easier for her family and makingit possible for her to be wheeled tothe window to see the animals in herneighbours’ garden.Cara, who lives in Cowdenbeath, wasaccompanied by her Mum and Dad,Kelly and John, and her 13-year-oldsister Erin.DAFFY – the Diabetenominated for a donKerry Hughes from Esuffer from diabetesRepresenting DAFFYJamieson, who acceDAFFY was set up 1children had been diaproviding help, suppthat diabetes doesn’newsbiteon themoven HELLO...Ray Wood – Maintenance TechnicianGreig Wilson – Operations TechnicianDominic McMonalge – Process EngineerGOODBYE...Roger Edwards – Operations (Sept)Jeff Gunnell – CORE (August)MOVES...George Smith, Shift Process Leader D Team, April 2012Norrie Brydson, Maintenance/Turnaround Planner, July 2012Norrie Brydson, Maintenance Planning/Improve, October 2012Drew Sneddon, SHE Group Head, October 2012Dave Mercer, Regional SHE, October 2012Gordon Berrie, E Shift Manager (Acting), October 2012Chris Taylor, Expat assignment in Brussels, October 2012Grant BlackCharlotte SmDerek CowaMike Hill, OpJohn CurrieAlex Shaw,

esunds Association for Fife Youngsters – wasation by Alan Miller in Maintenance andurest, both of whom have children whoand have been helped by the group.was Senior Charge Nurse Fionapted a cheque for £1000.1 years ago by a group of parents whosegnosed with diabetes, with the aim ofort and fun, trying to show young peoplet have to be a life-limiting condition.Seven-year-old Brooke Duffy, from Cowdenbeath, has complexneeds, suffering from cerebral palsy and epilepsy. A donationof £1000 has allowed her parents to buy her a specialisedchair which helps her relax at home after she has been in herwheelchair all day. She visited the site with her mum, Shirley-Ann.A £1000 donation from FEP to three-year-old Emily Birrell couldchange her life.Emily has a condition called Bulbar Palsy, which means shecannot walk, talk or swallow.The donation was to pay for a special tricycle which will helpstrengthen her leg muscles and promote a stepping actionwhich one day could lead to her taking her own first steps andgive her some independence and a better quality of life.Emily, who lives in Saline, was accompanied by her mum Kirstyand grandparents James and Janette.FEP fep News Issue 51 Winter 2012/13 / 5Workforce in the pinkfor charity dayThe recent Pink Day in aid of Breast CancerResearch saw lots of fun at FEP, with everyonejoining in to help raise money for a good cause.Organised by trainees Danielle Miller and LaurenMcGuire, it raised a total of £366, which thecompany is matching to make a donation of £732.Lots of people wore pink to work and took part invarious fun events, with Lauren, who is a qualifiedmanicurist, doing people’s nails for them inexchange for donations.Caterers Eurest also made cakes for sale, donatingthe proceeds to the grand total.Various prizes won included John Greenhalghwinning the Mr & Mrs Smelly Hamper, JimBeveridge winning the sweetie hamper, CatherineCubitt winning the two teddy bears, Keith Wallacewinning the jar of sweeties and Helen Cupidowinning £6 for guessing the correct superhero.The two trainees said afterwards: “A lot ofpeople were on holiday, so those who took partdid a great job raising as much as we did. Wehope everyone enjoyed the day and we’d like toespecially thank Eurest for making and donating allthe cakes.”Two little girls were among those to benefit from the safetyinitiative.Chloe Kennedy and MIrren Lark attended FEP on the sameday.Two-year-old Chloe requires sensory stimulating toys whichwill assist her in her development, and was presented witha £500 cheque to help her get these. She attended with hermum, Katie Matthew.Mirren is eight years old and suffers from cerebral palsy,and needed £1000 to get a specialised bed. She wasaccompanied by Brenda Johnson, whose husband Paulgives respite care.Lauren (left) and Danielle (right) with some of their helpersduring Pink Daywell, Process Support Lead Engineer (Acting), October 2012out, Contact Engineer (Braefoot Bay & Recovery), October 2012n, Maintenance Technician, October 2012erations Shift Process Leader B Shift, October 2012, Maintenance Planning, December 2012Maintenance Scheduling, December 2012Bestwishes!

6 / fep News Issue 51 Winter 2012/13DeclanMowatt(18) ProcessApprenticeDeclan wentstraightfrom St Columba’s HighSchool, Dunfermline, to FEP’sapprenticeship scheme.Meet the new generationof apprentices at FEPFresh faces embark on engineering careers“There was a lot of focus onuniversity at school, but I reallywanted an apprenticeship. I thinkit’s a really good sign that thereare a lot of people who have beenhere since the plant started, whichmeans it must be a good place towork.”Jamie Brown(20) ProcessApprenticeA pupil ofAuchmutyHigh School,Glenrothes, Jamie initially wentto university before deciding tochange track and join FEP.“I applied last year and went toForth Valley College in Falkirk lastSeptember. We did the apprenticecourse there, which covered pipefitting, electrical and processesetc.”Like the other new apprentices,Jamie was brought in slightly aheadof schedule so that he could findhis feet before the turnaroundstarted.“I have really enjoyed it all,” he said.“Everyone has been very goodwith us. They have taken time outto show us around the plant andall seem keen to meet us and veryfriendly.”Liam McGill(17) MachineryApprenticeFormer ViewforthHigh Schoolpupil Liam’shobby of go-kartracing led him to FEP.“I work on tools a lot with thego-karts, so I thought it wouldbe good to get a job along thoselines.“The college course was goodand I learned a lot of relevantthings and met a lot of goodpeople.“Coming here was a bit confusingat first, but everyone has beenso helpful and you never feel toointimidated to ask something if youfeel confused.”Liam is still a keen racer onthe go-kart circuit and recentlycame second in the BritishChampionships.StewartBrown(19) ApprenticeInspectionEngineerFresh from hismechanical engineering courseat Carnegie College at Babcock,Stewart enjoyed working at FEPfrom the start.“I have always liked mechanicsand engineering and it’s fun gettingto follow people around and seewhat’s happening and how thingswork. I was brought in early to getmade site safe for the turnaround,and it was quite an interestingtime to come here from my pointof view. There were lots of thingsI was able to see during theturnaround which I would not beable to see otherwise until the nexttime.”“When I’m not at work I enjoymountain biking and I am quite intocars and go to Knockhill quite often.”Gaynor earns business degree at AbertayOperations & Maintenancesupport administrator GaynorInglis has graduated aftersuccessfully completing her BABusiness Administration coursefrom the University of Abertay inDundee.Gaynor attended the course at AdamSmith College through ExxonMobil’sfurther education programme,attending in her own time over twoyears. It followed on from the HNCand HND in Business Administrationwhich she also gained through thetrainee education trust scheme.Gaynor said: “The employee furthereducation programme is an excellentopportunity for getting support andfinancial assistance to continueeducation and enhance job-relatedskills during your career.”

Dominic McMonagle.There was a much appreciatedtrip down memory lane recentlyfor a former employee.Cyril Fields, who was one of theplant’s original production heads,looking after the furnaces andhot ends during the start-up, isnow 85 and lives in Hampshire.Although now confined to awheelchair and suffering fromsome memory loss for recentevents, he has vivid memories ofworking at Mossmorran.Ian Hackers, ManagerCommunity Affairs, Scotland,recently hosted a visit forCyril and his family. “We werecontacted by Cyril’s daughter,Jacqui Campbell, who asked ifit would be possible for him tovisit when the family came up toScotland.“We contacted a few people,some now retired, who hadworked with him, and we all metup in the conference room forFEP News Issue 51 Winter 2012/13 / 7Dominic’s glad to workin the friendly plantDominic McMonagle started work atFEP on October 1, in the middle ofthe turnaround.The contact engineer, providingtechnical support for Utilities andQuench, admitted that his wasn’texactly the most normal of starts.“I wasn’t able to get too involved,but shadowing people and learningfrom them was a good experience.Since we’ve been back up I’ve beenable to get started properly though.“What I’ve noticed is how friendlycoffee and biscuits and a chatabout the old times.“We showed him photographsof the plant and took him tothe new control room. Heremembered the control roomas it was in his day, with theold technology, and he wasinterested to see all the changes.“We also took him to his oldoffice and the corridor he wasbased in, which brought back apeople are here and how helpful andgenerous with their time they are.”Dominic, who comes fromSouthampton, went to university atLoughborough and then ImperialCollege, London, gaining a BEngand MSc. Having previouslycompleted a work placement atFawley, Dominic has moved to FEPand now lives in Edinburgh.A keen sportsman – watchingand participating – he’s currentlylooking for a local football team inEdinburgh.FEP visit brings back memories for Cyrillot of memories for him.“His daughter said afterwardsthat he thoroughly enjoyed hisvisit and was talking about it fordays afterwards. They also tookaway some video footage toremind him of his trip.”While the family was in ScotlandCyril also visited two otherannuitants who he knew when heworked up here, visiting them intheir homes.Danielle and Lauren make their mark – in pinkTwo new trainees have alreadybeen making their mark at FEP.Danielle Miller and Lauren McGuireworked together to organise thePink Day in aid of breast cancerresearch.Danielle is a businessadministration trainee in the trainingdepartment, and started in August.She came to FEP straight fromschool at Balwearie High, afterseeing an advert in the paper.“I was going to do business atcollege anyway, so this has beenan ideal opportunity for me,” sheLauren (left) and Danielle duringPink Day.said. “I go to Carnegie Collegein Dunfermline one day a weekto do my admin and informationtechnology HNC.”Danielle, who lives in Burntisland,has been enjoying getting usedto FEP. In her spare time sheenjoys keeping up with herfriends and listening to music.Lauren is a businessadministration trainee in thesafety department. She, too,came to FEP as a school leaver,after leaving Lochgelly HighSchool.“I was in the Turnaround Villageto begin with, which was a bigand scary place, but I’m gettingused to things now and reallyenjoying myself.”Lauren, who lives in Lochore, is aqualified manicurist in her sparetime and enjoys learning moreabout her hobby. “Right now I’mdoing a course on gel nails,” shesaid.

8 / fep News Issue 51 Winter 2012/13Grand donation will buynew tents for 41st ScoutsGroup benefits from ExxonMobil’s VIP schemeDuring the annual summer camp,41st Fife Scout Group waspresented with a cheque for £1,000from ExxonMobil Chemical Limitedat the Fife Ethylene Plant.The cheque was handed overby community affairs assistantCatherine Cubitt to Bill King, GroupScout Leader.The donation was made under thecompany’s Volunteer InvolvementProgramme scheme, whichrecognises the time, talent andenergy that ExxonMobil employeescontribute to schools, charities andnon-profit-making organisations.Peter Scrimgeour, a planttechnician at Fife Ethylene Plantand a Group Scout Leader withthe 41st Scout Group, said: “Themoney will go towards the costThere was a real buzz about safety inthe run-up to the turnaround.But no-one expected to see thesort of PPE specialist ‘contractor’Enid Brown turned up for work in.Enid was responding to one of theodder safety concerns FEP hasexperienced – a swarm of bees.The bees were first reported in theC5+ loading area but were upset bythe tankers and moved closer to themain plant on ground close to theFEP training centre.Catherine Cubitt from ExxonMobil Chemical presents Group Scout LeaderBill King, with a £1,000 cheque.of replacing ageing campingequipment for the scout group.”In the past decade, the ExxonMobilVolunteer Involvement ProgrammeSwarm welcome for EnidJoking aside, there was concernthat someone would get stung, andPublic Affairs managed to find a beekeeper, Enid Brown, to deal with theproblem.Enid commented that it was latein the year to get a swarm, butmanaged to coax them into a basketand took them away to be put intoquarantine so that she could be surethey did not have any diseases. Sheadded that she expected they wouldbe producing honey in a few months’time.Thistle Club:Dates for your diaryJanuary 6, 2013 –Visit to King’s Theatre,Edinburgh, to see thepantomime ‘Mother Goose’.at Fife, together with its sisterscheme for school governors,has contributed more than 9,000volunteering hours and £116,000to local community projects.And, of course, the carefully plannedoperation went ahead without anyonegetting hurt.Making adate withsome frogsThe connection between ethyleneand frogs perhaps isn’t an easyone to make.But our 2013 calendar, beingsent to external contacts, is fullof all sorts of aquatic plants andanimals.The reason is the incredibleenthusiasm of all the localschoolchildren who visit ourenvironmental pond throughoutthe year.After goingback to theclassroomthe childrenput pencil,crayonand paintto paperto recordthe thingsthey sawand did,and theirteacherssend their artwork in for the PublicAffairs team to enjoy.Rather than look at them and filethem we decided, as in previousyears, to select some of the bestfor our calendar. And picking thebest was no mean feat – therewere over a thousand pictures tochoose from!The calendar has been sent toall our external contacts and toall the children who participated.And just so none of the childrenmissed out, for every picture wereceived we sent out a Splat Frogtoy.