Elements of Process Safety

Process Safety focuses on designing, maintaining and operating chemical processes, such that fires, explosions and unintended releases of hazardous materials do not occur.

The safety of our process plants is following principal elements:

• Design integrity: To design our plants utilizing inherently safer design (ISD) and standard engineering design principles and to identify and prioritize countermeasures by applying process hazard analysis (PHA) methodology
• Construction integrity: To ensure that the anticipated design is constructed using established project specifications and ensuring and controlling the quality of construction materials
• Asset integrity: To implement adequate inspection, testing and preventive maintenance programs to continuously follow up on the condition of the design
• Operational integrity: To enforce practices to ensure that the plants are operated according to their design intent also in case of changes
• Leadership and people development: To build knowledge and foster a culture of commitment in each of the above areas. This includes open communication for sharing concerns as well as accomplishments. This culture starts at the top and is supported by policies and actions at every level of the organization.

Safety through uniform standardization

The BASF Responsible Care Management System comprises the global polices, requirements and guidance documents for environmental and health protection, safety and security. We constantly supplement or update these and regularly check their implementation via audits. Our global binding requirements regarding process safety regulate the safe design, construction and operation of our plants.

Further Development

We play an active role in improving process safety around the world in a global network of experts, through our involvement in organizations such as the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA) or the Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS), and by fostering dialog with government institutions.