More than a matter of duty: safety management

At the premises there is a rotten-egg odor spreading – escape of toxic, highly flammable hydrogen sulfide! Fortunately, this happens only once in a blue moon. However, staff and local residents can feel at ease if there is a proper safety management program for such cases. Safety management is absolutely essential for refineries and other petrochemical plants; the relevant standards are defined and specified by law, in workplace regulations and instructions, rules and regulations of trade or employers' liability insurance associations as well as in the standards of property insurers. Above all, the protection of life and health has top priority. In cases of emergency, quickest possible reaction times are always essential.
However, an efficient safety management program offers even more advantages: for instance, insurers grant their customers more favorable rates and trade or employers' liability insurance associations assign a lower danger class rating if the safety standard is above average in cross-sector comparison. And what convinces budget and cost-conscious managers is the fact that effective safety management is a contribution to the value added: each day of production loss may cost millions.

The safety management program requirements are varied and are determined right from the first blueprint of the planning phase up to the daily operation. This involves plant planning firms, certifiers, plant construction firms, safety engineers and the factory fire department. Dräger offers an extensive range of services and support for all of them.

All this ensures that plant operators are optimally prepared for cases of emergencies: emergency plans, safety regulations and trained personnel ensure fast reaction – using gas detection and measurement technology, respiratory protection and escape equipment and emergency respirators and breathing apparatuses from Dräger.

With regard to refineries, safety also means that personnel are capable of reacting quickly and appropriately at all times. In order to rule out any impairment due to alcohol or drug consumption, Dräger breath-alcohol measuring and drug detection devices can be used in suspected cases and provide an exact result. They are a convenient way of doing so – without needles and syringes - fast, hygienic and straight forward, simply by using a breathe or saliva sample.

There are many potentially dangerous environments work in on a regular basis or enter periodically for required maintenance. Dräger´s Airline Supply Systems play an important role in protecting workers to ensure that any area is a safe place to enter and work. The Dräger short term breathing apparatuses and self contained breathing apparatuses lead the way for protecting workers in hazardous environments.