Chemical plants: Surviving the coronavirus storm
By Joan Cordiner, CEng FIChemE, Professor of Process Engineering and Director of External Engagement, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Sheffield.
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Chemical plants, most of which are considered essential to keep operating have had to find a way of working that is very different than normal. But it turns out our carefully-designed and well-practised hurricane and flood policies are not quite a match for dealing with a global pandemic. I thought it would be insightful to look at why this is, and what we might learn about future preparedness.
During a hurricane we have essential and non-essential staff, an Emergency Management team and on-call maintenance teams. These work for this situation. However, during a hurricane, the crews stay on site and sleep on site, on duty rota until transport links open back up again. Normally we shut the plant down as we have time to remove chemicals. We batten down the hatches for a few days. During a hurricane and in the immediate aftermath no-one is going to the site and the sites are locked to all other than the “ride out” crew.
However, in the case of Covid-19, we need to keep plants operating, which brings different challenges. Plants are continuing to operate, and policies are required to protect key personnel. For example, procedures have been written on who is allowed in specific site areas and when. This is complicated by the bimodal staff distribution in many plants: an ageing group coming near to retirement and another group with just a few years’ experience (replacing the baby boomers who retired in the last 10 years). The experienced older staff tend to be in very high risks groups (eg with chronic health issues, or from lifestyle choices). Identifying and protecting key technicians is paramount.
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Supply chain managers are busy prioritising customers and which products to make. Companies will need to revise site risk management and supply-chain assessments. And not just for the duration of the current pandemic, or until a vaccine is provided globally. In our site and global risk assessments we will have to review our judgement of frequency and severity, and the mitigations we put in place for the risk of a future pandemics. We need to review strategies that reduce plant staff to a bare minimum or provide for flexible arrangements where engineers and other support staff are trained to maintain critical operations during crisis. In addition, we will have to review supply-chain minimum stock levels and look for new suppliers to separate their geographical risk.
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