Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation has officially signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the National Bureau of Fire and Protection on Tuesday, December 6.
The memorandum was set to ensure fire safety measures at the Shell facility through their partnership.
The signing was done at the Northern Mindanao Import Facility (NMIF) beside the city’s port at Corrales Extension, Cagayan de Oro. It was led by Officer-in-charge of BFP National Headquarters, Chief Superintendent Bobby Vaggas Baruelo, Country Health Safety Security Environment (HSSE) Manager in Pilipinas Shell, Oliver Ortega and City Fire Marshal in Cagayan de Oro City, Chief Inspector Rommel Villafuerte.
“It is the Memorandum of Understanding between Shell and BFP. Parang it’s the cooperation between the two. So Shell is very much willing to help us to train our personnel with regards to the expanding of fire safety measures,” said Baruelo.
“Dito kasi secure yung area nila. Kumbaga, may mga safety picture sila na nandyan naka-incorporate sa kumpanya. Kung may emergency may magagamit sila para maapula yung sunog. And they had a trained personnel para rumesponde,” he added, noting on the security of the area.
“Kaya lang, kahit ganun kailangan pa rin natin ng mga taong marunong rumesponde, kasi hindi naman pangkaraniwang sunog yung sa petroleum products. Madaling kumalat kasi liquid yan (But even if that’s the case, we still need people who can respond because fire caused by petroleum products is not common),” Baruelo added.
“Yung monthly inspection, sila na ang gumagawa. Tapos may mga records man ‘yun. So ang BFP (Bureau of Fire and Protection) gagawa ng inspection once a year at saka yung sa mga records na din ng inspection sa Shell (They do monthly inspection and there are records. The BFP does an inspection once a year and also the inspection records of Shell),” he said on the mandated annual fire inspection.
BFP has recently conducted a fire campaign on “Oplan Iwas Paputok,” which encouraged the public to use merry-making instruments and alternative noise-makers instead of firecrackers.
After the MOU signing, Pilipinas Shell has also conducted a fire drill exercise with the participating teams from the BFP Cagayan de Oro.
“We have the pre-incident plan here. Ihahanda nila kung ano ang dapat nilang gagamitin, kung sino ang gagawa, ilang tao ang kailangan. Hindi yung kung kailangan may sunog saka palang ituturo na ikaw ang gagawa niyan. Dito sa Shell, automatic na yan lahat. Kahit lahat ay naka-train na. Ganito yung training namin dito sa Shell (They are preparing the equipment to use, who will do it, how many people are needed. We don’t assign everything in case of an actual fire. It’s automatic here in Shell. It’s our training here)” said Chito Flores, fire consultant of Pilipinas Shell.
Ortega said the event was to inaugurate the MOU with the BFP. It will serve as a cross learning for both Shell and BFP.
“So, may matutunan kami sa BFP (We learned from BFP), and in return, coming from the expert player of the oil company, pwede rin natin tulungan sila if in case magkaroon ng fire dito sa area (We can help them if in case there’s a fire in the area). They will know how to respond,” said Ortega.
So far, there was no record yet of Shell depot that has been raged by fire, officials said.
“Wala pa. Sabi ko nga kanina kay Chief Baruelo (Not yet. I told Chief Baruelo earlier), we are doing everything to prevent the incident from happening. So kaya namin ginagawa to, just in case, para prepared din kami. Kasi, ayaw naming mangyari na mag-escalate yung pangyayari na hindi kami naka-respond. Hindi lang kasi yung depo namin ang affected kundi pati na rin ang neighboring areas (So we are doing this, just in case, so we can be prepared. Because we don’t want the situation to escalate if we can’t respond. Neighboring areas will also be affected, not just our depo),” he added.
“So that’s why, we have a regular drill – monthly drill kami para ma-practice yung respond team namin. Kasi once na na-practice na nila, pag may emergency, alam na nila kung ano ang gagawin (So our team can respond. Once they are practiced, they know what to do in case of emergency),” he said noting on the training of their employees.
The employees were all trained in the company. The individuals have their own task in case of emergency.
“Unang-una, sa design (First, in design). Ang terminal natin (Our terminal), we ensure na yung design natin is up to global standards. So, hindi siya minadali, tinipid kumbaga. Everything here is on Shells standard. Hindi lang din sa Pilipinas kundi (Not only in the Philippines but), around the world. At naka factor-in na rin yung mga safety requirements na kailangan (The safety requirements are factored-in),” said Ortega.
As to the neighboring areas, Ortega said that they did an orientation for Shell.
“Actually, ini-orient din namin sila sa fire safety. Lahat ng safety factor binibigay na namin (We oriented them on fire safety. We gave them all factors). Then, ang most probable scenario, di naman sasabog yan (It won’t explode), but we have the equipment here. And, we can manage whatever fire there is. Once, there is an emergency, meron kaming chief liaison officer na siya yung pupunta sa communities to inform. Para lang ma-ensure yung public na hindi sila mag-panic (We have chief liaison officer who will go to communities to inform to ensure the public to not panic),” he said.
Right now, the company has at least three to four persons in charge for fire safety, but in reality, they need only one or two persons because their facilities are purely automatic.
They also promote wellness for the employees. They did an annual medical check-up just to ensure that everyone is healthy and promoting the “be well” program, to encourage employees to exercise. Not just that, but the company has also cooperate with Department of Health in the awareness of diseases.
Being the global group of energy and petrochemicals, the innovative approach of Pilipinas Shell ensures that they are ready to tackle the challenges of energy in the future.
More specifically, now that they are officially partners with the BFP.