Nederlands"In the past, divisions acted autonomously in their approach to safety. Lead by the company's Corporate Business Excellence Group, Vopak chose to align all the initiatives pertaining to informing, handling, decision making and reporting on issues such as unsafe situations, incidents and process errors, throughout their worldwide operations. That was the inception of the rollout for Quality Online's Incident and Report Management application (IRM) within the Latin American divisions."
We are talking to Ian ter Haar, General Manager of the Vopak terminal in Peru, and with his predecessor Kees Bergmans, who had responsibility for the initial introduction of Quality Online in Peru.
"Vopak is continually expanding the reporting of incidents, unsafe situations or ideas emerging from inspections, which is really positive. Because of that, there is a possibility to truly become a self-educating organisation."
Integral system
"A number of years after the introduction of the Quality Online system by Vopak Peru, it became an integral part of our reporting system. As with any system, the success is dependant on usage. The follow-up of action points is essential and receives a lot of attention. At Vopak Peru we make intensive use of Quality Online, which can provide us with clear up-to-the-minute insights about potential improvements for the terminal."
"I consider Quality Online to be a very valuable system, well-matched to Vopak's Safety Health Environment (SHE) strategy."
Quality Online's initial implementation took place within Vopak's Latin American Division and under the leadership of Kees Bergmans, General Manager from 2004 to 2006, at the Callao & Cerro del Pasco oil and gas terminal in Peru.
"I knew about Quality Online well before my time in Peru. From 1997, in the Netherlands, the structural recording and follow-up of safety issues was receiving more and more attention. In 1999, Quality Online's Incident and Report Management system was introduced inside Vopak. Before then, keeping up with reporting was a labour-intensive process, which required extensive use of lists in Excel, with all the associated risks and disadvantages. The new system was a direct and huge improvement."
Motivated Team
"Despite the fact that I wasn't directly involved in the rollout of the project, I was struck by a few things. Firstly, the level of motivation among the Peruvian employees who had to use the new system. The arrival of the system was accepted more quickly and easily than I had expected. In other countries and in European cultures, the task calls for more persuasiveness and lobbying to get people to stand behind a new system."
Cultural Differences
There's a really open attitude in Peru. The Peruvian people are, for example, very inquisitive and are positive about new things. They would like to produce better work and are open for systems that support that.
"I found that the people were very cooperative. On the other hand, that sometimes brought with it a submissive attitude that caused people not to say what they were really thinking. That's something to take into account with any similar project."
"It cost, for example, quite a bit of time to make people aware of the importance of reporting errors. At first, the necessity of having to report incidents was somewhat coolly received. Openly reporting errors is not customary and not accepted in the culture. The economic situation and uncertainty that such reporting brings with it plays a role. People want to keep their jobs and the reporting of errors brings insecurity."
"By closely involving the employees in the process and clearly communicating that it is all about the improvement of the processes, this obstacle was moved even before the Quality Online project began."
"Another salient point is that contrary to what is generally thought about Latin America, they work very hard. The mentality is absolutely exemplary."
"I had a very good experience working there, with a very dedicated and studious team. Striving to achieve improvement was an absolute priority with all involved."