Pursuant to the instruction by the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation, Gazprom Neft shall prepare a statement of work for the regulations development and the first draft of the document. The process is expected to be completed in March 2011.
The order to form proposals to drive the improvement of the legal framework for handling industrial safety at the refining facilities of the Fuel and Energy Complex was given by the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev following the results of the Committee's on Modernization and Technological Development of Economy of Russia meeting in March 2010. A new safety related concept that is sensitive to the best international practices and state-of-the-art methods and technologies was referred by Gazprom Neft to the Ministry of Energy last October.
"Utilizing a new approach to safety management will not only allow increasing technical and economic performance within the industry but will give rise to the development of related branches including machine building, professional equipment, and electronics. The new approach to safety management may turn one of the elements in the country's modernization and generate a demand for new technologies and engineering solutions" – Director of Logistical Support and Capital Construction Directorate Abdulla Karaev believes.
Currently, the legislation related to project planning, construction and operation of facilities that belong to the oil, gas and chemistry complex is prescriptive in terms of industrial safety management. This means that security enforcement is deemed as compliance with the statutory legislative rules related, in particular, to the parameters of oil, gas and chemistry complex facilities' location relative to each other.
So far Russian manufacturing facilities fall behind foreign enterprises in terms of accident and injury rates and a number of other parameters. The regulatory system existing in Russia was formed in the first half of the last century, and has remained practically unchanged since the mid-1960s.
At the same time, the best international practices in safety management at oil processing facilities show the highest efficiency after a transfer to goal-setting regulating. In this case, safety parameters shall be determined by numerical rating, including the number of occupational injuries, emergency cases, etc. A company may offer any engineering solutions as long as it gives a conceptual proof of their ability to warrant a minimum accident rate with an accident prevention package and reduction the seriousness of such accidents.