Process safety
Process safety management is about keeping hazardous substances inside pipes, tanks and vessels, and ensuring that well fluids are contained during construction, interventions (such as maintenance) and incidents. Our Asset Integrity and Process Safety Management principles guide our actions from project design and construction throughout the life cycle of facilities to keep sites, employees and contractors safe.
In line with industry standards, we measure and report process safety incidents according to significance.
Tier 1+2 operational process safety events, excluding sabotage [A]
A Tier 1 process safety event is an unplanned or uncontrolled release of any material from a process, including non-toxic and non-flammable materials, with the greatest actual consequence resulting in harm to employees, contract staff or a neighbouring community, damage to equipment, or exceeding a defined threshold quantity. A Tier 2 process safety event is a release of lesser consequence.
The number of Tier 1 and 2 operational process safety events in 2023 decreased slightly compared with 2022. There were 63 events reported during the year compared with 66 in 2022. This sets a new record for Shell, confirming our top-tier performance in the industry. The decrease was in our Downstream, Renewables and Energy Solutions business, due to improvements in work processes and using data to enhance safety planning.
Process safety events related to sabotage and theft in Nigeria are recorded separately. In Nigeria, there were two in 2023, compared with three in 2022 (see Spill response and prevention in Nigeria).
Read more about process safety at www.shell.com/process-safety.
