Incident management

The incident investigation process at Galp includes activities ranging from classification to analysis of all possible causes, as well as monitoring the effectiveness of the actions taken.
Top management is responsible for creating an environment that enables and motivates the Organisation to report incidents, ensuring and supporting formal and informal reporting of incidents, findings, recommendations and lessons learned.

HSE incidents are classified into 5 Classes - from Class 0 to Class 4 - according to their severity.

As a result of the investment done in prevention, we have seen a decrease in the number of occurrences in the most severe classes (Classes 3 and 4), which is an incentive to continue the measures we have been adopting.

We investigate and analyse our accidents

When an incident occurs the responsible area should report it within a maximum of 3 days and have 12 days to close the investigation. In the first 3 days, the investigation team, the investigation responsible and the person responsible for the final report approval are defined. Those responsible are defined according to the severity of the incident, when the accident is more severe, the Company first line managers are involved.

When the investigation is closed and the final report is approved by the area, the corporate safety department evaluate the report according to a checklist to verify the required fields and conclusions. If nonconformities are detected the incident is reopened and the investigation team must correct them.

Every month, 50% of the incidents submitted for closure are selected in order to evaluate the quality of the investigation. The accidents selection process is random, except for high-severity accidents. The totality of the high-severity incidents are evaluated.

The quality evaluation of investigation is a rigorous process, done by an external entity, in which the 5 points mentioned below are classified:

1. Characterization and Communication of the Incident
2. Investigation Team
3. Incident Investigation
4. Recommendations / Actions
5. Lessons Learned

In order to reinforce the whole process and stakeholders involved, during the first quarter of 2018 a training programme on incident investigation is being delivered throughout the Company.

We promote the dissemination of the lessons learned

We encourage a culture of prevention and promote the reporting of near-accidents. We classify as near-accident, any event with the potential to cause injury to people, property damage or to the environment, but which has been avoided by circumstances.

Accidents occurring in Galp are investigated and the most relevant results are disseminated in the form of HSE Alerts.

Near-accident reporting is a prevention management tool that contributes to the reduction of accidents. We raise awareness and encourage our stakeholders to report near-accidents

Galp’s incident reporting app

We have developed a mobile application for reporting these near-accidents application, with the aim of facilitating the process and thereby increasing the reporting rate of those occurrences, which could potentially turn into accidents later on.

This app enables any employee, via a smartphone, tablet, or computer, to report essential information in a simple way, such as a description of the event, and the GPS location, and even to upload photos.