Prioritizing the Safety and Wellbeing of Our People
At Zeeland Refinery, safety is not just a policy—it is a deeply embedded value. Our guiding commitment, “Everyone Home Safe, Every Day,” reflects our unwavering focus on the wellbeing of every individual who steps onto our site, whether they are employees, contractors, or visitors.
As a high-hazard industrial facility, we operate with a strong sense of responsibility and vigilance. We recognize that safety is a dynamic, continuous process. That’s why we constantly evaluate and strengthen our safety systems by rigorously investigating incidents, near-misses, and potential hazards. Every event is treated as a learning opportunity to prevent future occurrences and to foster a culture of proactive risk management.
We are committed to achieving world-class standards in occupational health and safety, and this commitment is demonstrated through our robust programs, systems, and people-focused initiatives. Our team benefits from regular, comprehensive training sessions tailored to the specific needs of each role, ensuring that everyone on site has the knowledge, awareness, and tools they need to operate safely.
Supporting this effort is our dedicated Health, Safety, and Environmental (HSE) team, which plays a critical role in maintaining high performance across all safety dimensions. From policy implementation to hands-on support, they work closely with teams throughout the refinery to embed safe practices into every aspect of our operations.
Our strong safety culture is actively reinforced through company-wide initiatives, including structured safety engagements, toolbox talks, hazard awareness campaigns, and leadership walk-throughs. These activities are not limited to management—they involve participation from all levels of the organization, creating a shared sense of ownership and accountability.
We also believe in celebrating and recognizing outstanding safety performance. Whether it’s individuals demonstrating exceptional commitment to hazard reporting, or teams innovating around safer work practices, we take the time to acknowledge their contributions. In line with this, Zeeland Refinery has introduced a recognition program modeled after the Kaihautu Award concept, spotlighting those who go above and beyond in living our safety values.
Ultimately, safety at Zeeland Refinery is more than compliance—it’s about care, respect, and responsibility. We are proud of the safety culture we continue to build, and we remain firmly focused on keeping our people safe today, tomorrow, and every day thereafter.
Personal safety
At Zeeland Refinery, ensuring that everyone goes home safe each day is our highest priority. We recognize that individual behaviour is key to maintaining safety—when procedures are followed correctly, risks are reduced and incidents can be avoided.
Our work permit system is central to managing operational risks. It ensures that every task is assessed in advance, with safety fully considered before any work begins.
We provide all necessary personal protective equipment (PPE)—including helmets, gloves, and safety goggles—and enforce its use across all relevant areas. Risk assessments are regularly carried out to keep work environments safe, and safety observation rounds help us identify areas for improvement while also recognizing good practices.
All accidents and near-misses are reported and reviewed so we can continue improving our procedures, work methods, and safety policies. This continuous learning approach helps us build a stronger, safer workplace for everyone.
Process safety
Safe installations and procedures that eliminate risks are an important part of safety. However, with a good safety culture, an additional step can be taken. Through our ‘We Intervene!’ safety culture programme we focus on praising good behaviour, putting a stop to unsafe behaviour, addressing each other with respect, listening to each other, being open to feedback and cooperation.
Everyone participates: employees from all departments, management and contractors. Our safety culture has the added advantage that our employees enjoy their work more, work more efficiently and are less prone to absenteeism.
Safety culture programme
Flammable and toxic substances are present in our plants. If these substances are released, it could lead to exposure, a fire or even an explosion. Process safety (the safe handling of hazardous substances in processing plants) prevents this. A processing plant is safe when it can withstand the properties of the hazardous substances and the operational conditions. Standards and specifications are applied for this.
Plants must be kept in good condition. That is why there are inspection programmes to measure wall thicknesses, preventive maintenance is carried out, safeguards are tested and faults are repaired in a timely manner. By means of safety studies, we examine in a structured manner how plants can be made even safer and how changes can be implemented in a controlled manner.
Company fire brigade
Zeeland Refinery is a BRZO company and is, therefore, obliged to have a company fire brigade. That is why we have our own company fire brigade 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A complete fire brigade team of 6 is present at any given point during the day. This is filled by 16 full-time Fire & Safety employees, divided over five shifts, and operators who are trained to perform firefighting tasks.
Everyone in our fire brigade is trained according to a government-approved training plan. Our fire brigade has the most modern equipment at its disposal for fighting various types of fire – our foam fire-fighting vehicles and fire containers are specially designed for us, are very modern and have a large extinguishing capacity.
