Dec 3, 2024
Apr
9
2021
Millions of hours of safety in Tula – Villa de Reyes
As time goes by and the Tula - Villa de Reyes (TVDR) team moves towards completing this gas pipeline, all the members belonging to this project (both TC Energía and contractors) have achieved significant safety accomplishments.
The TVDR Project stretches over 420 km in the heartland of Mexico, including mountain ranges and several river crossings, which have put to test not only the technical skills, but also the safety procedures of both TC Energía and our contractors.
Despite these challenges, TC Energía’s team has achieved over 1.6 million hours without recording a lost-time incident. Kiewit, the Prime Contractor in charge of the construction of the two compressor stations on the project, reached more than 1.2 million hours with no incidents; while Bonatti, the pipeline contractor, has again reached over 1.7 million hours with no incidents.
These milestones resulted from several actions that the project team started from the planning phase. As Chris Pelto, TVDR Project Director, mentions, “At the beginning of this project, TC Energía effectively set our expectations regarding safety standards for each member of the team and with our Prime Contractors. We worked with them during their planning and construction phases to ensure that all three teams were aligned on safety expectations.”
"During the project, there had been minor incidents that prompted the need to identify potential risks in a timely manner, and in such a way that we could deploy all the necessary tools and resources to prevent them," explains José Garibay, Health, Safety & Environment Coordinator for the TVDR project.
After these incidents, TC Energía took several actions involving different project teams and found areas of improvement. Thanks to the responsible participation of TC employees and contractors, this implementation has led to the steady increasing of hours without incidents.
Working toward common goals
One of the first steps taken to strengthen safety measures was to improve communication and teamwork between the project's different internal areas. The Project team ensured that it was clear for all members that safety is everyone’s job, and that through collaboration everyone is responsible for not only their own safety, but for the safety of all personnel involved.
"The team worked hard to promote awareness and increase training regarding all safety aspects with all areas of TVDR and the results of this work have been demonstrated through the high safety performance of the project, and also in terms of allowing the teams to proactively identify possible risks and mitigate them effectively,” highlights Chris.
For this, it was of utmost importance to educate all employees on safety issues and continuously highlight the importance of recording the findings and sharing the learning points to promote incident prevention.
Photo taken in 2019 during a safety training session
Taking a step forward with SHARE cards
José mentions that the exchange of information internally with the team and externally with the contractors was a core part of improving the processes, and SHARE cards played a vital role in achieving Zero is Real.
In 2020, the TVDR team has recorded almost 1,400 SHARE cards, nearly 93 per cent of them made by the Construction team members. “Every fifteen days, we compile the SHAREs and discuss the findings with the contractor so that they can implement preventative actions. Our goal is to ensure integration with the different work teams and for the contractors to comply with the same quality and safety standards,” says José.
After identifying the most common or relevant topics of the SHARE Cards, the TVDR team and the contractor deployed joint communication campaigns to highlight the field's possible omissions.
Both companies' teams implemented workshops and joint inspections, and prizes to recognize colleagues with the best SHAREs, and to encourage everybody to keep up with best practices.
“I am personally very grateful to our counterparts in the contracting companies, especially Bonatti, for their willingness to comply with the safety standards that have allowed us to enter into a continuous improvement and overcome the challenges that this kind of project presents,” says José.
Chris Pelto
TC Energy, TVDR Project Director
