Ensuring high safety levels is a crucial requisite for the prevention of serious incidents in operations and limiting the potential consequences: the technological innovations introduced in recent years have raised Edison’s awareness and led it to extend safety standards to all its infrastructures and activities even more effectively.

To this end, in 2016, Edison’s joint venture in Egypt, AQP, was audited. During the follow-up process after the audit, in order to guarantee that the control and management systems with respect to the integrity of plants and structures in general are adequately effective and efficient, an asset integrity study was launched.

The purpose of this study was to perform a specific gap analysis to understand what actions to implement (operating/design/structural actions) in order to prevent the recurrence of failures that can affect not only production, and therefore strictly business aspects, but also health, safety and the environment. This study was completed in 2016 and follow-up activities will begin in 2017 in connection with the implementation of the actions identified in the study.

Again in keeping with upgrading new assets to Edison’s high HSE standards and in order to ensure that safe practices in the way work duties are performed are “positively contagious”, a project was kicked off within Italian Operations area involving contracting firms. The project includes a one-year observation period in which workers will be evaluated on the quality of their work. In practice, workers who stand out for showing initiative and/or safe conduct to improve working conditions (e.g., by providing recommendations for plant modifications and procedural or other changes) will be rewarded.

To replace the operating guidelines for well operations, the E&P Division’s Well Operations Department developed an in-house “Well Operation Management System”, i.e., a series of specific procedures to cover the range of activities that can be carried out. A gap analysis was carried out and completed at the end of 2016, enabling the Company to check that these procedures are in line with the highest standards and international best practices.

Edison innovated the system in 2016 to strengthen its safety characteristics and ensure an ever more rapid emergency response. In order to cut the time needed to mobilise the equipment needed for the emergency team’s response to an environmental incident, a solution was created to minimise loading/unloading time and the transport of oceanic barriers to supply vessels, improving response times in the event of an emergency.

Pursuant to European directive 2013/30/EU, operators developed a software to report potentially significant incidents to control bodies. All EU countries will use the same IT tool, Syrio. To test the software’s effectiveness and any improvements to optimise its functioning and utility, the Ministry of Economic Development asked Italian offshore operators and Assomineraria to test Syrio: Edison participated and sent comments and recommendations to help improve the system.