Spills

We work to prevent incidents that may result in spills of hazardous substances. This means making sure our facilities are well designed, safely operated, and properly inspected and maintained. It also involves an effective oil spill emergency response capability. We plan, prepare and practice our emergency response to incidents to mitigate the consequences to people and the environment.

Our HSSE & SP Control Framework includes a manual on emergency response that covers our requirements in this area. This includes working with the relevant local and national authorities, ensuring our staff has the appropriate training, and practicing exercise drills with other organisations.

Our ship quality assurance standard sets out requirements for the ships we use. To help prevent spills from oil tankers, we require larger ocean vessels to have double hulls.

We have also been phasing in the chartering of double-hull barges on all rivers in Europe since 2006. We completed this programme at the beginning of 2011, seven years ahead of the European Union requirements for all movements to be on double-hull barges.