Safety at Pearl: “Every second counts, every role matters”

Think Formula 1 pitstop. The rapid manoeuvre in a high-speed, high-stakes race where mechanics use jacks to lift a car to change its tyres and adjust the front wing – all in as little as two seconds before it speeds off. Now, multiply the scale by millions and you can grasp the magnitude of a turnaround at a major energy or chemicals facility.

In a turnaround, a plant is partially or completely shut down for maintenance, inspection, repairs and upgrading. Turnarounds are vital to help prevent machinery and process failure that can halt operations and put the safety of workers at risk. But every day that a plant is shut down it is not producing, so teams work as fast as possible to get it up and running. Most important: that they manage to do all that complex and intense work safely.

That is what more than 16,000 workers from around the world managed to do for two months at the end of 2024 at the Pearl Gas-to-Liquids (GTL) plant in Qatar – completing the largest ever turnaround in Shell’s history. “Turnarounds are about great planning, unity and precision,” says Eddie Childs, Turnaround Manager at Pearl GTL, the biggest GTL plant in the world. With workers contributing more than 9 million working hours between them, “we invest years to prepare for weeks of intense execution. When you’re doing it, every second counts, every role matters,” he says.

Meticulous planning

A focus on safety is evident in the day-to-day operations of Pearl GTL, which turns natural gas into liquid fuels, base oils for lubricants and other liquid products. The plant was recently recognised by the World Economic Forum as one of the world’s top industrial sites for using smart technology to make energy production safer as well as more efficient.

Completing a successful turnaround, though, called for three years of meticulous planning: from contracts, meals, sleeping arrangements, delivery schedules and shuttle buses, to drafting and practising detailed execution plans and putting procedures in place.

Conducted in partnership with Qatar's state energy company – QatarEnergy – the turnaround involved moving a combined 20,000 tonnes of equipment, the equivalent of nearly two Eiffel Towers – challenging work that was carried out without a life-changing injury or loss of life.

A range of factors played a part in that. Shell and QatarEnergy set up an interactive safety induction centre, for instance, which all workers had to pass through before starting work on the turnaround. Safety supervisors conducted regular ‘safety walks’ to look for potential hazards, identify any new risks to mitigate and continually remind the thousands of workers that safety was the priority.

“Safety is a mindset. We encouraged people to think: I will do the right thing and I will make others do the right thing; if I have any doubt, I will pause and consult,” says Ahmed Ali Shehata, Shell’s night-shift manager for the Pearl GTL turnaround.

Pearl GTL put worker welfare at the heart of its planning and preparation, Ahmed says, and at the centre of the turnaround’s execution. “We knew that if we took care of people, they would take care of themselves and each other.”

Shell’s Goal Zero ambition

The focus on safety in Shell operations like Pearl GTL is part of Shell’s Goal Zero ambition, which sets the expectation that all employees and contract staff aim to do no harm to people and to have no leaks across its operations.

The nature of Shell’s operations can expose it to a wide range of safety risks. At times, tragic incidents occur, resulting in serious injury or even the loss of life – incidents that profoundly impact Shell.

“We must learn from these incidents and our leaders continue to work to ensure we maintain an environment where everyone feels safe and that they can freely point out any safety risks without fear of reprisal,” says Sandra Yii, VP Shell Safety.

Being smart about safety

At Pearl GTL, the safety mindset extends beyond its turnaround. It is one of the reasons the plant has embraced smart technologies and artificial intelligence – innovation recognised by the World Economic Forum's Global Lighthouse Network in September 2025.

For example, Pearl GTL has deployed a machine-vision system that automatically identifies unsafe behaviours and hazardous conditions in real time. By alerting supervisors before incidents occur, the system helps prevent high-risk events.

Pearl also uses AI to provide near real-time insights into the health of critical equipment. This reduces the need for manual inspections and, by identifying potential issues early, teams can intervene before problems escalate.

“In our industry, staying alert and focused is not optional,” says Misfer Al-Bidaiwi, VP Pearl GTL. “Every task, every shift, every site demands our full attention.”