Solving our industry’s LOTO challenges:
A discussion with BASF, SABIC and Voovio.
In this on-demand webinar, we discussed together with David Mihalik (EHS Hub Director at Geismar, BASF) and Brock Ryan (Director, Site Operations at SABIC’s largest US site, Mount Vernon) how we can solve our industry’s LOTO challenges.
(Director, Site Operations at SABIC’s largest US site)
Name:
Brock Ryan
Job Title:
Director, Site Operations at SABIC’s largest US site, Mount Vernon
Speaker Bio:
Brock is Site Operations Director at SABIC’s largest US site, Mount Vernon. He has over 25 years of operations experience, having started with GE Plastics before joining Sabic.
EHS Hub Director at Geismar, BASF
Name:
David Mihalik
Job Title:
EHS Hub Director at Geismar, BASF
Speaker Bio:
David Mihalik is Environmental, Safety, Health, Medical and Security Director for the BASF Geismar Louisiana Site, the largest BASF facility in North America. David joined BASF in 1997 as part of Engelhard Corporation which was acquired by BASF in 2006. Prior to BASF, David spent 15 years at Dow Chemical in Plaquemine and Grand Bayou, Louisiana in various production, project, and EHS roles. David has a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Mississippi State University.
Director of Operations at Voovio
Name:
Francis Montemurro
Job Title:
Director of Operations at Voovio
Speaker Bio:
Fran spent over 30 years in manufacturing management with DuPont. He was plant manager at multiple DuPont’s Safety and Protection, Performance Materials, and Chemicals & Specialties manufacturing sites. He successfully managed high hazard chemical continuous and batch operations, and his teams were awarded the inaugural E.I. DuPont Safety Excellence Medal for remarkable injury-free performance, zero process safety events, and product distribution incidents, as well as the E.I. DuPont Engineering Excellence Award for delivering step-change improvements in business performance through an organizational transformation. A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Fran received a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. He has served in several leadership roles in industry associations and civic organizations.
Director of Operations at Voovio
Name:
Clint Jeffus
Job Title:
Director of Operations at Voovio
Speaker Bio:
Clint spent 19 years in the chemical industry. For the last 9 years he was with BASF where he held roles in Operations Management at the McIntosh, AL site and Asset Management at the Geismar, LA site. Prior to BASF, he spent 6 years with Total Petrochemicals in Operations at the Carville, LA site and within the Corporate Strategy group in Houston. He held early career roles in Operations with Nan Ya Plastics (division of Formosa) in South Carolina as well as the former ISP Elastomers site (currently Lion Elastomers) in Port Neches, TX. His educational background includes a BS in Chemical Engineering from The University of Missisippi (Ole Miss) and an MBA from Louisiana State University.
In this interactive session Fran Montemurro (former DuPont Plant Manager) and Clint Jeffus (former BASF Sr. Operations Manager) were joined by our panel experts David Mihalik (EHS Hub Director at Geismar, BASF) and Brock Ryan (Director, Site Operations at SABIC’s largest US site, Mount Vernon).
Key takeaways of the webinar:
- We looked at what the challenges around LOTO are and what the industry has already done to try minimize them.
- Brock and David shared many personal stories from their industry experience around LOTO challenges.
- Both shared thoughts on what ‘Effective Training’ is for them.
- Brock and David both gave insights on how they know their employees actually ‘Know and Understand’.
- We discussed the question ‘Who is accountable for auditing performance’ in the LOTO context.
- David explained how they handle it when a LOTO violation is found, to avoid future violations from being ‘covered up’.”
To see the whole webinar for yourself, you can watch the video below:
