Paper Sample on Hazards Caused by Texaco Inc in Oriente Region

Texaco Inc has not been buying in such hazard management techniques. The company inadequately conducted a feasibility study on the adverse effects of its planned oil exploitation in the Amazon basin and did not provide the best ways to mitigate the impact of pollution that the oil mining would cause in Ecuador. The Texaco neglected the oil slicks, and chemical leakages that would pollute the air, land, sources of water, soil and vegetation with no proper management hence result to health, chemical and safety hazards in Oriente region of Ecuador. Based on the two documents HLS503 SLP 1 and 2, the current discussion reveals health, safety and chemical as the significant hazards during and after the oil exploitation by Texaco Inc in the Oriente region.

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Hazards caused by Texaco Inc Oil Exploitation

Hazard is the condition or a situation that leads to a potential for harm. The Texaco Inc began oil exploitation in Oriente region of Amazon Basin in 1964 and exhausted the area in 1992 led to health, chemical and safety hazards. The company inadequate mitigation plan and processes for the impacts of pollution. Besides, the company did not compensate for the residents and the government of Ecuador (FEMA n.d.). The oil exploitation in the region led to the damages to the Amazon vegetation, lands, and dead animals. Furthermore, there was a shortage of water supplies, general poverty, congenital disabilities and diseases that affected people coupled with a transformed Amazon basin and ecosystem that remained unproductive (FEMA n.d.).

Health Hazards

The health hazards that occurred during and after the exploitation of oil in the Oriente region included the potential harms that resulted in the occupational illness. The environmental damages that Texaco Inc caused involved the leaching and discharges of oils into the water sources while the drilling wastes flowed to the unlined pits. Besides, the various accidental releases from the trans-Ecuadorian pipelines as well as the subsidiary pipelines went to the water sources and holes (Patel 2012). Moreover, the company deliberately dumped and sprayed oil wastes into the lands around the Amazon basin. Thus, most of the woods in the backyards comprised of pools of black oil sludge. Therefore, the primary sources of water contained residues of petroleum that made children vomit.

Moreover, people continue to suffer from severe headaches, workers and the people around the exploitation area suffered due to poor construction, operational practices and maintenance of the different oilfields. For example, Texaco Inc sprayed more than 600 kilometres of unpaved roads in the Orient region to control dust. Furthermore, the workers had no information of the toxic crude that they applied on their heads to prevent balding or give their parents who have arthritis. Thus, the operations of Texaco Inc in the Oriente region led to health hazards (Patel 2012).

Chemical and Safety Hazards

The safety hazards entail circumstances that lead to physical injuries or harm. Thus, the safety hazards are common in the workplace environment and include unsafe work conditions, machine guarding, malfunction of equipment and breakdown that cause illness, injuries and death. Lastly, the chemical hazards are circumstances that lead to harm depending on physical, toxic and chemical properties of the chemicals used in an enterprise among others (FEMA n.d.).

Business Impact Analysis

Good leadership in an enterprise comprises not only the management of resources and employees but also protection of the premise and its environs against incidences of hazards (James & Wooten, 2011). The application of Business Impact Analysis (BIA) helps in the determination of continuity in planning. Thus, it allows the management to comprehend how the Texaco Inc functions on a daily basis. Henceforth, the collected data helps in the analysis of the potential risks to the critical and sensitive processes as well as evaluation of how disruptions would impact the company. The method of BIA involves identification of the impacts of separation of the vital processes. The findings assist management in the evaluation of the critical issues and help in the determination of priorities (Okolita 2009).

Sensitive Processes

The first step in the process is the identification of the essential processes or components of BIA during the process. Such elements include the critical business process, the vital records, internal and external dependencies, the human capital needed, the technological requirements and process recovery. Secondly, the management needs to collect data such as stakeholder interview. Therefore, BIA questionnaire forms and workshops provide a source of information after data collection. The management needs to consider vision, value statement and mission during BIA process, the organisational chart, compliance mandates, the hazards emergency response plan and disaster recovery plan (Okolita 2009).

Critical processes

The critical processes or approaches of BIA include;

• The identification and confirmation of all the departments or activities in Texaco Inc that need BIA
• Provision of updates and incorporation of the collected information
• Conducting the stakeholder interviews to confirm critical information including hazards
• Confirmation, validation and essential collection of information as well as communication with the departments dealing with different activities
• Collation of the mitigation strategies and components such as systems, site, people and relationships, identifying and communicating the gaps
• Review, confirmation and discussion of the technological requirements
• Developing a process that measures the performance of the BCP after the incidents or hazard
• Identification of the need for implementation through training and exercise

Resource Requirement for BIA Process

The application of the BIA process requires executive sponsorship as well as financial support of the senior management besides their involvement. The requirements of the resources for the BIA process depend on the critical and essential business functions. Thus, minimum resources are necessary to perform only the vital and crucial procedures or tasks. The known dependencies and their tabulations will determine the resources needed and timeframe for the whole BIA. Hence, the funds will be required in planning, implementation, and exercise and testing as well as in the improvement of the entire BIA program (Okolita 2009).

Prevention and Deterrence for Health, Chemical and Safety Hazards

Texaco Inc needs to prevent and deter the health, chemical and safety hazards through the provision of codes of practice, procedures and policies to the employees and stakeholders or any other person within the premise. The company should be responsible for all the procedures and policies and should be compliant with the WHS Acts and should engage the employees on a cooperative basis (Okolita 2009).

Secondly, Texaco Inc should provide workplace method statements which should be written in cooperation with the employees and should comply with the WHS Acts. Besides, the company needs to provide work safe instructions known to the employees and should follow such instructions diligently according to the WHS Acts. Moreover, the employees need to wear the protective gears and clothing or equipment that Texaco Inc provides. Such clothing should be compliant with the WHS Acts and employees should wear them as directed by the management (Okolita 2009).

Also, Texaco Inc senior management needs to conduct hazard and risk management. Thus, the management should provide legislative requirements for everybody. Furthermore, the management should provide enough funds for the implementation of workplace safety strategies. Besides, the management needs to cooperate with others to ensure safe workplace as well as liaising with the relevant personnel such as WHS representative or committee. Also, the management should lead by example in ensuring the safety of the company, employees and even the community. Separately, the employees should observe the safe work practices and procedures in Texaco Inc, involve in the identification of different chemicals, and health and safety hazards, and should be proactive in the WHS meetings among others. Besides, the employees should report any incident leading to hazard to the appropriate person (Okolita 2009).

Lastly, there should be a regular report on the incident of any hazard according to the workplace checklist on the incident report. Besides, management needs to conduct inspection or incident areas where risks might occur. Furthermore, they should evaluate the results or outcome of the investigation and provide the best recommendations. Such reports should tabulate the findings of inspections coupled with the inputs of employees with appropriate actions (Okolita 2009).

Conclusion

Enhancement of safety in a company is achievable when each person in charge takes the responsibility and a leadership role in ensuring proper management of safety and health within and in the surrounding environment. Thus, implementation of safety management such as appropriate management and mitigation of hazards through programs help the enterprises avoid not only injuries within or out in the surrounding environment; but also prevent incidences that are costly, stressful, time-consuming, lawsuits and inconvenient leading to the economisation of the operational costs. Based on both documents HLS503 SLP 1 and 2, the hazards that emanated as a result of oil exploitation in the Oriente region include safety, health and chemical hazards. Even though the Texaco Inc strived to mitigate the impacts of pollution, the company implemented the late remedies after abandoning the region. However, it is important to conduct BIA of the enterprise o avoid such hazards coupled with channelling enough resources for prevention and mitigation of the risks.

References

FEMA. Preparedness Planning for Your Business. Accessed on http://www.ready.gov/business

James, E. H., & Wooten, L. P. (2011). Crisis management: Informing a new leadership research agenda. Annals, 5(1), 455-493. (Available from TUI)

Okolita, K. (2009). How to perform a disaster recovery business impact analysis. CSO. Accessed on https://www.csoonline.com/article/2124593/disaster-recovery/emergency-preparedness-how-to-perform-a-disaster-recovery-business-impact-analysis.html

Patel, S. (2012). Delayed Justice: A Case Study of Texaco and the Republic of Ecuador's Operations, Harms, and Possible Redress in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Tulane Environmental Law Journal, 71-110.