Bilfinger Tebodin provides a wide range of consultancy and engineering services to its clients. Not every client requires all services, but more often than not one project triggers another which can result in long-term partnerships between the client and Bilfinger Tebodin; a win-win situation.

I am currently working for SACHEM Europe B.V. in Zaltbommel, a company that develops and produces high-purity fine chemicals that are used in the production of electronics, plastics, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and paper. They entrusted Bilfinger Tebodin to support by the conduction of their HAZOP studies and I am their Technical Safety Consultant, working on site two days per week.

An experienced Bilfinger Technical Safety Consultant forms a trusted member of the HAZOP team who can work efficiently and effectively within the client organization. I have been able to fulfill this role for the past year. In this role, I am responsible for the process structure and for assessing the study data to determine whether it is complete and correct and I chair the HAZOP meetings. I keep the HSE-manager of SACHEM informed on the progress, and we provide mutual feedback on the further approach. SACHEM employees participate in the HAZOP and provide their input in the HAZOP-study.

Due to the close collaboration, I get to know the team members well, so that I can ask the right person for their input. When additional contributions from outsiders, i.e. not members of the HAZOP team, are required, we invite the relevant SACHEM employees to join the meeting.

Even though Bilfinger Tebodin is, technically, an outsider, I feel part of the team when discussing how to resolve an issue, often speaking about how ‘we’ will resolve it and which changes ‘we’ need to implement. People at SACHEM know who I am and talk to me as they would to a colleague. A long-term collaboration like this makes me feel I am part of the SACHEM organization and I work hard to help them reach their goals.

For SACHEM, besides me being the contact for the HAZOPs, they can count on the experience of my colleagues from Bilfinger Tebodin as well. For instance, when SACHEM asks a question beyond my field of expertise, I contact a colleague for help to provide his or her input based on their knowledge or specific research. SACHEM trusts Bilfinger Tebodin to provide a relevant answer on all matters and issues raised, whether general or specific.

Bilfinger Tebodin provides much more than merely standard services, such as additional services based on requests brought to the table by SACHEM. For example, besides HAZOP studies, Bilfinger Tebodin has also been able to carry out other tasks for SACHEM, such as:

• General DoMAH tasks, such as drawing up the annual safety report (ASR) and an environmental risk assessment (ERA)
• Health and safety tasks
• Fire safety tasks
• Machine safety tasks
• Root cause analysis (RCA)

Mutual trust and working together with the client entails a broad awareness of all the ins and outs, which results in a smooth cooperation. A dedicated Technical Safety Consultant like myself ensures knowledge and insight does not fall by the wayside. There are a myriad of advantages to long-term consultant-client partnerships: for example, lessons learned when drawing up one study are applied in all subsequent studies, all of which complement each other. As such, the process moves ahead in leaps and bounds in terms of efficiency.