Mercuria CSR Report 2020 - Flipbook - Page 75
in this regard.
Early in 2020, as the dangers that COVID-19 posed to our global workforce were becoming understood, we held
facility-by-facility phone and video conferences with an ongoing risk-assessment of the new hazards this posed to
our operations. For each business we developed assessments of operation critical staffing, and the standards we
would follow in deciding when conditions might dictate to close or re-open a workplace, or to downscale or suspend
work activities. While there were instances of infection that occurred amongst our work staff (both Mercuria’s
office-based staff, and within our assets), all known instances of illness appeared to be due to exposure outside
the workplace. Mercuria did not find at any of its offices or assets any instances where there were clusters of
infections that might have suggested a breakdown or gap in the hygiene and safe-distance separation practices
that had been implemented. Tragically, there was one known instance of an employee at one asset losing their life
to the disease. Dependent upon the availability of testing supplies which varies from region-to-region, Mercuria has
offered Covid-19 testing at no cost to its employees.
CALENDAR YEAR
NUMBER OF INCIDENTS WHERE FORMAL
MEDICAL ATTENTION WAS REQUIRED*
NUMBER OF INCIDENTS RESULTING
IN PERMANENT OR LIFE-ALTERING
INJURIES / FATALITIES
2018
1 incident
None reported
2019
1 incident
None reported
2020
3 incidents
None reported
*Exclusive of motor vehicle crashes where medical attention is offered or given to all parties involved.
From an environmental standpoint our business was conducted in a safe manner with no instances having
occurred during 2020 where Mercuria’s trading operations were determined to be responsible for spills of hazardous
materials. However, we did have some situations where a counterparty that was managing or receiving a material
had an incident. In these instances we rendered the appropriate assistance to control, contain and cleanup the
releases. None of these instances were serious and all were remedied as soon as possible and regulatory filings
were made where required.
During 2020, we also encountered challenges at some of our assets where we had 6 release events our assets
were responsible for, and consequently for which required notification to regulatory authorities. In each instance,
a response effort was conducted to ensure that any cleanup was fully completed and there are no outstanding
remedial efforts remaining. In these instances, the circumstances that led to the situation were also reviewed to
identify additional preventative measures that could be put in place to guard against similar recurrence. Our assets
also experienced several instances where they had unintended excursions from their permit authorizations. While
the facilities took appropriate measures to return the compliant status of operations, the regulatory authorities did
impose administrative penalties as is not uncommon for such noncompliant events. While the penalties themselves
were not of considerable magnitude, we recognize our shortcomings in these instances and the organization
has imposed further training to ensure appropriate attention and resources are applied to guard against similar
recurrence.
75
