Formosa Petrochemical Corp’s (台塑石化) new chairman yesterday said the company needed to replace more than 100 pipelines, while promising to instill the value of industrial safety and making it a fundamental part of the new corporate culture.
“The previous management did not make industrial safety the paramount task .... This reflected on the company’s culture and affected staff moral,” Chen Bao-lang (陳寶郎), who is a former chairman of Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Co (國光石化科技) and ex-president of CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油), told a press conference.
Formosa Petrochemical’s board yesterday approved Chen’s appointment to replace Wilfred Wang (王文潮), who stepped down in late July following a fire accident at the company’s petrochemical complex in Mailiao (麥寮) in Yunlin County. The firm had been plagued by a string of fire incidents since July last year.
Photo: CNA
As for the more than 100 pipelines that needed to be replaced, Chen said he would prioritize the changing of those pipelines given a dearth of experienced technicians. Chen added that project was complex in nature and improvements would take more than one year to accomplish.
The Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), which includes Formosa Petrochemical, has earlier pledged to spend a total of NT$12 billion (US$416 million) till June 2014 to “renew, repaint, service and restructure” 1,063 pipelines measuring about 1,266km at the Mailiao complex. According to Chen, Formosa Petrochemical has signed up Lloyd’s Register Group to assess its overall safety measures after improvements are made.
The UK-based Lloyd’s Register is one of the industry’s leaders in assessing business processes and products based on internationally recognized standards.
The engagement of an unbiased third party should help reassure the public, he said.
Chen said he had been given full control over the selection of candidates for company president after Su Chi-yi (蘇啟邑) stepped down in late July along with Wang.
However, it isn’t a sought after position considering the company’s poor track record in safety, he added.
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