Mitigating the risks of re-tooling

As COVID-19 continues to cause disruption around the world, many companies are actively responding to the urgent need for vastly greater stocks of diverse medical supplies and equipment. In this effort, some companies are retooling facilities to produce hand sanitizers and other alcohol-based disinfectants given the high demand for these products.

These production shifts can present various challenges, as the process to effectively change the output of a facility often involves intricate high-level planning. This is further compounded in situations such as the pandemic crisis of the last few months, where time is of the essence and the change in output at a facility needs to occur as quickly as possible.

For those involved in such a project, it is vital that the risks involved are properly understood, as new production processes will bring new hazards with them. Effective teamwork also needs to be at the heart of these projects, as their complex nature means they require a high level of effective communication to coordinate all the complex moving parts.

A case in point: The HARTMANN Group 

The HARTMANN Group has decades of experience in producing Sterillium hand gel, a widely used sanitiser, at its BODE Chemie division based in Hamburg. Sterillium has been widely used in hospitals at the front-line of the current COVID-19 battle, and as such has been in high-demand. Recognising the importance of such products during a global pandemic, the HARTMANN Group increased production of the hand gel during the early stages of the crisis.

At the same time, the company made plans to change production lines at other production sites to match the growing demand for anti-bacterial goods. HARTMANN’s CMC business division in Düren (near Cologne), which typically produces cosmetics, cotton wool pads and other sanitary products for the consumer market, was one of these sites.

Dr. Rainer Mangold, CEO CMC, said, “As a producer of cosmetics we were suddenly facing a high demand for hand sanitiser by our drugstore and retail customers which were desperately out of stocks right after the crisis began.”

“We all recognised that changes to production would either exacerbate existing hazards or introduce new risks to the Düren facility. Of concern for both us and our property insurance partner – FM Global – was that hand sanitiser contains a high proportion of alcohol (around 70%), which is highly flammable, potentially creating a significant new risk on-site”, added Andrew Koegel, head of Corporate Insurance Management, HARTMANN GROUP.

Recognising the importance of mitigating these risks, FM Global worked directly with the local CMC team to understand the additional on-site exposures. The CMC Düren site had, prior to the partnership with FM Global, suffered a significant fire loss so ensuring the resilience of the site was especially important.

The process of mitigating the risk of the production shift was assisted by an existing strong partnership. FM Global engineers had previously visited the Düren site, developing a good understanding of the facilities and a positive relationship with the local plant management.

As a result, the team on the ground trusted the process and had confidence in the risk prevention measures that were recommended. 

Remote risk engineering

Given the disruption to travel caused by COVID-19, another key part of this process was the ability for FM Global engineers to conduct remote engineering evaluations. An understanding of the site from previous visits meant engineers could conduct their evaluations of the Düren site remotely, so the new hazards associated with hand sanitiser production were adequately understood and could be managed effectively.

As hand sanitiser is highly flammable with a low flashpoint, recommendations centred on careful storage. Equipment safety procedures were also evaluated to make sure precautionary measures, such as ignition source controls and automatic fire protection systems, were in place. CMC even suggested utilising remote servicing evaluations in the future, as part of the joint risk engineering effort between the companies.

Although the relationship between the two companies at a local level was certainly helpful, the buy-in from the CMC team and the wider risk management function was critical to ensure that the process of revamping the Düren facility ran smoothly. That all parties were willing to support risk prevention measures and improve business resilience was certainly a result of the positive relationship built over the years.

“The work our two companies have undertaken over recent months is a good example of the benefits of a collaborative partnership when it comes to managing new risks. We have found that through a truly joint effort, conducted at various levels within both companies we were able to mitigate the exposures created when responding to the need for production shifts and increased demand”, remarked William Slater, operations vice president, group account manager Engineering, FM Global Frankfurt Operations.