Occupational health and safety

We have implemented life-saving principles and rules to help employees recognize and address key hazards within three primary areas: controlling work, controlling energy and controlling equipment. These guidelines serve as a practical reference for safety processes in potentially high-risk categories, including working at heights, confined spaces, excavation and trenching, energy isolation, bypass overrides, driving safety, mobile equipment and lifting operations.

Every member of our workforce holds the responsibility to identify and report potential hazards, collaborating with management to devise solutions through daily hazard reviews and pre-job assessments. All employees and contractors are empowered and obligated to halt work immediately upon identifying a potential hazard or unsafe workplace behavior.

Given that our employees and contractors often work with heavy equipment, moving parts, hazardous and nonhazardous materials and at heights or in confined spaces, there are inherent safety risks. We plan and prepare for each scenario to ensure tasks are carried out safely and efficiently.

C360 serves as a data management platform enabling Cheniere to foster a culture of compliance. It functions as the repository for HSE data, providing crucial information for enterprise and operational risk management. Depending on the severity, hazard identification process outcomes initiate a lessons-learned assessment, investigation and root cause analysis. The findings are disseminated within C360 and across different sites. Reporting a work-related hazard involves notifying both the supervisor and the H&S department, followed by logging the incident in C360. The severity of the hazard determines whether an investigation is triggered.

Our approach involves documenting, investigating and reporting workplace safety incidents, encompassing near misses and high-potential incidents. Using this information, we promptly implement any required corrective actions and share valuable lessons learned to prevent future incidents. Furthermore, we report follow-up mitigations across the organization to enhance accountability and promote company-wide awareness and knowledge sharing. Our ongoing emphasis on tracking and focusing on leading indicators reinforces a proactive safety culture centered on prevention.

We regularly evaluate the effectiveness of our safety management systems through both internal and external assessments and audits. Utilizing a risk-based assurance and audit process, we assess the health and safety management systems, policy and performance, identifying opportunities to enhance our processes and programs. Ongoing assurance processes, including site-level self-assessments, process verification and management reviews by site leadership teams, contribute to our continuous improvement efforts. Our OH&S audit program is administered through a risk-based approach. We develop a five-year audit plan, which is reviewed annually. Corrective actions for audit findings are entered into an action-tracking application and monitored until completion.

Contractors are mandated to adhere to our health and safety programs and HSE Policy, actively participating in meeting or surpassing our safety performance objectives. Compliance with our safety requirements is an integral part of our supplier and subcontractor agreements. Before commencing work on-site, contractors must complete Cheniere site-specific HSE training.

We actively monitor and assess contractors’ health and safety performance. In instances where a contractor falls short of our safety criteria, we collaborate to establish a mitigation plan, reserving the option to terminate a contract if corrective actions are not implemented. To foster open communication and a shared understanding of expectations and processes, we conduct regular work-site safety meetings involving employees and contractors, including Cheniere and contractor managers. Monthly contractor meetings further reinforce our commitment to safety, encompassing discussions on safety metrics, incident reviews, upcoming activities and any recent incidents or safety concerns. 

Our enterprise-wide safety training, aligned with a role-specific qualification and competency matrix, ensures compliance with internal standards and applicable regulations. The implementation of a peer-to-peer review and assistance program facilitates collaborative learning among employees from our two liquefaction sites. These sessions focus on reviewing and discussing procedures, best practices and lessons learned, and generating ideas for continuous improvement in safety and other essential aspects of operational performance.

We prepare for a wide range of potential incidents that could disrupt business continuity or pose a threat to our employees, contractors, host communities and the environment. This includes unplanned or uncontrolled product releases, fires, severe weather and cybersecurity events. 

Cheniere’s Emergency Response and Crisis Management Framework establishes a comprehensive structure for emergency response, crisis management and business continuity at both the corporate and site levels. A dedicated Crisis Management Support Team, situated at the corporate level, ensures an effective and timely response to emergency and crisis situations.

Our emergency response programs, integrated into the CIMS, are strategically designed to support an efficient response in the face of potential emergencies. Site-specific emergency response plans, aligned with applicable laws and regulations, delineate roles, responsibilities and step-by-step guidance for all participants in incident response. Oversight and support for emergency response come from the corporate-level Crisis Management Support Team.

We adhere to the National Incident Management System (NIMS) Incident Command System (ICS), a widely recognized framework used across various sectors. This system facilitates collaboration with government agencies, private organizations and NGOs during emergencies, enhancing our ability to participate in joint training, exercises and coordinated responses.

All employees and contractors undergo comprehensive emergency response training. We regularly conduct training and simulation exercises to assess and enhance the effectiveness of our emergency response systems.

We implement a comprehensive marine assurance process for all vessels and terminals interacting with Cheniere assets, encompassing chartered vessels, ships visiting our liquefaction facilities, fuel vessels supplying our chartered fleet, downstream terminals and air boats serving our pipeline assets. Our marine safety initiatives are centered on identifying, managing and mitigating potential risks throughout the entire cycle of activities involving the chartered fleet globally, from vessel arrival and loading to departure.

Our focus is on minimizing the risk of potential incidents, including but not limited to, collisions, groundings, fire, pollution events and injuries. Additionally, we actively monitor and respond to forthcoming national and international regulations.

Actively contributing to safe marine operations, we engage regularly with stakeholders throughout the shipping supply chain. This involvement is carried out independently or through participation in industry bodies like the Society of International Gas Tanker and Terminal Operators and the Oil Companies International Marine Forum, among others. We conduct formal marine operation meetings with LNG carrier owners and operators to share health, safety and environmental expectations, operational best practices and technical enhancements leading to overall environmental benefits.