BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Hengyi Industries Sdn Bhd, a joint petrochemical venture between China and Brune, organized a national-level safety exercise to test its emergency response capabilities before its full commercial operation, CEO of Hengyi Industries Chen Liancai said on Thursday.
Hengyi Industries is a joint venture between China's Zhejiang Hengyi Group and Damai Holdings, a wholly-owned subsidiary under the Brunei government's Strategic Development Capital Fund, owning 70 percent and 30 percent of the shares respectively.
According to Chen, an Industry Tier 3 Safety Emergency Response Exercise was staged by Hengyi Industries on Tuesday, which aimed to test and evaluate the robustness of Hengyi's emergency response capabilities in collaboration and integration with Brunei's National Disaster Management Center (NDMC) and the Ministry of Energy, Manpower and Industry (MEMI).
The exercise involved a simulation of gas release and flash explosion at the Liquefied Petroleum Gasoline (LPG) Fractionation Unit and caused injury to personnel.
Around 600 Hengyi employees and about 100 people from various government agencies participated in the exercise, which is one of the conditions for verifying Hengyi's readiness under Brunei's Workplace Safety and Health Order and Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations before the plant is issued a license to fully operate.
Hengyi had previously conducted a few emergency response exercises at Industry Tier 1 level, meaning the emergency can be managed by the company itself, and subsequently an Industry Tier 2 level exercise which impacted a localized area.
The Industry Tier 3 emergency response is at a national level, in collaboration with the NDMC and requires response and coordination with various government agencies. The exercise provided the opportunity to deepen alignment and build skills between Hengyi and NDMC as well as other government agencies.
Haji Azhar, the Permanent Secretary (Energy) at the Ministry of Energy, Manpower and Industry, said the exercise was about safeguarding the safety of the people, reducing the impact on the environment and managing the reputation.
"This is the first time we have done it at this scale for Hengyi. The exercise also tests Hengyi's capabilities and Standard Operating Procedures for each of the agencies involved. We are hoping if there are any gaps in the contingency, this is the time when we can learn of them and improve upon them," he said.
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