Pilko & Associates | Keith Baugher

"The expert on process safety due diligence"

Keith Baugher
Position: Senior Consultant
Office: Baton Rouge, LA,
Email: keith@pilko.com
Phone: 225-751-7989
Fax: 225-751-7989

Biography

In the days before Christmas of 1989 it was so cold in Baton Rouge that the Exxon plant there shut down operations due to the loss of utilities. Then the sun came out, the weather warmed, and pressure mounted in a 40-mile shut-in line of ethane and propane. The line ruptured at a weak point in the Exxon refinery, spewing a cloud of gas for 90 seconds before it exploded, creating a huge fire and killing two people.

“We fought that fire through the night until Christmas morning,” says Keith Baugher, who was operations manager at the time. “That just rocked me back. You think that kind of thing can’t happen to you, but it sure did.” This event solidified Keith’s career-long quest to investigate and prevent “boom-in-the-night” incidents. “I’ve always had the curiosity to investigate these events and get to the root of what caused them,” he says.

Keith’s 33-year career at Exxon centered on operations. Although his parents had pegged him as a doctor from birth – the family typically took him to view home movies of a surgeon-friend’s operations every Friday evening – he graduated from college with a degree in chemical engineering. “I debated about going into medicine,” he says, “but I’m probably better off working with hard objects than soft ones!”

When Keith retired from his Exxon Career in 1997, the head of Tosco refining asked him to consult at the company’s refineries, and since then his business – largely process safety and due diligence evaluations – has continued to grow. “I enjoy looking at systems that are in place, figuring out how they’re working and where the glitches are, and determining what can be done to make them more effective,” Keith says. “I like coming up with ideas that improve operational safety without costing a fortune.” Keith is also much in demand as an expert witness.

When not consulting, Keith says that he “turns expensive wood into sawdust with expensive power tools,” and enjoys fixing anything mechanical. He and his wife have a daughter who’s an occupational therapist, and a son who’s a mechanical engineer.

Professional Activities

Safety management systems for 16 refineries:
- Developed comprehensive risk management protocol to evaluate effectiveness of management systems.
- Conducted in-depth assessments of facilities, with emphasis on effectiveness of management systems.
- Recommended enhancements to management systems.
- Followed up with assessments and evaluations to assure effective implementation.
Safety assessments for four delayed-coker operations, including recommendations for risk reduction and technology enhancements.
Safety assessments for two hydrofluoric acid Alkylation units.
Evaluations of safe work permit procedures and practices at 12 refineries with recommendations for enhancements.
Investigations of fires, explosions and spills.
Development of operations staffing techniques for the world’s largest refinery at Ulsan, South Korea.
Safety audits of refinery pre-startup procedures.
Expert witness in refinery and petrochemical process operations, process engineering and Process Safety Management. Accepted as an expert in one or more of these fields by:
- Louisiana 14th Judicial District Court – Arch v. Fisher Rosemont. et. al.
- Louisiana 19th Judicial District Court – Murphy v. Arco, et al.
- U. S. District Court – Louisiana Middle District – Sibley v. Exxon
- Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois - Rosolowski v. Clark Refining and Marking, Inc.
- U. S. District Court – Louisiana Eastern District – Turner v. Murphy Oil
Due diligence for refinery transactions
- Evaluation of facilities and management systems
- Transition planning using Management of Organization Change (MOOC) techniques
Emergency response planning
Operations troubleshooting
Operations organization, staffing and planning

Work Experience

February 1983-July 1997
Process Operations Manager
Exxon Co., USA
Baton Rouge Refinery

Duties:

Responsible for all refinery process operations. Managed a work force of 650 company wage and exempt employees and 100 contract employees. Managed stewardship responsibility for safe operation of the facilities, environmental performance, production performance and an operating budget that exceeded 600M$/year. Served on the refinery Management Committee which set broad directions for the refinery, and participated in all major decisions. Chaired the Exxon Company-Wide Process Managers Committee, which served as a vehicle to oversee safety standards, safe operating committees, HAZOP activities, cost, and reliability improvements on Exxon circuit-wide refining.

Accomplishments:

Developed an effective emergency response organization, which integrates refinery resources with those of the local community.
Initiated and participated in the formation of an industry/government agency group to enhance both emergency response and public perception.
Chaired a refining circuit-wide task force that developed safety, health, and environmental practices for measuring each refinery’s performance. The resulting practices have been used as a model for other functions within the company.
Participated in Process Safety assessments of Exxon refineries both in and outside the US.
Chaired several groups that examined and recommended optimum operations staffing levels and organizational structure for Exxon USA refineries. This included benchmarking Exxon facilities outside of USA and domestic non-Exxon facilities.
Served as leader and steward for the refinery’s Process Safety Management programs.
Acted as principle technical participant in several OSHA and EPA settlements.
Participated on a worldwide operations and planning benchmarking team for the improvement of Exxon's US operations.
Participated as a key management representative in the successful bargaining of five multi-company labor contracts and 15 labor arbitrations.

June 1980-February 1983
Technical Manager
Exxon Co., USA
Baytown Refinery

Duties:

Responsible for approximately 300 engineers who provided day-to-day product coordination, technical, and computing support. Provided project development, detailed engineering, and execution. Responsible for the career development of all refinery professional employees. Reported to the refinery manager. Member of the refinery Management Committee.

August 1976-June 1980
Department Head
Cracking and Light Ends
Exxon Co., USA
Baton Rouge Refinery

Duties:

Responsible for the operation of the refinery’s major conversion units. Reported along with two other operating department heads to the Process Manager.

June 1964-June 1974
Various engineering
and supervisory assignments
Exxon Co., USA
Baton Rouge Refinery

Duties:

Provided technical support for operations, new facilities startups, process design, operations, computer control, project development and implementation, economic evaluations, inspection, and operations.

Educational Background & related experience

Virginia Tech – BSChE

Additional Training and Instruction:

Trained in both HAZOP and Fault Tree Process Hazard Analysis techniques.
Certified as Industrial Firefighter and Incident Commander via fire-school attendance at LSU, Tex A&M, Lamar, and University of Nevada @ Reno.
Completed numerous training courses in: design, operating procedure development, heater operations, safety engineering, work permits, HAZWOPER, quality management, supervisory principles, safe operations, etc.
Conducted courses on Risk Management for Exxon’s US refinery operations supervisory staff.
Served as keynote speaker on Safe Operations for Exxon’s Worldwide Technology Conference.
Spoke on emergency response at API Safe Operations Subcommittee General Meeting.