Unipetrol has created a unique training centre in the Czech Republic at its Litvínov plant. Apart from training rooms, it includes fully functional scale models of production technology units and training polygon circuits. At the centre, Unipetrol wants to comprehensively train new operators, with particular emphasis on the acquisition of practical skills. Pupils and students will be invited to the training centre for excursions and experience days. Unipetrol’s current investment in the construction of the centre amounted to CZK 50 mil. Another thirty million will be invested to a future extension of a pyrolysis unit and fire safety polygon.
“A quality trained operator is the alpha and omega of chemical operations. The operator must not only know the operation but also must be able to move in it without a problem. They have to resolve both standard situations and non-standard or extraordinary events,” explained Tomáš Herink, a member of the Board of Directors of the Unipetrol Group responsible for production, research and development.
Unipetrol wants to use the new training-centre concept to train new employees more quickly and in higher quality. “Many applicants come with zero experience in chemical operations. At our new centre, we will enable the new operators to try out their theoretical knowledge at stations simulating a real working environment before they become members of production teams,” added Tomáš Herink.
The training centre is located in a three-storey building of the former research base. The instruction stations are situated both inside the building as well as outside in its immediate vicinity. Almost the entire ground floor of the training building will be used for work-safety instruction. For instance, the first-aid station is located there. “The training will be focused on the most serious situations employees can encounter, both in chemical operations and in their personal life. Newly hired operators will thus get first-hand experience in resuscitation, in staunching massive bleeding and artificial respiration,” described Tomáš Herink.
Water to replace chemicals
The second part of the ground floor is focused on personal protective aids and is in the form of an instructional path. Here, operators will learn about all protective aids they have to use at the Chempark site – from shoes through fire-resistant antistatic clothes to goggles, gloves, a helmet and ear protection. On the ground floor of the building, there is also a station for minor maintenance where operators can increase their maintenance skills to be able to perform minor repairs when they do their rounds through the operation.
On the first floor of the building, a so-called education unit is located. It consists of instructional equipment that enables one to practically manage four process quantities (temperature, pressure, flow and level). Water is used as a working medium. “The purpose of this training module is to safely simulate the used processes and to enable new employees to get basic practical experience with operating technological equipment and related activities,” explained Tomáš Herink. On the training module, operators will find out about the working of a pump and regulators of flow, level, pressure and measuring temperature. They will try to regulate all the monitored quantities, including controlling the unit via a computer.
Unique models of production units
The building’s first floor is also focused on the system of preventing extraordinary events during servicing and maintenance interventions. “The main goal is to teach new operators to secure production facilities to prevent undesired switching on of machines, or the release of dangerous powers or substances,” summarised Tomáš Herink.
The most important stations in the new training centre are the training unit and distillation columns. These stations are built outside the main building, as they are simplified models of production units. The working medium for the training unit is water, while the distillation columns work with hydrocarbons. Operators will get basic practical knowledge of functioning, operation and control of individual parts of equipment, such as various types of fittings, measuring and regulation elements, pumps, heat exchangers, distillation columns and tanks. The training also includes starting up and shutting down the equipment and its preparation for repairs. The entire training unit has a certain height, and its floor consists of typical steel grating to practice work at elevation. “The training unit and distillation columns are controlled remotely from the command centre located on the ground floor of the neighbouring building. Newly hired employees will, therefore, be able to practice the roles of an outdoor operator as well as commanding panel officer. They will have walkie-talkies available so they will learn to properly communicate in both positions,” explained Tomáš Herink.
Firefighters will get a polygon circuit directly on site
The training unit will also serve basic- and secondary-school students as of this spring. Representatives of the training centre are preparing an experience day for them during which they will be fulfilling various tasks and will try the work of operators. The objective is to make this job more attractive through real experience and thus get new potential employees for the position of the operator in chemical production.
During this year, the training centre will be expanded with other instructional models. Training stations for the safety department and for the fire-rescue team will be created at the unused tank station. At the safety polygon circuit, operators will learn the practicalities of moving on a platform with steam emission, secured free movement, horizontal and vertical extrication via tank hatches and other topics. Apart from the newly hired operators, the fire-rescue polygon circuit will also be used by the fire brigade. “We will be able to practice extinguishing and cooling during a gaseous hydrocarbon fire, as well as leaks of liquid or gas simulated by steam and water on several different devices. Such training grounds were not available onsite until now,” explained Petr Králert, chief of Unipetrol’s fire brigade. In the future, an instructional station for excavation work will be created where operators will practically learn about work safety on closed and below-the-ground premises.
The Unipetrol Group is the largest refinery and petrochemical company in the Czech Republic. It focuses on crude-oil processing and on the production, distribution and sale of vehicle fuels and petrochemical products – particularly plastics and fertilisers. In all these areas, it belongs among the important players on the Czech and Central European market. The Unipetrol Group encompasses refineries and production plants in Litvínov and Kralupy nad Vltavou, Paramo with its Mogul brand in Pardubice and Kolín, Spolana Neratovice, and two research centres in Litvínov and Brno. Unipetrol also includes a network of Benzina filling stations in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. With 416 filling stations, Benzina is the largest chain in the Czech Republic. Unipetrol is one of the largest companies in terms of turnover in the Czech Republic. It earned CZK 129 billion last year and employs more than 4,800 persons. In addition to its business development, Unipetrol is proud to be a socially responsible corporation. Therefore, it pays an equal amount of attention to initiatives which focus on the cultivation and support of sustainable development, education, local communities, and the environment. In 2005, Unipetrol became a member of the PKN Orlen Group, the largest crude-oil processor in Central Europe.
For more information, please visit the “Responsible Company” section at www.unipetrol.cz.Contact information: Pavel Kaidl, spokesman, telephone: +420 225 001 407, +420 736 502 520, e-mail:
pavel.kaidl@unipetrol.cz