Viva Energy Australia (“Viva Energy”) today commenced sharing with Geelong Refinery workers the outcome of a review which sets out a blueprint to modernise the refinery’s Operations organisation and bring it in line with its competition.
Refinery General Manager, Thys Heyns said the refinery had been working for two years on projects and initiatives to make the refinery sustainable for the long term to ensure this important manufacturing facility remains in Geelong.
“The proposed new operations structure will ensure better integration across the site, provide broader roles with more opportunities to develop, provide greater focus on asset management for safe operations and remove duplication of roles.
“Safety has been at the forefront of the review and will continue to be the focus as we now move to the next stage which is consultation with the workgroup,” said Thys.
“The changes will be implemented in phases and over an 18 month period. Implementation of any changes determined upon will be accompanied by a comprehensive management of change process to ensure safety is maintained and regulatory requirements are met,” he said.
“This new operations structure was the outcome of a comprehensive review that examined operational processes and systems as part of our efficiency drive and to keep Geelong refinery sustainable for the long-term.
“If we accept and agree all the recommendations from the review we expect up to 50 roles will be impacted from a total workforce of around 750 people. We will redeploy employees where possible, but are also calling for expressions of interest in voluntary redundancy if that is necessary.
“We recognise that this announcement may create uncertainty for our workforce and we will provide support throughout this period.”
Mr Heyns said that Viva Energy is committed to manufacturing in Geelong and building a business that can operate for many years to come.
“We supply more than half of Victoria’s fuel and have already invested more than $250 million in the refinery on large scale maintenance and projects to enable us to stay in business for the long-term.
“Our aim with our improvement journey that we have been on for the last two years has been to increase the refinery’s competitiveness so it can continue to provide employment for more than 700 employees, apprentices, permanent contractors and the thousands of people who indirectly rely on us for their livelihoods. This operations review is an important step in that journey.