The management in the Lower River Region is incompetent. There is no planning, no communication and the managers are primarily focussed on preserving their careers at all costs. Initiative is discouraged, yet there is no guidance to direct progress. When employees have to take initiative due largely to a "tenured" employee shirking their responsibility, that task suddenly becomes the responsibility of the initiative-taker. There is no effort to retrain the ineffective employee or define work responsibilities and hold employees accountable to specific, defined responsibilities. Employees at the lower levels are treated with disdain and animosity when they point out unsafe or inefficient processes or equipment. When something does go wrong, efforts are directed at blaming a low level employee who can be made into a scapegoat and summarily dismissed. There is no significant root-cause analysis conducted, and when it is, the reports are editted to ensure no blame or responsibility falls on the shoulders of the senior reporting managers. Most of the terminals in the lower river region were previously, "Mom-and-Pop," terminals. Consequently, there are a lot of different programs, policies and procedures in place. Maintenance programs are typically ineffective if they exist at all. Work flow and inter-department communication is negligible. There is no effort to create any kind of process standardization. Kinder Morgan, in response to threats of disciplinary action from the EPA, put together a Terminal Asset Group (TAG) that was supposed to standardize equipment, policies and procedures throughout the Bulk and Liquid Terminals. But, as with most things derived from regulatory threat, it has largely fallen by the wayside; giving way to profit margin and management bonus pressures (It is understood that the EPA will not take serious action against a $100 billion energy company). While the upper executive branch puts out well-documented statements calling for quality focus, customer care and above all safety, these seem to only serve the purpose of making sure the Kinder Morgan legal team has a sufficient stack of documentation proving their executives are not liable for the actions of the employees. These philosophical guidelines are never expounded upon or broken down into cogent processes, policies or procedures.
This is a very frustrating place to work. If you have any other options I suggest you strongly consider them. This is a good stop-gap measure for a pay-check and that is about it, certainly not a serious contender for a career.
