Process Safety Culture
Leadership is a key part of making process safety work. In some ways, it is the most important part. It may also be the most difficult part. Although the science used in process safety can sometimes seem overwhelming, there is usually a third-party who can be hired to explain it. But leadership cannot be delegated to a contractor – you must do it yourself. CCPS has a management system called “Risk Based Process Safety.” This management system gives us a model, which is a way of organizing all the ideas and concepts needed to successfully manage process safety in any situation. The figure below is a graphical representation of this model. When many people see this model, their first reaction is, “This is much too complicated for me and my operation.” If you feel this way, I would like to reassure you that it is not as complicated as it looks. It is likely that you are already managing about half of the items on this figure. To understand this diagram, let’s start at the bottom, at the base of the structure. Here you see four foundations: Commitment, Understanding, Management, and Learning from experience. In any industrial operation that handles hazardous materials and energies, it is critical to understand what the hazards and risks are. Once these are understood, it is important to manage them appropriately. And since our management is imperfect, it is important to learn from our mistakes so we can improve our management systems. But none of these things is going to happen without a strong commitment by the leaders of an organization. The leaders are those who control the resources, such as money, time, and organizational focus. If the leadership does not really want to improve process safety, it will not happen. That is why the foundation Commitment may be the most important part of process safety. There are many ways that the leaders of an organization can show commitment to process safety. These are represented by the five “elements” constructed on this foundation of Commitment. The first is Process Safety Culture. This article will focus on this element and the role of leadership in making it successful. CCPS offers several possible definitions of Process Safety Culture. ● “the combination of group values and behaviors that determine the manner in which process safety is managed.” ● “How we do things around here.” ● “What we expect here.” ● “How we behave when no one is watching.” Each of these definitions includes the concept of human behavior. We are probably all familiar with the idea that human behavior is important to safety because it is a key part of Industrial Safety. The actions of a worker can have a big impact on his or her safety such as following operating procedures, wearing protective equipment. In the same way, the behavior of leadership of an organization has a big impact on the safety of everyone. The leadership creates the context in which each person decides what they will do. This context includes the “rules” by which behavior is judged, the things that the organization values as important, and what the expectations are. This context, or culture, influences most of the activity in a company. One example is the attitude toward money. If the leadership is always saying “we don´t have money for that” when faced with a process safety issue, then the organizational value ends up being “We can be safe as long as it doesn’t cost too much.” This can result in many decisions that affect process safety: ● Contract administrators may select the contractor with the lowest cost, even when they do not have the capabilities to do the job well. ● Engineering personnel designing equipment may not follow industry standards because they think that leadership will not accept the extra cost of doing so. ● Operations managers may continue to run the process when it is not safe to do so because they think that their leadership will not approve a plant shutdown for safety reasons. ● HSE managers investigating an accident may not recommend the significant changes required to prevent the next accident because they think that leadership will find them “excessive.” If leadership wants to reduce the risk of catastrophic accidents, then one of the first things they should do is to work to establish a strong process safety culture. CCPS mentions several essential features to doing this: Establish Process Safety as a core value. Many organizations do not even know what process safety is. So, the first step is likely just helping the organization understand what process safety is and how it applies to each person. This will probably require formal training, short email communications, and informal discussions over the course of several months. Once people know what process safety is, it is time to show that it is important enough to spend money and time on. Leadership can show their value for process safety by designating a portion of the capital budget to projects designed to reduce the risk of catastrophic accidents. Provide Strong Leadership. Leaders show the way. They provide a vision. They talk about it every chance they get. They have the same attitude toward process safety whether they are in a formal meeting or in a private conversation. Leaders do not let problems stop them, rather they look for solutions. To make process safety work, someone needs to be making the way so everyone else can follow. Establish and enforce high standards of performance. This can be done by adopting a standard and making it clear that the standard will be followed. An example could be how the plant manages change. A leader committed to process safety will set a standard that all changes to hazardous processes must be formally reviewed before they can be implemented. The leader can check every so often if changes are being reviewed. If he finds a change that has not been reviewed, he will call the organization to account for it
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