Process safety culture

The combination of group values and behaviors that determines the manner in which process safety is managed. A sound process safety culture refers to attitudes and behaviors that support the goal of safer process operations. 

The CCPS s process safety management system approach that uses risk-based strategies and implementation tactics that are commensurate with the risk-based need for process safety activities, availability of resources, and existing process safety culture to design, correct, and improve process safety management activities. 

Different metrics may be used to describe past performance, predict future performance, and encourage behavioral change. They are a means to evaluate the overall system performance and to develop a path toward superior process safety performance. This is accomplished by identifying where the current performance falls within a spectrum of excellent-to-poor performance. Such information will allow executives and site management to develop plans to address the specific improvement opportunities that could lead to measurable improvement in process safety. Good process safety metrics reinforce a process safety culture that promotes the belief that process safety incidents are preventable, that improvement is continuous, and that policies and procedures are necessary and will be followed. Continuous improvement is necessary and any improvement program will be based on measurable elements. Therefore, to continuously improve performance, organizations must develop and implement effective process safety metrics. 

Good process safety metrics will reinforce a process safety culture promoting a belief that process safety incidents are preventable, that improvement is continuous, and that policies and procedures are necessary and will be followed. Continuous improvement is necessary and any improvement program must be based on... 

Finally, management must cultivate a positive process safety culture that will inspire people to support process safety and metrics efforts. Perhaps the largest enticement to implementing new or revised process safety metrics is the knowledge that the results will be handled seriously and appropriately, with proper remedial action taken when necessary. A positive and mature safety culture promotes open dialogue on issues, discusses improvement strategies by engaging a broad array of employees, and will not tolerate deviation from established procedures. 

PROCESS SAFETY CULTURE Develop Implement a Sound Culture Monitor Guide the Culture Maintain a Dependable Practice... 

Percentage of managers and supervisors trained on the importance of, and approaches to create and reinforce, a sound process safety culture X... 

BP has not instilled a common, unifying process safety culture among its U.S. refineries. Each refinery has its own separate and distinct process safety culture. 

One view of process safety culture is to divide the topic into 12 elements (Arendt, 2009) as shown below ... 

The table in Figure 13.4 has four columns. The first column lists the 20 CCPS management elements starting with 1. Process Safety Culture and finishing with 20. Management Review. The topic of MOC, which is the 13th of the elements, is used here to illustrate the spreadsheet process. 

Lagging and leading indicators provide little guidance to do with some of the more abstract management elements such as process safety culture and management review. This difficulty is entirely overcome when a management assessment approach is used. 

Arendt, S., 2009. Evaluate HSE/Process Safety Culture. LAI/MEP Forum, Lake Charles, LA. 

Slovic, P., 1992. Perception of risk reflections on the psychometric paradigm. Soc. Theories Risk 95—108. Soczek, C., 2011. A key factor in hazardous processes safety culture. In 7th Global Congress on Global... 

Sutton, I.S., 2008. Use root cause analysis to understand and improve process safety culture. Process Saf. Progress. 

Managers want to be the best, and safety competition (not based on adjustable injury rates) is one of the key ingredients in safety culture building. Internal honse-keeping scores and audit scores are examples of where competitive spirits may be kindled. In the process, safety culture is being built. 

Sutton, I. S. 2008. Use Root Cause Analysis to Understand and Improve Process Safety Culture. Process Safety Progress,No. 27, No. 4,274-279. doi 10.1002/prs. 10271. 

We are under no illusion that deficiencies in process safety culture, management, or corporate oversight are limited to BP. Odier companies and their stakeholders... 

The execntive summary of the Baker Report [17] (p. xii) defined substantial weak features in BP s process safety culture including ... 

Process Safety Cultures at BP s US refineries - the panel failed to find a common, unifying process safely culture, as each location of the five facihties had a distinct approach to safety culture. (Perhaps this is a result of BP s acquisitions of other refineries.)... 

The fourth and final recommendation for the EPA was to effectively participate in the Tesoro Anacortes refinery process safety culture oversight committee. This includes incorporating the expertise of process safety culture experts into the development of surveys, interpretation, and implementation of corrective actions. 

From today s Process Safety Management perspective, we should say a lack of process safety culture prevailed. We should also say human factors and facility siting issues contributed to this incident. The gas-fired heater was originally adjacent to the process with no separation. The accidental heater fire destroyed adjacent process equipment at several levels of the structure. Detailed discussion on the human factors and the facility siting issues are beyond the scope of the one-minute modification... 

This incident occurred several decades ago and looking back it is now easy to see the lack of a process safety culture and a lack of operating discipline. This incident occurred several decades ago. Today s hot oil systems have been greatly improved with numerous layers of protection to drastically reduce potential failures of heaters. 

Dow Chemical is looking to maximize the learning from the case study both from the reporting unit in which it occurred as well as a teaching moment for related facilities. Their experience is that the reporting of near misses has enhanced their overall process safety culture by discouraging accepting perceived blemishes. 

Process safety culture has been recognized and accepted in recent years... 

What is process safety culture Perhaps - it is the root cause of the decade ... 

The team that developed Process Safety Research for the 2Century expressed the elusive nature of understanding process safety culture in these words. "The safety culture of an organization has a significant impact on its safety performance. Although the level of safety culture of a work community can be subjectively observed immediately after entering that community, an objective measure is difficult to define. Moreover, establishing effective improvement, if needed is not an easy task... [6]. ... 

Steve Arendt of ABS Consulting has developed a wealth of information on process safety culture. He has generously shared that information in books, articles, and presentations. Arendt provided a simple, clear but telling slide (in Lake Charles, LA), which speaks volumes about the definition and impact of process safety culture [8] (see Fig. 16.3). 

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