Stop Work Authority

Stop work authority/responsibility Visitor orientation... 

With an event of this magnitude, it is likely that problems with all of the elements of SEMS can be identified. However, the element that has probably received the most attention has to do with the Stop Work Authority, a key part of the SEMS II mle. 

The value of Stop Work Authority is self-evident in an occupational safety situation. For example, if a welder sees a hydrocarbon leak near his worksite then he must stop the job. But in process safety situations the decision to stop work may require more thought and judgment. Three examples can help make this point. 

The manager s point of view was correct (and eventually prevailed)— it was vital that the utilities continue to operate. Had the police chief been able to enforce Stop Work Authority then a bad situation would have been made even worse. The core problem was that the chief did not understand the effect of a total shutdown in the context of process safety management. 

As with Stop Work Authority it is likely that BSEE placed such a strong emphasis on Ultimate Work Authority (UWA) because difficulties in this area were a material cause in the Deepwater Horizon/Macondo catastrophe. 

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