(65c) The Power of Saying No

Leadership is the main determining factor in making process safety management systems effective. Nowadays, there is a wealth of information provided by several, organizations, institutes, and vendors to guide manufacturers in how to manage process safety. People competency will impact how these systems are implemented. Kemya (Aljubail petrochemical company) was one of the first manufacturing units that adopted and implemented a fully integrated management system in the middle east back in the 90s. Kemya had a stealer performance in safety, and its safe operations became its brand in the region. Other sites used to learn and benchmark their safety practices in Kemya. Kemya prides itself that the people are empowered to stop any activity when its not safe. Keeping up this performance is a continuous challenge because other businesses manufacturing units got established in region, and started targeting experienced employees. The turnover rate increased. In 2014, Kemya doubled its size by starting up four rubber units, handling highly hazardous chemicals as part of its operation. Kemya went through its biggest hiring campaign, and the number of employees doubled joining as fresh graduates or experienced professionals with different background and culture.

This challenge required many actions to keep Kemya performance at the top. One of biggest initiative is the elevating the competency of management. No person can get promoted unless they demonstrate that they got the knowledge and the skills to handle the next position. Transitioning from maintenance to operation can be a challenge, so when a person needs to be assigned to new role, they need to be prepared for it as well. All of this is done through establishing a committee that consists of process safety and EHSS professionals. A list of requirements like knowing major hazards, process safety management systems knowledge, emergency response are defined for each position. The candidate get evaluated through the committee in accordance to the defined requirements. Passing this evaluation is mandatory to be in contention for promotion. A special training is rolled for leaders as well. The purpose of the training is to explain to them their rolls as risk managers and decision makers. In addition, process safety performance gets reviewed by a committee led by the company president on a monthly basis. The process safety performance gets reported to the board every quarter.

The efforts are not limited to the line of management. Frontliners and first line supervisors are fully empowered to stop any activity if deemed not safe. Such stories are shared in Kemya with pride get rewarded to promote such behaviors. This is extended to the technical professionals specially process safety engineers. No authority in the whole organization can alter or change the conclusions of a risk assessment or PHA. Naturally, findings and results can be challenged. This is why all PS engineers have went through regress programs to have the ability to support their analysis with numbers. PHA leaders, moreover, need to meet minimum level of experience and credentials. A training matrix in accordance to iChemE competency framework is in place to provide each layers of the organization the knowledge needed for their role. In addition to that, PS campaigns were coordinated for Kemya. Experts internally and externally are invited to speak and raise awareness.

The focus on people ability to lead and their knowledge are critical to know when to say no. Kemya has been successful with its efforts to keep its process safety performance at the top.