(107b) Walk the Talk

Almost every leader in industry will claim an unwavering commitment to safety. Many reward performance and sometimes punish or chastise negative safety trends. This type of behavior does not necessarily inspire confidence in an organization. A strong indicator of an established process safety culture is seen in leaders that understand the difference between safety and process safety. Moreover, leaders that inspire the hearts and minds of an organization not only understand the risks of the process, but consistently apply resources to manage risk. These leaders walk the talk.

An indicator of the risk management culture is seen in how recommendations from audits, investigations, and process hazard analysis are resolved. Failure to resolve recommendations timely can lead to apathy and normalization of deviation. However, a consistent application of a risk based approach for temporary and permanent mitigation along with open communications with the organization can both inspire employees and prevent process safety incidents.

This paper documents historical process safety incidents that could have been prevented had the risk of recommendations been properly identified and managed timely. It suggests Tier 4 management system indicators that can be used to reliability predict process safety culture, reduce the potential of high severity low frequency process safety events, and win the hearts and minds of employees who know with certainty that the company will do the right thing.