(189a) Mitigating Human Performance Factors in Ethylene Units

Are there tasks in an ethylene unit that require a person to perform perfect 100% of the time to avoid a serious process safety consequence? Is it reasonable to expect a human being to never make a mistake?

This engaging presentation will discuss various scenarios when operating or maintaining equipment in an ethylene unit that may be more prone to human error. Learning is required to prevent unacceptable consequences. We must learn from incidents and from everyday work. Leaders must get to know the work for the purpose of creating safeguards. It is the leader’s responsibility to make it easier to succeed and harder to fail. We will share scenarios where it may be too easy for a simple mistake to result in a big incident. We will discuss ideas for potential safeguards and methods for identifying them.

The intent of this presentation is to give ethylene producers a different perspective to take back to their facilities that could bring them a step closer to a truly learning culture.