(85b) Cooking up the Ideal Recipe for PHA Facilitation

As with any recipe, it’s necessary to start with the right ingredients, and this paper will share case studies of attributes of effective PHA facilitators:

• Operational Experience: Operational experience helps the facilitator to draw a distinction in the group discussions between what is realistic and what is not. It is important a facilitator know when they are not the “expert in the room” and when it’s appropriate to ask “stupid questions” to drive the team to focused, beneficial conversations. This is part of leveraging operational experience to bring more flavor to your recipe.
• Conducting a Certain Number of PHAs a Year: It’s beneficial to conduct a minimum amount of PHAs annually to maintain and continually develop their skills.
• Hazard Modeling Experience: Understanding modeling and potential hazard extent helps the facilitator picture the variables that can impact the exposure, like tasting your cooking to know an ingredient is missing.
• Management Experience: Reports and recommendations are reviewed by management and ensuring the text is written in a manner to resonate with its audience, and that practical risk management solutions are identified to impact change is a crucial ingredient.
• PHA Preparation and Organization: Just like a chef cooking a meal, a PHA facilitator needs to make sure they are properly prepared for the PHA. With just one wrong ingredient, like missing process safety information, the study may be delayed or worse.
• Essential Soft Skills: Lastly, the true recipe for success requires PHA facilitators to have several soft skills such as understanding personalities, ability to be patient and engaging, and a general desire to have safe operations.