Development of Process Safety Knowledge for Senior Operations Leadership

The role of process safety management systems in the prevention of major accidents in the process industry is becoming more relevant as we learn from investigations. However, although several industries have made relevant progress on the development of process safety management systems, major accidents still happen. The problem is usually not in the design of the process safety management system, but rather in the implementation, execution and sustainability of the safety system.

Politics, procedures, and practices that are in place to ensure safety in hazardous process industry can be influenced by several factors, in both positive and negative ways. Board room decisions have a direct bearing on process safety outcomes and the Board sets the vision and culture for the whole organization. Many major process safety incident investigations show the decisions that led to the event started at the leadership level, often involving organizational or process changes, budget decisions, pressure for results or cultural changes that makes the organization less aware to weak signals.

Good process safety management does not happen by chance and requires constant active engagement. Leaders are in a unique position to ensure better implementation and performance of process safety management system. They need to understand the risks posed by their organization’s activities, and balance major accident risks alongside the other business threats. To be effective, they have to be actively seeking out information to show what risks are present and how well they are being managed.

Decision making is the core of effective risk management and such decisions can only be made when all the relevant facts are available or where the degree of uncertainty is understood. Evaluation requires careful interpretation by leaders who are sufficiently conversant with process safety management systems and process safety risks to allow for informed decisions.

Clear and positive process safety leadership is at the core of managing a major hazard business and is vital to ensure that risks are effectively managed. There is no doubt that a strong management system is important; however, there is also a need to focus more attention on implementation through leadership. Without the right leadership, the process safety management system is in danger to simply “stay on paper”, with no real value for the organization.

With this understanding, Cargill has designed the a learning experience for Senior Operations Leadership to provide leaders proper knowledge to take better decisions, therefore reducing the likelihood of a process safety event at manufacturing sites. The purpose of the program is to provide guidance for structural and focused learning of essential risk management practices, and to allow the leaders time to discuss and learn about the risks and hazards on their site(s).

The learning process is based around the 12 Elements of Cargill Process Safety model. In this program, learning is accomplished by increasing the awareness/knowledge of all newly-appointed Leaders of the following items in their area of responsibility:

• Process hazards (high consequence scenarios).
• Engineering and administrative controls and their underlying design intent that prevent or mitigate the process hazards.
• Process safety management systems which assure the integrity and availability of the engineering and administrative controls and how to maintain their thoroughness.
• Establishing a Process safety culture for all operations.

The learning process is unique and the curriculum is tailored by the regional process safety experts to meet the specific knowledge and level of understanding that a leader needs to achieve considering one’s scope of work. Along the program, that might take from 03 to 06 months to complete, this knowledge can be delivered through several methods:

1. Required training courses (baseline)
2. Specific training courses for the technology and hazards managed by the leader
3. Self-studying material
4. Dialogues with subject matter experts
5. Dialogues with operations team members
6. Dialogues with peers
7. Periodical coaching by process safety experts

A significant portion of the targeted value of the learning process comes from the creation of dialogue between the leader and the operations team members, and between the leader and the engineers who support the manufacturing unit. These discussions not only transfer knowledge to the leader relative to the subject matter, but they also allow the leader to gain insight into the strengths and capabilities of the team members and support personnel.

At the end of the program, all leaders are submitted to a certification process. This process is an opportunity to demonstrate the acquired knowledge and discuss key risks with experts and peers within Cargill. For new leaders in the organization, until the certification is achieved, the leader does not have, for certain issues, the full approval authority which is delegated to the position by the business.

The individuals appointed to take part on the Certification Board will make the final determination as to whether the leader has acquired and demonstrated sufficient process safety knowledge required for them to make the critical day to day decisions that assure the continued safe operation of the site or business.

This program (and the certification process within it) is an obligatory learning experience for newly appointed manufacturing leaders to be completed before an individual takes on certain responsibilities. Although it has been designed initially for new leaders, it has been broadly applied for existing leaders in LATAM and has been proved valuable on helping to identify gaps in their knowledge, in the existing processes and tools and support their development as Safety leaders.

This program was deployed in LATAM in 2021 and, within one year, has certified more than 25 senior leaders for high hazard facilities in LATAM. With clearer expectation of the programs, tools, processes and their role, those leaders are now able to set the tone expected for the process safety management system performance at their locations and for their teams.

Several other certifications are expected to occur along the following months until all senior leaders have gone through this leaning program.