How to Carry out Qualitative Human Reliability Assessments in Process Analyses

High profile incidents in the process industries such as Texas City in the US, Longford in Australia and Buncefield in the UK, have emphasised the importance of the proactive management of the risks arising from human error. The application of a systematic, risk-based approach ensures that valuable resources are directed at the most safety critical tasks on a site. In the UK oil and gas sector, regulatory requirements mandate that sites with large inventories of hazardous substances should use qualitative assessment techniques to identify potential human factors issues? identifying what can go wrong and putting remedial measures in place. In addition to safety improvements, evidence has shown measurable benefits in production and profitability as a result of applying these techniques. Human Reliability Associates has considerable experience of undertaking assessments of this type, including projects with major multinational corporations. In this workshop we will offer practical advice based on our experience in helping clients to identify where plants are vulnerable to human error and to develop a risk management program. This workshop will: ? Discuss how human errors arise in tasks such as maintenance, production and process upset management and how these risks can be reduced ? Show how analysis effort can be targeted at the most relevant tasks for the control of Major Accident Hazards ? Demonstrate how these analyses can be undertaken by means of interactive workshops ? Discuss how planning can ensure a site gets the maximum benefit from this type of work ? Discuss how this work can be integrated with existing safety reports Case studies will be provided illustrating the use of both manual and computer based methods to perform human factors analyses. The presenter, Dr D.Embrey, is the CEO of Human Reliability Associates (www.humanreliability.com), with 30 years of experience in the oil and gas sector. He has worked on projects in the US nuclear power industry, as well as for multinationals such as Shell, BP, Exxon, Huntsman, and ConocoPhillips. He has also been an expert witness at a number of public enquiries into major accidents. He has provided human factors training courses in many countries including China, South and North America, the Middle East and the European Union. He is the principal author of the CCPS book: Guidelines for Reducing Human Error in Process Safety