(56l) Tridimensional Training Matrix to Improve Process Safety Performance and Assure All Organization Involved in PSM Implementation

The element of process safety competence in one of the most important elements of process safety management, because if you have all technical information’s write in procedures and technical instructions but you don`t have a strong definition of process safety requirements for knowledge and culture development, you will not have in front line employees the right behavior and the right attitudes during critical activities.

 This paper outlines how important is to have an efficient Training Matrix in Chemical and Petrochemical companies. To ensure high performance in Process Safety, it is essential to have leaders and other teams highly trained ready to take action and make great decisions. The high level of human performance is an important aspect of any training program. Process Safety goes beyond of compliance with minimum requirements of legal policies. An efficient Process Safety Management (PSM) can assure both high performances in preventing Process Safety Incidents and saving money for the company. In order to have a PSM program as described, companies have to define what their employees need to know to perform their specific roles successfully and how deep they need to go in each subject. In other words, it is important to have a Tridimensional Training Matrix. Skills development should take place in all parts of an organization, but not everyone needs to know everything deeply.

Focusing on continuous improvement in the processes, companies need to define the proficiency level of their employees in different positions and roles, as well as the applicability of knowledge acquired in training in each position/role. It is also important knowing the difference between positions and roles. A role can be performed by different positions, for instance, a Process Engineer (position) could be the Process Safety Focal Point (role). Knowing this is important in order to set the mandatory competences for positons and critical roles in Process Safety and preventing to overwhelm some employees with lots of roles decreasing their productivity. A Tridimensional Training Matrix is composed by positions/roles, trainings/courses and proficiency levels. The combination of these three dimensions leads to an effective and lower cost training program. It is also important to define which trainings in which proficiency levels could be taken on the Online Basis to reduce costs with classroom trainings.

Last but not least, it is also important to define when the training should be taken, if it is a new employee training or a refresh one which needs to be taken in a specific time interval. In conclusion, it is clear that creating a Tridimensional Training Matrix is complex and challenging, but having this tool will improve the performance of the employees and the entire company.