(49r) Risk Barriers: How to Ensure That They Remain Effective

It is undeniable that over the last 20 years the focus on process safety and the prevention of major incidents has increased considerably. Not only due to legislative requirements (such as OSHA standards in the US and successive Seveso Directives in Europe) but also because of the devastating effects that a serious incident can entail, not only in terms of loss of lives and financial damage, but also, increasingly, for the negative impact on reputation and staff morale. As a result, in many companies that operate high hazard processes, management of process safety has become increasingly important.

Yet catastrophic incidents continue to occur at an alarming rate. Companies interrogate themselves on what more can be done to improve their process safety performance and further minimize the potential of major incidents.

There are several potential reasons for this less than satisfactory incident trend. Based on our experience the following factors often play an important role:

• Failure to identify all hazards associated with a certain plant or activity, for example during the PHA (Process Hazard Analysis), resulting in the selection of incomplete or ineffective barriers
• Incomplete or ineffective communication to front line staff on major risks and relevant barriers in the areas where they operate
• Degradation of the integrity of the risk barriers over time

Drawing on our experience of working with a number of leading operators, the paper describes practical ways of making the hazard identification process more robust and ensuring that the integrity and effectiveness of risk barriers is maintained over the life of the assets.