(54af) Process Safety Competence; Bridging the Gap

The demands on process safety and risk management professionals are ever increasing. Companies are operating in progressively more harsh and hazardous environments in the pursuit for future resources and, as such, there has been a ‘raising of the bar’ across industry with respect to the expectations of many stakeholders.

The concept of process safety has been around a long time, but a spate of major accidents in the last decade has further emphasized the need for better and wider training and education throughout an organization. Those companies that develop programs delivering competent process safety / risk management professionals are more likely to benefit from better risk-informed decisions than those organisations that do not employ such a program or ‘out-source’ their thinking to third parties.

This paper suggests an approach to process safety and risk management learning which will deliver competent professional within the workplace, including;

• On-the-job training; with practical experience of applying risk management techniques in the real-world.
• Formal assessment competence and qualification.
• Understanding of industry specific issues.