Engaging Senior Management In Process Safety: A Case History

Traditional PowerPoint style presentations are good for transferring information but were not found to be an effective medium for engaging senior managers in process safety.  Slide shows, videos and case studies of real process safety events proved to be much more effective. This paper describes how these methods were used to draw senior managers into actual process safety events, helping them to realize that the consequences could easily have been much worse and that the events were not “Acts of God” but could have been prevented through more effective and rigorous process safety management. Guidance is provided concerning how to create an effective video or case study and then deliver it in a way that achieves the results desired.

Good process safety management will improve plant reliability as well as safety.  The paper shows how the root and contributing causes of reliability events can typically be traced to ineffective implementation of the same management system elements that are required for safe operations.  The financial impact of improved reliability through the more disciplined approach to operations achieved by applying the elements of process safety management can then be readily demonstrated.

Finally, auditing is an element of every process safety management system but audit findings are often numerous and range from recommendations for improving a generally compliant work process to identifying serious non-compliances that need urgent attention. The paper describes how the results of audits can be processed to identify systemic issues and significant risks needing senior management attention.