Process Safety Management Mentoring: Developing Leaders

The first pillar of Risk Based Process Safety Management is "Commitment to Process Safety."  A formalized mentoring system can insure workforce involvement, compliance with company and regulatory requirements, increase the competency of personnel and enhance the process safety culture of the entire organization.  Within this element there are several essential features that lead to a more effective process safety culture. 

Providing strong leadership is critical for any organization that strives to manage the risk associated with the activities associated with process safety.  Leadership is a skill that is not necessarily intuitive to managers and mentors.  Leadership is a skill that can be learned.  We will specifically look at the roles, skills, and signature styles required to lead effective teams.

Another essential feature for an effective culture is to defer to expertise.  This paper will describe how a proven model of leadership development can provide the tools needed for leaders/mentors in the oil, gas, chemical and allied industries to prepare the next generation of process safety professionals to be effective.  This model has been successful in creating functional teams that work across traditional departmental lines and outside of a strict hierarchical structure. 

An effective process safety culture requires leadership throughout the organization.  Our industry will benefit from deferring to expertise from outside the traditional business environment.