Processing, December 2018

DECEMBER 2018 www processingmagazine com 31 A process safety lagging indicator used in the energy industry is hydrocarbon leak quanti cation which measures leak quantity incident severity cause and consequence It considers criteria that would make the incident more severe and adds these up in a weighted fashion to get a severity score for that incident ese include the actual and potential consequences of the incident the hazardous nature of the chemicals involved and whether protective controls failed Steam utilities recorded two incidents of oil spillage and re with minor and moderate incident classi cations while the ammonia plant experienced three minor incidents due to ammonia and natural gas releases Assessing leadership behaviors An independent organization conducted a team leadership survey that assessed leadership blind spots and their contribution toward human factors concerns and safety culture maturity Leadership behaviors that hindered process safety maturity included unwillingness to accept accountability employee blame fear and lack of trust The case study identi ed high level human factors risks among the additional resources required to update operating procedures competence of critical staff and ine ective safety communication that have created process safety incidents e study contained four process safety maturity models based on commitment toward continuous improvement incident reporting e ectiveness and examining interdependent team leadership behaviors through process safety balance scorecard metrics Process safety maturity levels in decreasing order were gas toliquid ammonia effluent and disposal and steam utilities plants Lessons learned The human factors interviews identified high level risks regarding safety critical equipment labeling critical operations and competence using standard operating procedures and the need for organizational learning and communication of incidents e human factors perception survey supports the ndings of the key risks related to maintenance management of critical equipment using procedures and workload planning Dedicated resources required for compiling SOPs and employee on the job training as additional layers of protection should not be compromised Process safety leadership is required for frequent reporting of lowseverity hydrocarbon leaks Absence of positive societal leadership behaviors driven by organizational self esteem suggest resistance against external stakeholders process safety decisionmaking e g team work with contractors acceptance of external process safety auditor ndings and addressing regulatory compliance An internal customer delivery mindset discourages active external stakeholder engagement thus suggesting need for changes to organizational values A customized human factors checklist and survey identified high and medium risks for process safety related to maintenance integrity critical equipment labeling critical operations using procedures and incident reporting ese risks can be minimized by using mitigating and corrective control measures Some of the critical success factors that can accelerate process safety maturity are organizational learning and continuous improvement supported by interdependent team leadership behaviors Each plant had a common set of potential limiting factors related to blame fear silo mentality excessive management control image concerns and discrimination all of which undermine leadership development and safety maturity Recommendations for fast tracking process safety maturity in this plant and others like it include conducting ergonomic studies for handling equipment and managing maintenance priorities on critical equipment Regular employee testing on operating procedures for critical operations should be required in addition to ensuring that actions for all plants are identified and implemented whenever hydrocarbon leaks occur Niresh Behari is a process safety engineer in the petrochemical and explosives sectors For more than 20 years he has developed implemented and managed safety management systems for Fortune 500 companies for compliance with OSHAs Process Safety Management Standard and the EPAs Risk Management Plan Rule For more information email nireshbehari@ yahoo com Visit processingmagazine com for more on process safety MORE ONLINE