In the Times of India April 28,2010, an article mentions that powerpoint is the US military's new enemy - A general is reported to have said "When we understand that slide (seen above), we would have won the war"! The same general has said that "Its dangerous because it can create the illusion of understanding and the illusion of control". Now what does this have to do with process safety? It is the same as the complicated powerpoint! Just because you perform a complex PHA, SIL study or conduct a management of change study does not mean everything is in control. I have seen many incidents occur even though such studies were conducted. Be practical while conducting these studies and do not go overboard!
Many organizations conduct safety studies to meet the regulatory / ISO / OHSAS requirement and the reports so generated will remain only in book racks behind the CMD or CE. Nobody refers them or updates them when changes are proposed / implemented at the field. If some incident occurs and investigator / auditor / any enthusiastic new engineer requests for reports, people say proudly that they have conducted safety studies and use jargons like HIRA, JHA, PSA, etc, sometimes not knowing what it is. If those reports are verified, they must be corresponding to the systems that were provided during plant erection (can we say Version 1.0).
ReplyDeleteHence, apart from studies, regular updating and most importantly implementing and maintaining the recommendations / conclusions arrived from these studies is required.