Having investigated numerous process incidents over my 30 year career, I have come to some mundane conclusions which I am sure everybody knows...
1. No amount of management systems can prevent an incident unless the top management (leadership) send the correct signals!
2. Process safety is understood by the operations and maintenance departments but not understood by the Human Resources (HR) department!The HR department should play an important role in understanding competencies, skills and training required for Process Safety. But in many organisations, the HR department does not really understand the requirements of process safety. However, in one organization, I did see a very responsive HR department - its head was an ex-operations man!
3. Last, but not the least, Money makes the World go around! Without allocating adequate resources, audit findings, HAZOP reports recommendations, LOPA recommendations, incident investigation recommendations - all of them are meaningless and remain on paper till a catastrophic incident happens.
The BP oil spill has instilled great fear among Oil and Gas companies who fear that the regulations will be tightened very much and they need to spend a lot of resources.
Meanwhile, new management systems keep on coming, companies keep getting certified and accidents continue to occur......
Stay tuned!
PS: I am not a Pessimist!
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