Process safety and metrics - don't get lulled into a false sense of security!

There has been a lot of discussion on how to make process safety management work and new initiatives like risk based PSM and others have been suggested. These include metrics for tracking of process safety performance. The old adage " what cannot be measured cannot be managed" is true for process safety, too. However, I observe a stark difference between metrics for measuring PSM performance and UNDERSTANDING that measurement. In many of today's chemical companies, the board of directors often do not have a person competent to analyze the PSM metric that is being displayed. With the net result that the number being displayed is just that - a number. For example, if a metric that is being displayed to the board is the pending items from a process safety audit, the actual number may be less but its severity may be very high. What is the solution? There is only one answer - the board of directors of chemical manufacturing companies should ensure that there is someone competent to analyse the PSM metrics for them.