2.0 Leading & Managing Process Safety Flashcards
How would you define Process Safety (PS) ?
Keeping hazardous material & energy contained, to prevent catastrophic fires, explosions & toxic releases
How would you define a Process Safety Management System (PSMS)
The complete set of standards, analyses, tasks & oversight activities to contain hazardous materials augmented by those to minimise potential consequences if containment is lost
Is Process Safety related to injury rates?
No, good personal safety does not imply good process safety cf Macondo incident
What are the likely consequences of a significant process safety event?
Likely consequences include: multiple fatalities, property damage, lost production, loss of shareholder value & environmental harm
Why are process safety regulations performance based?
Due to the fact that PS events are low frequency, high consequence and company specific, the onus is placed on the company to implement an effective PSMS rather then just following regulations
What is the difference between Leading & Lagging PS KPI?
Lagging metrics are retrospective based on previous incidents meeting specific thresholds whilst Leading metrics are predictive looking at people, processes & plant.
How many tiers of Process Safety are in common usage?
Four; Tier 1 PSE, Tier 2 PSE, Near Miss PSE & Insufficient Operating Discipline
What are the 4 Pillars of Process Safety
The 4P’s of the CCPS PSMS are Commit, Understand , Manage & Learn
How many elements are there in the CCPS PSMS
20 (4,2,10,4)
What are the three questions to assess PS risk?
What can go wrong, How bad can it be & How often can it happen?
Can you give a general definition of risk?
Functional [Consequence, Frequency, Operational Discipline]
What are the 4 principles of Inherently Safer Design?
Minimization, Substitution, Moderation, and Simplification
Are barriers, safeguards & risk-reduction measures synonymous?
No; barriers, & risk-reduction measures generally mean the same (and require maintaining) whilst safeguards are not generally formally evaluated.
What is the Swiss Cheese model
The Swiss Cheese Model by James Reason illustrates how multiple layers of defence (barriers - physical, engineered or people) can prevent accidents, with each layer’s “holes” representing potential points of failure.
Who is responsible for process risk management?
It is the direct responsibility of line and business management and are important measures of managerial performance.
What are process safety incidents indicative of?
They reflect the efficacy and clearly indicate failures of a Company’s PSMS, and demands immediate intervention
What is the difference between active & latent human failures?
Active failures have an immediate consequence & are usually errors by the frontline whilst Latent failures are made by people whose tasks are removed from operational activities,
What should be the reaction to a process safety incident?
An investigation process (another PSMS element), such as a Root Cause analysis (RCA) should be initiated, and teh MS failure identified.
What are the key elements of a RCA?
Identify causes, identify the root cause of the MS failure, involve the functional owner, establish corrective actions including the functional owner
Why is it critical to identify the management system failure rather than just the particular barrier ?
A barrier may only represent one element whereas the MS may cover many hundreds; fixing one barrier may still leave many exposed
What is a HP PSNM?
A HP PSNM is a PSNM that could have resulted in severe consequences if teh circumstances had been slightly different
What 4 actions should Leadership take in the case of a HP PSNM
Report, Formal RCA, Distribute through organisation & positive recognition of reporting Facility
How do you build corporate memory & retention? p28
Videos, specific Golden Rules & incorporate in policies & procedures
How would you define personal PS Leadership accountability?
By adhering to the technical & ethical standards of PS; leaders must be professional in implementing, operating, maintaining and verifying the PSMS
