2.0 Leading & Managing Process Safety

Question 1

How would you define Process Safety (PS) ?

Answer 1

Keeping hazardous material & energy contained, to prevent catastrophic fires, explosions & toxic releases

Question 2

How would you define a Process Safety Management System (PSMS)

Answer 2

The complete set of standards, analyses, tasks & oversight activities to contain hazardous materials augmented by those to minimise potential consequences if containment is lost

Question 3

Is Process Safety related to injury rates?

Answer 3

No, good personal safety does not imply good process safety cf Macondo incident

Question 4

What are the likely consequences of a significant process safety event?

Answer 4

Likely consequences include: multiple fatalities, property damage, lost production, loss of shareholder value & environmental harm

Question 5

Why are process safety regulations performance based?

Answer 5

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

Question 6

What is the difference between Leading & Lagging PS KPI?

Answer 6

Lagging metrics are retrospective based on previous incidents meeting specific thresholds whilst Leading metrics are predictive looking at people, processes & plant.

Question 7

How many tiers of Process Safety are in common usage?

Answer 7

Four; Tier 1 PSE, Tier 2 PSE, Near Miss PSE & Insufficient Operating Discipline

Question 8

What are the 4 Pillars of Process Safety

Answer 8

The 4P’s of the CCPS PSMS are Commit, Understand , Manage & Learn

Question 9

How many elements are there in the CCPS PSMS

Answer 9

20 (4,2,10,4)

Question 10

What are the three questions to assess PS risk?

Answer 10

What can go wrong, How bad can it be & How often can it happen?

Question 11

Can you give a general definition of risk?

Answer 11

Functional [Consequence, Frequency, Operational Discipline]

Question 12

What are the 4 principles of Inherently Safer Design?

Answer 12

Minimization, Substitution, Moderation, and Simplification

Question 13

Are barriers, safeguards & risk-reduction measures synonymous?

Answer 13

No; barriers, & risk-reduction measures generally mean the same (and require maintaining) whilst safeguards are not generally formally evaluated.

Question 14

What is the Swiss Cheese model

Answer 14

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.

Question 15

Who is responsible for process risk management?

Answer 15

It is the direct responsibility of line and business management and are important measures of managerial performance.

Question 16

What are process safety incidents indicative of?

Answer 16

They reflect the efficacy and clearly indicate failures of a Company’s PSMS, and demands immediate intervention

Question 17

What is the difference between active & latent human failures?

Answer 17

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,

Question 18

What should be the reaction to a process safety incident?

Answer 18

An investigation process (another PSMS element), such as a Root Cause analysis (RCA) should be initiated, and teh MS failure identified.

Question 19

What are the key elements of a RCA?

Answer 19

Identify causes, identify the root cause of the MS failure, involve the functional owner, establish corrective actions including the functional owner

Question 20

Why is it critical to identify the management system failure rather than just the particular barrier ?

Answer 20

A barrier may only represent one element whereas the MS may cover many hundreds; fixing one barrier may still leave many exposed

Question 21

What is a HP PSNM?

Answer 21

A HP PSNM is a PSNM that could have resulted in severe consequences if teh circumstances had been slightly different

Question 22

What 4 actions should Leadership take in the case of a HP PSNM

Answer 22

Report, Formal RCA, Distribute through organisation & positive recognition of reporting Facility

Question 23

How do you build corporate memory & retention? p28

Answer 23

Videos, specific Golden Rules & incorporate in policies & procedures

Question 24

How would you define personal PS Leadership accountability?

Answer 24

By adhering to the technical & ethical standards of PS; leaders must be professional in implementing, operating, maintaining and verifying the PSMS

Question 25

What defines a professional PS leader?

Answer 25

Commit, Understand, Manage & Learn -the 20 elements of PSMS

Question 26

What would be example responsibilities for an Asset Manager

Answer 26

Manage: -Review a facility’s risk reduction plan to ensure it meets Corporate criteria ;
Lead : Ensure sufficient resources a facility’s risk reduction plan;
Escalate: Inform CEO if a facility is not meeting Corporate criteria & develop action plan

Question 27

How would you define PS Culture?

Answer 27

The common set of values, behaviours & norms at all levels in the organisation that affects process safety

Question 28

What PS impacts should Leaders consider during booms or down turns?

Answer 28

Consider personnel cuts, ITPM, Training, PHA, Automation, ISD & distractions during downturns & resources, competency & MOC during upturns.

Question 29

Is compliance with regulations and standards sufficient to ensure leading PS performance

Answer 29

No - the regulations are goal-seeking & the hazard may not be regulated or the regulations incomplete & Regulators are not omniscient. The barriers that IE put in place must be managed, compliance needs to be operational not paper- based.

Question 30

Are management systems sufficient to ensure leading PS performance?

Answer 30

PSMS are helpful frameworks but may be incomplete - to ensure more than paper compliance, audits should be conducted by independent experts.