Since the era of industrial evolution , we have suffered several high profile incidents as a price that we have paid for bringing this revolution. But nobody said that revolutions have to be at the cost of human lives. What good is the success of such cult defining transformations if we are losing precious human lives.
All through these stories of precious lives lost and sufferings to the next of kin we have seen Safety evolving from reactive response to high levels of maturity in terms of weaving science and technology into it. The Chernoblys, Three Mile Islands and the Mexico City disasters have given rise to more sophisticated quantitative techniques in predicting what is going to happen for corrections to applied early on .Hence the advent of risk based process Safety.
But have we learnt much from these costly lessons. Yes some industries have. For example the Arline and the Nuclear industry. Highly mature processes , systems ,checks and balances have ensured that risks are sensed very early and addressed comprehensively . Yet the rest of the industries such as Power, Steel , Chemical and Pharma are yet to reach there. Essentially more impacting than the scientific applications to safety , is the aspect of culture adoption. Culture is what sets the airline and nuclear industry apart form the rest.
Hence the combination of culture and scientific applicability is the key to ensuring that we achieve Zero status in Safety , The Zero referring to injuries and losses. Pharma is still far behind. Recent incidents in chemical plants like explosions and gas leaks leading to several lives lost is a glaring example. Even USFDA may well be not so incisive when it comes to Safety ,as part of the approval audit rigmarole. If Safety is the only way to carry out a process correctly the entire audit should be focused on the culture of Safety in that Pharma organisation.
Risk based approaches has been widely applied to a great degree of success and it entails the following:
a) Train and make people practice identification of hazards and evaluating the risks. Every activity should be passed through the filters of hazard identification and risk assessment. Risk aptitude and Risk sensory culture is very important among people.
b) Quantitative measures to assess degree of risks should be exploited. All risks can’t be addressed simultaneously hence a risk prioritisation is essential
c) Most importantly organisational risks should top the agenda. Typically when it comes to process safety it is seen more operational and relegated to the rank and file
d) Organisational risks force organisation and top leadership to think and engage in process Safety
e) Organizational risks also builds environment for teamwork, adaption ,innovation and strong improvement orientation through robust frameworks at organisational level.
f) It builds a sense of purpose for the organisation and fosters shared values and thus builds strong culture.
Combination of the building blocks for building leadership commitment , culture of risk sensitivity and quantitative techniques such as Bow – tie analysis , LOPA, PFD and SIFs etc are the perfect tools and techniques to germinate a strong framework . Leadership and culture should trump all.
Emprocon Consultants LLP 