Description

If you are smart enough to run a business or a project, then you are already well informed on commercial and organisational issues...certainly enough to procure studies required for process safety and risk management. Those studies will typically include a list of issues and recommendations to be included in risk logs and action plans for onwards management and this may be seen as enough.

Conversely, some regulators require the company to have suitably qualified and experienced personnel to address issues. Therefore, someone in the client organisation must understand the content of the studies in more detail and assert enough influence to filter the important actions from the trivia, assign timelines and resources and get the work done.

Beyond these considerations, what more can be gained from the investment in the studies? How can we ensure they are representative, with assumptions and limitations understood? Are the same or similar studies being used in other departments? How are the deliverables being used to support decisions and aide operations? Are the studies being used as learning opportunities?

An Informed Client understands enough about both the details and limitations of the studies to be able to use the information to support decisions. It’s not about being the expert, it’s about knowing the difficult questions to ask of the experts, understanding the answers, and using them to make decisions. The technical experts are the ones doing the analysis, but they don’t run your project or organisation. For example, the least useful part of a QRA study is the final values of individual risk, not least as the error bound will be a factor of 3 or greater. Hence, just taking a study and its outcomes at face value delivers little benefit. Therefore, whilst in Kazakhstan I developed and delivered a short training session to key decision makers that explained the assumptions, typical outputs, and ways we could use the results ahead of the analysis; then had the analyst delver the results to informed clients. Subsequently we used the results to allow us to prioritise actions to further reduce risk, control access to higher risk areas, plan locations for future projects and control access and egress during turnarounds.

This talk cannot hope to cover the entire approach to developing an informed client!  However, it will aim to give the overall context and introduce the main concepts.  It will start by defining Process Safety Management, exploring the full scope of the main internationally recognised frameworks (OSHA PSM, CCPS Risk Based Process Safety Management, Energy Institute Process Safety Management Framework), and thereby differentiating process safety from technical risk. Within this it will explore the broader skills that need to be developed, including cross-training/ planned progression. Finally, it will focus on how to build the client-skills needed to define, understand, and manage specialist risk and reliability studies.
For example, in Angola I developed a formal progression plan that outlined anticipated knowledge, skills and experience by position within a PSM department. This enabled individual career and succession plans to be formed and provided clear linkage to formal and on-the job-training opportunities. Key internal training classes were generated (HAZOP preparation, HAZOP Scribe, QRA overview, MOC, AIM) plus external classes identified and approved suppliers selected (CFD, HAZOP Facilitator, LOPA).

 We will meet at 6pm for refreshments prior to the presentation beginning at 6.30pm.

To register for this event please click on 'Book Now' at the top of the page. If you have any queries please contact us using the details at the bottom of the page.