The Process Safety Self-Assessment Questionnaire for Leadership

The oil and gas industries bring vast benefits to our daily lives, but there are also risks involved. Unintentional hazardous materials releases significantly affect corporate operations, resulting in reputational damage as well as business interruption. Top executives need to therefore follow high standards of corporate governance in Health, Safety and Environmental (HSE) management to prevent, control, mitigate, and recover from incidents. The challenge for C-suite executives is to determine whether they are making process safety their highest priority.

Read this newsletter for a self-assessment protocol for measuring leadership Process Safety Management (PSM) performance. The questionnaire addresses five key process safety elements in corporate governance and leadership accountability (1) leadership and culture, (2) risk awareness, (3) information, (4) competence, and (5) action. Each question is designed to be straightforward and focused, with the goal of eliciting a clear ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer.

What is Corporate Governance

Corporate governance is about what the Board of a company does and how it sets the values of the company. Boards of directors are responsible for the governance of their companies. The responsibilities of the board include setting the company’s strategic aims, providing the leadership to put them into effect, supervising the management of the business, and reporting to shareholders on their stewardship.

What is Safety Leadership

Good corporate governance and a strong commitment to safety by leadership is essential for building a sound process safety culture.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and senior leaders need to create an open environment where they act as role models to promote and discuss process safety. They must broadly understand the vulnerabilities and risks and should ensure management systems for analyzing, prioritizing, and managing the risk, including strong Management of Change (MOC). Furthermore, they should ensure that data and Process Safety Information (PSI) drives process safety programs, and assure the competence of their company to manage their operational hazards. Finally, CEOs and senior leaders need to engage in articulating and driving active process safety monitoring.

Leadership & Culture Element

Leadership must prioritize process safety and encourage people to raise concerns. They should be visibly present at their sites, promoting and discussing process safety; and should constantly challenge the organization to find areas of weakness and opportunities for continuous improvement.

Y / N

Do you include process safety on the agenda for all board meetings?

Y / N

Do you and senior leaders actively promote an open culture for communicating process safety issues?

Y / N

Do you and senior leaders visit plants and conduct safety tours, audits, or inspections?

Y / N

Do you and your senior leaders have process safety-related performance objectives in your personal objectives/performance agreements?

Risk Awareness Element

Leadership should understand the importance of process safety throughout the life cycle - design, operation, maintenance, storage, and logistics. They should also be personally involved in assessing the risk of proposed budget reductions for process safety impacts.

Y / N

Do you have arrangements to ensure safety systems are working effectively, and to seek out areas of weakness (e.g. findings from inspections, trend analysis, process safety performance indicators)?

Y / N

When allocating, or reducing, budgets, do senior leaders consider the requirements of the different plants/sites based on age, condition, environment, nature of the hazard, past performance, incidents?

Y / N

Do you have a management of change process to assess changes for process safety impacts arising from modifications, changes to organizational structure, or changes to the local environment?

Y / N

Do you have due diligence processes for the mergers and acquisitions of major hazard installations?

Information Element

Leadership should ensure data drives process safety programs with audit and assessment results, and monitoring of key performance indicators and near misses. Process safety culture and safety management systems should be established and reviewed for continuous improvement.

Y / N

Do senior leaders proactively seek information relating to process safety on site?

Y / N

Are process safety audits based on ensuring procedures deliver an effective control of risk, rather than compliance only?

Y / N

Do you have a full suite of current process safety performance indicators appropriate to the level of risk of your site, including information on the prevalence of deficiencies or dangerous trends which could lead to a major accident?

Y / N

Do you publish information on your process safety performance?

Competence Element

Leadership must ensure the company’s ability to manage operational hazards through competent management, engineering, and staff. Development of process safety expertise should be promoted and resources provided for hazard and risk analyses and scenario planning for potential accidents. Leaders should also be capable of communicating critical aspects of process safety with all audiences.

Y / N

Do you have effective process safety competency requirements for all personnel with process safety impacts, including you and senior leaders?

Y / N

Do you and your senior leaders spend sufficient time in a position to become competent in process safety governance and to see the longer-term outcome of your decisions on process safety performance?

Y / N

Do you consider potential process safety risks when making commercial decisions?

Y / N

Do you consider the imported risk from contractors, suppliers, or customers, particularly when significant parts of the undertaking are contracted out?

Action Element

Leadership should ensure that process safety risk mitigation and emergency plans are developed, maintained, and resourced for all sites. Process safety considerations should be incorporated into major capital investments, planning, and integration of mergers.

Y / N

Do you have a prioritized process safety risk mitigation/improvement plan for every part of the organization?

Y / N

Do you ensure that sufficient resources are available and review progress against the process safety risk mitigation/improvement plan at site and corporate level, and expedite activities when appropriate?

Y / N

Do senior leaders review key audit and assessment findings, and expedite actions when appropriate?

Y / N

Do you and your senior leaders have accountability for the completion of corrective actions identified in significant audits, inspections, investigations, and Management of Change assessments?

In Summary

The insights gathered from this self-assessment will help leaders identify operational discipline issues and process safety leadership needs to transform their company safety.

Safety Moment on Occupational Safety

Process safety incidents have all the potential to be very large and affect many people. Watch this short PStv? Safety Moment to learn what elements should be included in your occupational safety program to protect workers. Occupational safety focuses on accident prevention through work systems aimed at minimizing personal injury risk. As such, safety and health programs are an integral component for any plant to reduce accident and injury risks.

To watch the video, visit our website > https://bit.ly/3ySj39v

Hydrogen Fueling Safety Assessment Case Study

The California Energy Commission was directed to assist in the development of clean alternate transportation fuels. Learn the ioMosaic approach to evaluate the safety of hydrogen production, storage, and supply to ensure potential failures were addressed.

To read the case study, visit our website > https://bit.ly/2ZrklmG

Putting Safety Culture Into Action

In his book, Organizational Culture and Leadership (1985), Dr. Edgar Schein maintains there are three primary layers of culture that “profoundly shape behavior on a day-to-day basis.” Yet in practice, there often is a misalignment between the values and real behaviors. Sound familiar? Read this article by Kristin Robbins for fresh insight into transforming safety from theory to practice and gain from lessons learned.

To read the article, click here > https://bit.ly/4aZFwPi

Latest Career Opportunities

If you’re someone who enjoys learning new things and tackling a variety of challenges daily, we’d love to speak with you. Check out these opportunities at ioMosaic Corporation.

Process Safety Consultant for Relief & Flare Systems

As a Process Safety Consultant for Relief & Flare Systems, you will be providing expertise in various areas of pressure relief and flare systems evaluation and design. You will be responsible for evaluating processes and procedures to ensure compliance with relevant process safety standards and regulations. You will also be responsible for identifying potential hazards and risks and developing practical solutions to reduce them. This opportunity is located on-site in Minneapolis, MN in the US.

To view this opportunity and apply, visit > https://bit.ly/3JvG4RQ

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Senior Process Safety Consultant

As a Senior Process Safety Consultant, you will report to a director and will partner with global clients in the development, implementation, and continuous improvement of their process safety and risk mitigation programs. You will be responsible for evaluating processes and procedures to ensure compliance with relevant process safety standards and regulations. You will also be responsible for identifying potential hazards and risks and developing practical solutions to reduce them.

To view this opportunity and apply, visit > https://bit.ly/3VefeEY

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