Process Safety - The Ultimate Team Sport

If we think about a business, there are many parallels with a sporting team. There is a leader of the business, or the coach. There are department leaders, or the captain. There are personnel across the business with different skills and roles, or the players and trainers. Ultimately there is the company objectives or the scoreboard.

So how is this related at all to process safety? When it comes to process safety in a business, different parts of the organisation have different roles to play. We understand that the striker, goal shooter or forward, to name a few positions, have a very specific tasks on the field. A player skilled in offence may not fare will in defence. That is not to say they cannot learn to play in new positions, but when they are in defence they need to play defence.

We sometimes hear different roles or disciplines claim that process safety is their domain, but given the breadth of impact and influence over a company, it must be a multi-discipline approach. Consider for example the engineering input into designing and operating a processing plant. You may have as series of pumps in interconnected piping. A true multi-discipline approach would include the chemical engineer focused on with the product being pumped, the mechanical engineer focused on with the rotating equipment, the civil engineer focused on with the piping routes and equipment foundations  and the electrical/instrumentation engineer focused on the power supply and control systems. Expanding beyond the engineering disciplines, procurement are involved in sourcing of equipment and spares to meet the safety requirements, as specified by the engineers. Product quality may be focused on that the plant functions as intended and the products do not pose a threat to the facility. Finance may be focused on accounting for product, and for example, if there are losses it could indicate a leaking pipe. Each of these roles have a specific skill set and task, similar to key positions on a sporting team. Like a sporting team it is critical to have everyone working toward the same objective, whether it be winning games or delivering safe production.

So how do we pick the team? Do we want a team of champions or a champion team? When there is a team of champions, they may be more focused on individual goals and the desire to be seen to “win” the game rather than the team focus. A cohesive team who can work together under trying conditions will often triumph over a team of champions. This is especially true when everyone knows their role (knowledge and competence) has the right equipment for their task (engineering and design), understand the play book (systems and procedures), evaluates past performance for key learnings (assurance), have established how the team function best and are prepared for the game (human factors) and are able to pull together for the common goal and support each other (culture). The elements of knowledge and competence, engineering and design systems and procedures, assurance, human factors and culture, all underpinned by leadership are needed to deliver good process safety performance.

So, from a process safety perspective, do you understand who your coach is, who the captain is and who the players are? What does a winning scoreboard look like for your business (hint: it is not only about your KPIs). How are you focusing the team effort on safe production?

Process safety is the ultimate team sport, but it is more than a game, it is our lives.