Are You Tired of Playing "Whack a Mole" with Your Process Safety Management Program Results - If So, It's Time for a Change

Recurring or chronic performance problems over time within any process safety management system at a site or within a corporate structure can introduce additional unintended risks, generate internal and external compliance issues, and impede continuous improvement. Ineffective management of changes to technology, facilities, people, internal procedures, and organizational structures all contribute to potential process safety performance issues.

This paper will review and briefly summarize several unique process safety incidents which were attributed to inadequate management of change implementation.

Additionally, all the elements of a process safety system, including MOC procedures, may be in place, but without knowledgeable people to apply them, the likelihood of achieving and maintaining process safety excellence is greatly diminished. While not always obvious, many process safety performance issues can be traced back to a central aspect of a management of change program – effective control of personnel changes throughout the manufacturing organization and across many key roles that impact process safety. This includes personnel transfers, retirements, re-assignments, and other related people changes that must be anticipated and managed. A detailed discussion on the key elements of a “management of change – personnel” process is described, including practical tools and solutions that can assist organizations to maintain and strengthen this element of PSM.