(54cp) Leadership Keeping the Balance to Create a High Performance Process Safety Culture | AIChE

(54cp) Leadership Keeping the Balance to Create a High Performance Process Safety Culture

Authors 

van Driel, C. - Presenter, TÜV SÜD Schweiz AG
Kauer, R., TÜV SÜD Industrie Service GmbH

14th
Global Congress on Process Safety

22nd-26th
April 2018

Orlando World Center
Marriott

Call for Papers

Title:

Leadership keeping the balance to create a high-performance
process safety culture

Authors:

 

Coen van Driel                                    Robert
Kauer                          

 

TÜV SÜD Schweiz AG                          TÜV
SÜD Industrie Service GmbH                   

Mattenstrasse 24                                  Westendstr. 199                                                                      

CH-4002 Basel                                     80686 Munich                                                                         

Switzerland                                          Germany                                                                                

coen.vandriel@tuev-sued.ch                robert.kauer@tuev-sued.de                              

 

Abstract:

In assessing a safety culture there are two
aspects for evaluation which is on the one hand the process safety management
system and on the other hand the human factor. Both elements are mutually
dependent in the realization of a high performance process safety culture.

Why are those elements mutually
dependent?

A good example for illustrating the mutual
dependency is the challenge of climbing the Mont Blanc or any other challenging
mountain. For the safety of the climbers rules and regulations have been
developed and converted into management systems. The guides that lead groups of
climbers to the summit have to follow the rules and regulation. As in the
industry, if something happens with one of the climbers the guide has to go to
court. Despite rigorous systems in place incidents and casualties have to be
accounted for. The culture of climbing the Mont Blanc is changed driven by
money or operational performance of the guides and the perception of the
climbers. This trend cannot be changed by focusing just on the system but also requires
attention to the mindset of the climbers (culture).

 

How to realize the process safety
cultural transformation?

One of the success factors of a process
safety cultural transformation is that people are from the start aware of their
improvement potential in a way that they admit themselves that they can
improve. Something like an “ah” moment. How to get to that moment? Fact based
visualization of the improvement potential together with the people is one of
the methods that support the process from the beginning, looking at the
situation from different perspectives like the technical and management system
and the behavior/culture point of view.

Different tools, from brown paper workshops
about the processes to case studies support the process in realizing the
visualization of mutually understanding the gaps in the system and the
individual usage of the system by those people involved indicate the process
safety culture within a company.

To understand the culture, it is definitely
necessary to get an understanding of the attitudes, values and beliefs of the
people in the organization from leadership to the shop floor. This information
can be gathered by standard methods such as questionnaires but also with advanced
tools like Katalyst anonymous online workshops in which the approach unveils
the attitudes, values and beliefs behind the façade people tend to show.

All the perspectives at the end give a
realistic picture of the current safety culture by visualizing the blind spots
and creating an environment in which it is safe to become conscious incompetent
(the “AH” moment) as an organization and person.

Then in cooperation with leadership in the
organization developing a transformation roadmap to realize the vision or in
other words the picture of the future. It is a roadmap which is owned by the
people and leadership in the organization because they have developed it themselves
only facilitated by the consultants.

Specific Execution Method for safety
culture transformation

To achieve high
performance process safety culture, a comprehensive method for diagnosing safety
culture is necessary. First, we
have to conduct a survey and in-depth interview of managers and employees,
including the management team to diagnose the safety awareness of the
organization. The survey items consist of management's safety commitment,
regulations and procedures, safety atmosphere, etc. The safety awareness level
of the members can be measured on a Likert 5 point scale. Second, we also have
to conduct site audits, interviews, and identify the company's PDCA operation
of Occupational Safety and Health Management System to diagnose the safety
management system. After completing such procedures, we can diagnose the
problem and provide the solution. Finally, in order to diagnose the safety
behaviors, we have to develop critical behavior checklist through identifying
accident history, near miss reporting, safety manuals, etc. Behavior
observation can be implemented by consultants and supervisors with the
checklist. After the observation, the manager should provide the workers with
feedback many times during the intervention session. On the basis of the
observations, consultants or supervisors should analyze the safety behavior
change between baseline and intervention sessions.

What is the role of leadership in
realizing a high performance process safety culture?

The key role for leadership is to
understand that the road to success is to keep the balance between a system
driven and human driven performance improvement to realize the results.
Leadership adapts to facilitative leadership competencies, like results focus,
managing the boundaries, motivational learning, challenging, etc., that enables
them to realize the results.

People have the feeling and motivation that
they can improve and they are in the starting position to take the steps for improvement.

Leadership use the assessment to create a
clear picture of what Process Safety Excellence mean for the company = creating
the beacon for making the transformation plan/ roadmap.

 

The result

What is a high performance process safety
culture?

A high performance process safety culture
in which people are actively aware of where they are related to best practices
and where there is a continuous challenge of the current procedures and
behaviors by trying to identify blind spots. This committed culture has risk
thinking at its core.

Fig. 1  
System and human related elements. Both are mutually dependent. If one fails,
the other might not be able to compensate. Leadership has to ensure the right
balance.