Buncefield - Process Safety Leadership Group Publishes Final Report

photo : metro.co.uk

The UK Process Safety Leadership Group (PSLG) has published a report that specifies minimum standards of safety and environmental protection for all UK sites storing large volumes of gasoline.

The PSLG was set up following the explosions at fire the Buncefield fuel depot in December 2005.

The PSLG consists of expert representatives from the industry and regulatory bodies. In the course of its work, the group has established a set of 'Principles of Process Safety Leadership' as follows:

• Clear and positive process safety leadership is at the core of managing a major hazard business and is vital to ensure that risks are effectively managed
• Process safety leadership requires board level involvement and competence. For companies with boards located outside the UK then the responsibility to show this leadership rests with the most senior UK managers.
• Good process safety management does not happen by chance and requires constant active engagement
• Board level visibility and promotion of process safety leadership is essential to set a positive safety culture throughout the organisation
• Engagement of the workforce is needed in the promotion and achievement of good process safety management
• Monitoring process safety performance based on both leading and lagging indicators is central to ensuring business risks are being effectively managed
• Publication of process safety performance information provides important public assurance about the management of risks by an organisation
• Sharing best practice across industry sectors, and learning and implementing lessons from relevant incidents in other organisations, are important to maintain the currency of corporate knowledge and competence.

The principles are backed up by recommendations on organisation and resources. This blog's view is that this document is a 'must see' for all managers in the chemical industry, irrespective of location, as it provides an excellent checklist for measuring your organisation's current performance against best practice in process safety management.