Process safety management demands answers to many questions

When it comes to stepping up to the challenge of process safety management, Steve Skarke, vice president of Kaneka Corp. and adjunct professor at University of Texas, San Antonio, said asking the right questions is the first step.

"When we talk about regulations, are we working with the best practices? Are we doing what we should be doing in the best case [scenario], and are we focused on competency?" Skarke asked during a recent BIC Magazine roundtable discussion. "Is the workforce involved? Are we involved in stakeholder [empowerment], not just with our employees, but in our community as well? Do they understand what is happening? Are we showing them we are competent at managing these processes?"

Skarke emphasized two more questions he believes leaders should ask every day and "every time we're going out to do something."

Those key questions, are "What could go wrong?" and "How bad could it be?"

"What could potentially go wrong out there that could cause things to happen, and what are you going to do about it?" Skarke asked. "Always keep that in the forefront of your mind. We try to be proactive and think about those questions in everything we do. If we can teach not just the engineers, but also the operators and technicians to do that as well, it will go a long way."

According to Skarke, there are three interrelated goals essential to process safety competence. The first goal is the need to continuously improve knowledge and competency.

"We are always learning more and gathering more information. As engineers, we should be working continuously on professional development in competency, not just for our technical and engineering staff, but for everyone in the organization, to make sure we are advancing our knowledge across our industry," Skarke said.

The second goal is to address the need to ensure that appropriate information is available to all who may need it and "not just to the technical professionals or process safety experts," he said.

Third, workers and leaders must consistently apply what they learn, Skarke said.

"In the broad community or in industry, when you see incidents happening, are we learning from that? Are we bringing that information in? Are we updating our standards and procedures? Are we educating the population to make sure everyone can learn from that?" he asked. "We've done a really good job with that as an industry for occupational safety, but I think we have a ways to go when we look at process safety."

Leadership, recognition and the future

"When I think about all of the issues we have and the improvements we need to make in terms of process safety management, it comes down to leadership," Skarke said.

Hector Rivero, president and CEO for the Texas Chemical Council, said he predicts it will be a priority in the near future for industry leaders "looking to hire anyone in engineering to require that person to have some type of core curriculum in process safety."

Skarke noted that the Texas Chemical Council, Center for Chemical Process Safety and LyondellBasell Center for Petrochemical, Energy, and Technology are working closely together to develop new process safety courses to expand the competency within industry.

It is incumbent upon leaders, Skarke said, "to make sure everyone is truly competent, developing the right culture and remaining compliant with standards."

The foundational basics for process safety, HS&E and operating excellence have been the same for years "and will probably continue to be the same for years to come," said John Koegel, plant manager for Arkema.

However, when team members offer ideas about hazards that need to be addressed and near misses that need to be improved upon, it's critically important for leadership to "share what it's doing about it and be visible to the organization," Koegel said.

"That's how you feed the culture that 'your idea was recognized, appreciated and is important to us, and we're actually doing something about it,'" Koegel said, emphasizing the importance of rewarding good behavior. "If that information is never shared with the person who entered the idea, they don't have that feeling of closure and follow-up to their suggestion."