Page 52 - Serious Incident Prevention How to Achieve and Sustain Accident-Free Operations in Your Plant or Company

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30 Serious Incident Prevention

While companies often cite their favorable OSHA injury statistics as
evidence that the entire safety process is being well managed, a closer
analysis indicates this approach can lead to a false sense of well-being. In
reality, there is often limited correlation between an organization’s injury
frequency and the fitness of the safety process that is in place for managing
other responsibilities such as process safety and regulatory compliance.
While there is some overlap, many differences exist in the work required for
an organization’s success in each of its important safety performance areas,
as illustrated by Figure 3-1. Certainly, the fact that an organization is doing
a good job in eliminating slips, trips, and falls does not necessarily mean
that the organization’s process for eliminating the potential for hazardous
material releases is effective. These are separate processes, each with its
own set of critical work that must be diligently executed for success.
In addition to achieving breakthrough reductions in workplace injuries
through behavioral-safety initiatives, performance management techniques
have also proven effective in achieving major improvements in other areas
of safety. For example, implementation of these techniques has led to major
reductions in accidental releases of chemicals, hazardous material trans-
portation incidents, and regulatory agency violations. Through actions such
as measurement of upstream performance indicators, performance feed-
back, and positive reinforcement, workplace safety in all critical areas has
been greatly improved.

Regulatory Compliance
Regulatory Compliance

Injury Prevention Process Safety

Tasks for Meeting other Safety Objectives
Tasks for Meeting Other Safety Objectives

FIGURE 3-1. Universe of tasks required to fully achieve safety performance
expectations.