Page 56 - Serious Incident Prevention How to Achieve and Sustain Accident-Free Operations in Your Plant or Company

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34 Serious Incident Prevention

illustrate this point: The specific chain of events leading to these cata-
strophic incidents had not previously occurred within the company experi-
encing the incident.
The identification of risks that can lead to incidents having serious con-
sequences for the organization is a key element of the serious incident pre-
vention process model.

Element 4: Identify Critical Work
for Controlling the Risks
The key to avoiding risk management by the “fly-crash-fix-fly” cycle is
to proactively identify and execute the critical work required to effectively
control risks. In today’s working environment, it is rare to find an organiza-
tion where people don’t work long and hard, but organizations where peo-
ple focus their work on the most important issues and tasks are a rarity as
well. The serious incident prevention process model includes the identifi-
cation of the critical work that the organization must focus on to success-
fully control major risks.

Element 5: Establish Performance Standards

Once the work critical to incident-free operations is identified, per-
formance standards are required to establish the parameters for satisfacto-
rily executing the work. What must be done, when it will be done, and who
will do it must be clearly established.
Performance standards should be the product of thorough research and
evaluation. Standards not providing guidance in sufficient detail may leave
too much to the discretion of the performer. Such inadequate standards can
result in work performance not meeting the intended objective, while overly
excessive requirements increase costs without a corresponding increase in
safety. Issues often arise within the organization about how frequently in-
spections, audits, hazard reviews, training, and other tasks should be con-
ducted. Determining the optimum frequency for these tasks may create
tension between the organization’s safety objective and other key objectives,
such as cost control and productivity.
The serious incident prevention process model emphasizes the need for
establishing standards that are effective in both the prevention of incidents
and in resource utilization.

Element 6: Maintain Measurement
and Feedback Systems

Identifying the critical work and developing performance expectations
establishes actions critical to achieving safe operations. Unless executed ac-