(57bo)   Twenty FIVE (25) YEARS of Process Safety Management and Still Having Major Incidents   “One Solution” “Key Behavior Indicators & Index”

Why is it that after twenty
five (25) years of the establishment of a good performance standard as
“Process Safety Management” (PSM) the industry still experiencing incidents?

This answer to this
question is as simple or as complicated as we want it to be. The implementation
of Process Safety Management (PSM) standard is simple. It is a performance standard and as such each
facility or company decides how it will be implemented within the definition of
the regulation. The problem resides in the way, on how good is the PSM
performance before a major accident or any incident. The complication comes in
when there is a need to measure how good the implementation of the PSM
requirements is. A lot of facilities or companies might not hold back and say
“we are good”, “we do not have process safety incidents” until reality hits and
there is a catastrophe that affects the life, health, environment and future of
their organization.

In principle
everything is good, if at the end of the year there is not a major incident and
there is not an apparent general public knowledge of a performance that could
lead to a major event. But, how good is
the day to day operation and performance? Is there no incidents because indeed
there is a good performance or there is not an incident because the combination
of elements is not lined-up yet to that critical point that defines an
undesirable event?

That significant day
when a major release, fire, or explosion might come can be prevented from
catching up to our personnel by measuring and modifying performance that is molded within the
organizational structure (refer to PSM organization chart – figure no. 1) and by
the behaviors of the personnel that carry out the procedures set to prevent
incidents.

How are the
performance and the behavior that prevent incidents?

If performance can be
defined as; “accomplishment of a given TASK MEASURED AGAINST PRESET STANDARDS OF ACCURACY,
COMPLETENESS, cost, and speed” (1); How
performance could be measured? If you measure behavior (action or lack of
action against a standard) we measure performance. Therefore, any organization that determines
the completeness of a task measures the behaviors that give the indication of
performance. The organizational performance is up to standard and it is said
that it is good behavior when a task is completed as per established policies, procedure,
and regulatory requirements.

Every company establishes standards, policies and
procedures that are filled with good executable actions with the intention to
guide the culture towards an incident free environment. The question is: Are we
measuring and / or tracking the behaviors to reduce the risk and eliminate
incidents?

The execution of the
procedures is one major factor that needs to be taken in consideration to
measure the organization’s PSM efficiency or success.

If an organization
measures the behavior by means of measuring the degree of proficiency in
executing the established procedures, then that organization measures the
degree of commitment that exist within their personnel, at all levels of the
organization. Then corrective actions can be taken to improve performance and
the environment towards an incident free culture – environment.

In order to define
how efficient PSM program is, there is a need to determine if the established procedures
and practices are being implemented, partially implemented or not implemented
at all. The Key Behavior Indicators will define quantitatively at what level of
application the procedures are.

Taking as a basis
that the purpose of the established procedures are  to sustain an operation with the ultimate goal
of being successful and prevent incidents, the KBI – Index (refer to figure no.
2) will indicate how close the organization is towards 100 % successful goal. 

PSM GOAL

TO BE
EFFECTIVE, EFFICIENT AND MAINTAIN AN INCIDENT FREE ORGANIZATION.

KBI GOAL

MEASURE THE
DEGREE OF PSM EFFICIENCY AND STIMULATE CORRECTIVE ACTIONS TO

REACH AN
INCIDENT FREE ORGANIZATION.

KEY
BEHAVIOR INDICATOR – INDEX PROCESS

The KBIs -Key Behavior
Indicators numerical value will:

A.   
Identify
measure and report the behavior or level of execution of the established procedures.

B.   
Provide
the opportunity to work on the identified items that are not executed as
expected.

C.   
Provide
the opportunity to work on the items that are not up to the standard of
performance defined by the organization.

Each organization and
group within starts with a perfect, 100%, KBI Index, efficiency. Deviations from
proper execution of procedures indentify the areas of concern that each member
of the organization needs address to improve. Some of the parameters that define a good process safety
management system are the proper execution of MOCs, PHAs, safe work practices,
recommendation resolutions, audits, inspections and training among others. The
application of these parameters can be measured and tracked.

If the KBI – INDEX is high it might by an
indication that the parameters selected have been mastered and could be
replaced by new ones that are of concern.

If the “KBI - INDEX” is low the organization
has the opportunity take a closer look and define the behaviors that do not
allow a good performance.

The key behavior indicator parameters are
dynamic, once an indicator is controlled and the organization has maintained
performance it could be maintained in the matrix or replace by another activity
that requires monitoring and or improvement.  Each organization must define the behavior
that are of major concerns that have the potential to lead to a major incident.

The selection of the
parameters (KBIs) must be based on the potential risk that might result in
catastrophic release or incidents. Must keep in mind that normally a
combination of the selected parameters when are not properly executed are
contributing factors that lead into incidents.

The result of the KBI
program is the continuous improvement in efficiency due to a standardized identification,
monitoring and correction of incident precursors.

The following tables
shown as examples provide a way to measure how well is a PSM program.

Figure no. 1

Figure no 2.

PROCESS OPERATIONS
– Key Behavior Indicators –Index