(32bu) How Do You Use Storytelling to Reinforce Process Safety Culture?

Enhancing process safety culture in an industrial environment is essential for minimizing risk of operations and ensuring the safety. This study outlines key issues for improving the prosess safety culture through storytelling method during the implemantations are conducting like trainings, surveys, coaching interviews, safety audits or process hazard analysis etc.

Storytelling is a powerful technique not only for communication but also for process safety implementations. Once techniques are followed correctly storytelling can be used in safety meetings, toolbox talks, safety observations even in internal audits. For example, by sharing real-life incidents, near misses, process upsets or trouble-shootings creates an impactful learning environment and interactive discussion. Because researchs in adult learning has shown that experience plays important role in learning due to experimential knowledge helps adults relate new concepts to existing situations and their integrations to new implementations. For example during a training, coaching session or a incident investigation, sharing real process safety challenges from your own experiences and support participants share their ones, comes out reflective thinking in a study. It supports evaluating awereness or new ideas from their challenges.

When using the storytelling methodology a process flow should be planned. A key issue is developing questions in a learning environment and engaging participants. After or just before sharing own experince by asking open-ended questions make colleagues think deeper and better understanding about the story. After that, following steps can be applied such as encouraging participants to share their own experiences and overthink about root causes. It is crucial to highlight positive safety behaviors in all stories. It is necessary to keep asking open-ended questions until having an opportunity to demonstrate positive behaviour. This method reinforce behaviour based safety observations in site activities. Also during a process hazard analysis asking what-if questions expands participants critical thinking approch supports more credible scenario expansion and assesing all related risk.

By following integrating storytelling techniques, reflective questioning and fostering positive safety behaviours, success of every element of process safety management system is reinforced, barriers can be broken down between different teams so that process safety culture would be more visible on the field.