Risky business
29 Jan 2014
Maintaining safety standards as they evolve is an ongoing challenge in hazardous environments, reports Louisa Hearn.
When safety falls off the top of the corporate agenda in hazardous work environments, the results can be catastrophic.
So has UK industry digested the most important lessons from incidents such as the Buncefield oil storage terminal explosion in 2005?
Judith Hackitt, president of the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE), fears it has not. “We are not yet at the point where process safety is part of the DNA of running a major hazards business,” she said in a recent speech.
The culture supporting process safety must begin in the boardroom, says Hackitt, but for process safety professionals, she also has this message: “Be clear that your role is to create unease, not to provide false reassurance. It is essential that we all focus on this need for a culture of constant unease… which replaces complacency.”
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