HANDLING DOWNSIZING IN THE PROCESS INDUSTRIES – EXPERIENCES FROM THE SWEDISH PROCESS INDUSTRIES

摘要

“Downsizing” is a very “hot” topic. Based on an inquiry made in the Swedish process industry one can conclude: 1. “All” companies have carried out "downsizing" recently or are about to do it 2. “Downsizing” is driven almost exclusively by economic reasons 3. Most personnel categories are included 4. The use of risk analyses is weak. Downsizing is a general trend in many areas and is also common in the process industry. The special feature with the process industry is that there is a strong connection to safety aspects. Downsizing can be carried out in many different ways. In its best form it is a well planned, positive, pro-active action, which is used as a tool to accomplish a desired change in an organisation in a long-term and strategic perspective, maybe even to accomplish a deeper change in the direction or the culture of the enterprise. In its poorer form downsizing is a measure used as a re-active action on acute economical problems simply to cut fixed costs and influence the economical result short term (and hopefully also long term). It is obvious that cut-downs in an organisation in most cases will lead to increased strain for the reduced organisation to keep up a sufficient safety level. Normally, the same job tasks should be distributed on fewer persons. The responsibility for each individual increases and the work load and the stress also normally increases. Thus, the cut-down can lead to increased probability for pure mistakes, and it could also lead to an increased tendency to take deliberate short-cuts in order to get the time to perform all work tasks, especially in situations when the main task is to keep the production going without delays, interruptions and disturbances. The cut-down can also easily lead to a general deterioration of the safety culture and the organisation can lose focus on safety. There will be given examples on effects of “downsizing” in some companies in the chemical process industry. Downsizing can be handled in various ways. Proper risk analyses of the change should be carried out. In order to give companies involved in downsizing some assistance in how suitable risk analyses can be conducted, a model has been developed including specific risk analysis methods. This will also be presented. In short it consists of 1.Work load analysis for key categories of personnel, both to check whether the future work load will be reasonable or too high, which could jeopardize the safety of the plant and also damage the health of the individual. 2. Emergency scenario analysis of certain serious disturbances of the production or emergency situations to see whether the available personnel can be expected to cope with the situations. 3. “Potential problem analysis” of the management system for safety, health and environment to check whether this can work well also in the future situation.