Practical examples are presented that demonstrate how integrating technical risk practices and human factors methods in a sensible, pragmatic way can transform the activities associated with the development and implementation of safety cases into a powerful means to engage the workforce in important aspects of Major Accident Management. The requirement for safety cases has characterized the UK Legislative approach to the management of major accident hazards. In reality their development and implementation can become a staid, burdensome ‘hoop’ through which organizations must jump in order to satisfy regulatory requirements, the product of which is a safety case document that only means something to its ‘expert’ authors and that has little impact on the people who operate and manage major hazard organizations. Major accidents have shown that lack of major hazard awareness can be a major contributor to incidents. The process of developing and implementing a safety case provides significant opportunity for major hazard organizations to address some key features of a process safety culture. Methods are presented in this paper that demonstrate how the development and implementation of safety cases can provide an opportunity for businesses to engage a wider ‘audience’ in key aspects of effective Process Safety Management using ,for example, bowties to provide a unifying theme throughout the safety case and supporting implementation. An example is provided where the safety case has been used as a means by which to train and engage personnel in gaining a deeper understanding of their role in the practicalities of Process Safety Management.
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