This paper focuses on an area of PSM which is somewhat overlooked. The area we call Work Execution (WE) and that encompasses all aspects of planning, executing and managing work on hazardous plants. It is an area which is critical to safe operations since, second only to road traffic accidents, failures in WE account for the most number of fatalities and serious incidents on hazardous plants. PSM has a focus on safe process plant design and operation where multiple layers of protection are installed to minimize the risk of containment loss and to mitigate the consequences loss of containment occur. In WE many of these barriers are systematically removed for good reasons and additional hazards brought onto the plant raising the level of operational risk. The paper introduces the concept of cumulative risk where multiple work task and other risk factors are being managed individually but the cumulative effect of the residual risk is unknown. Currently most WE is managed using paper forms in triplicate and as a result, little to no data in this space is generated to allow us to properly analyze and manage such risks. New web based solutions have been replacing these legacy systems which thus far have delivered greater rigor on the process and improved efficiency. The next generation of these tools has the ability to measure operational risk in ways we have not seen before. These generate data which can not only be used as lagging indicators of risk performance but can also be used in predictive mode to provide risk data on near term work plans. Using such data, not only improves governance but the ability will be there for front line supervision to optimize work plans on the basis of risk as well as for expediency and resource efficiency. These solutions are designed not just for local site management but will be deployed at an enterprise level covering many assets and individual sites and providing much greater insight and oversight of risk management across an organization.
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