ASSESSING THE SAFETY OF PROCESS OPERATION STAFFING ARRANGEMENTS

摘要

Demonstration is a core requirement of the UK Control of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH) Regulations and duty holders are required to demonstrate the adequacy of their safety arrangements including process operation staffing . The operation of a major hazard site must incorporate adequate safety and reliability (COMAH Schedule 4 3(b)). Process operation staffing and the technical measures available to operators have major impacts on the ability to control upsets, prevent major accidents and minimise disruption to production. A method has recently been developed by Entec on behalf of the Hazardous Installations Directorate (HID) of the Health and Safety Executive who have observed that a number of oil, gas and chemical sites are taking steps to reduce staffing levels in their operating teams. There is a concern that such reductions could impact the ability of a site to control abnormal and emergency conditions and may also have a negative effect on staff performance through an impact on workload, fatigue, etc. Although sites are often doing risk assessments on aspects of their staffing arrangements through task analysis and other existing techniques, problem areas are being overlooked. The aim of the project was to develop a structured assessment method which systematically covered all the relevant issues and would prevent potential problems in process operation staffing arrangements being missed. The method was developed through collaboration with industry and HSE and provides a systematic approach which structures people's thinking about the factors which need to be considered when assessing the safety of process operation staffing arrangements. The method is already being used on several sites in full studies. Some sites are using it to assess current staffing arrangements, some are using it to assess the impact of a planned organisational change.