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How to deal with hazards in process operations more effectively
19/3/2025
10 min read
Feature
Despite the widespread use of risk assessments and hazard identification, accidents continue to occur in the energy industry and elsewhere. Perhaps more attention should be given to human factors in process safety, and particularly the conditions that raise the likelihood of errors. The co-author of new Energy Institute guidelines on the subject, Dr Marcin Nazaruk, founder and CEO of Psychology Applied, explains.
A very unfortunate workplace incident occurred a couple of years ago. Two technicians were planning to do some repair and maintenance on a valve in a process plant. A risk assessment was in place. However, on the day they approached the valve and started working on it, a jet of steam was released that killed both of them.
Despite having had a risk assessment and hazards controlled, they had opened the wrong valve. The case went to court, and the judge emphasised that the employer should have foreseen and prevented the risk of the men selecting the wrong valve.
The lesson of this sad story is that identifying and controlling hazards isn’t enough to effectively reduce risk in operations. That’s because something else is co-creating risk.