The role of industry leaders in preventing environmental and safety catastrophes ...

The role of industry leaders in preventing environmental and safety catastrophes in the UK’s onshore fuel and chemical manufacturing industries has been spelled out in a new agreement drawn up by the Process Safety Leadership Group (PSLG). Representatives of the UK’s high hazard industries, regulators and the unions have published for the first time a set of principles for process safety leadership top-level engagement in dealing with significant risks to people and the environment. The agreement sets out eight principles for senior industry figures to follow, including requiring board level involvement and competence in safety management, putting process safety leadership at the core of a business to ensure risks are properly managed, and engaging and involving the workforce in managing safety. Other principles cover the need for top-level scrutiny of process safety indicators and publication performance data to build public reassurance about major hazard risk management. Tony Traynor, Chair of the PSLG, said: ‘Operators of high hazard industries have an important duty of care to their employees and the public in ensuring that risks to human life and the environment are effectively managed. The agreement… sets out the fundamentals of process safety leadership and represents a clear commitment to improving standards. It leaves nobody in any doubt that safety culture starts with senior management and board members. We have to learn lessons from incidents such as Buncefield and BP Texas City, and ensure that they do not happen again. This is an important step forward. The PSLG will expect all high hazard companies in our sector to adopt and act upon these principles.’