Management of major hazard plant

Abstract

The principles of good management which apply to all factories are particularly applicable to the management of major hazard plant. However, installations having major hazards are characterised by the high technical content of the management of their operations. Thus there is the added need to ensure very good technical and people management systems when dealing with these plants. The management problem can be divided into three parts: (1) The provision of top quality technical management; (2) The special attention needed in the design and layout of the equipment; and (3) The special attention needed in the management of people, both the operating crew within the factory and members of the public and their Local Authority representatives who are outside the factory gates. Arrangements for good technical management must include a system for ensuring both adequate qualifications and relevant experience in the key management at each installation. Attention to design and layout of equipment will bring in philosophies which encourage increased automatic protection against major incidents, the adoption of intrinsically safer processes with lowered inventories and reduced conditions of temperature and pressure, and enhanced arrangements for maintaining the integrity of containment. The high potential hazard which exists in major hazard installations necessitates the use of a much more open approach at all levels in discussing risks and safety precautions with the total operating crew. Such discussions will provide a greater feeling of confidence in the individual operators and repair men. There is also a useful feedback for technical management which will improve their ability to write clear operating instructions and on some occasions to design better equipment for the control of emergencies. Finally, there is a need to carry this philosophy outside the factory fence and into the public domain. Simple explanations of the potential risks in a major hazard installation and the precautions taken to avert emergency situations, are an essential feature of modern communication between the factory management and the officials and elected representatives of Local Authorities. On occasions there has been value in taking this approach into the general public domain where major hazard installations are sited within residential areas. In summary, the higher potential hazards which exist in major hazard plant call for deeper technological thinking in the management area and a greater degree of explicit explanation and explicit planning in the relationships between the factory management, the controlling Authorities and the factory operating crew.