Health, Safety And Environment Management System Research Articles

Improving PSM and HSEMS compliance in Malaysian upstream oil and gas industry: A case study assessment for plug and abandonment activities

AbstractProcess safety incidents in the oil and gas industry can have serious consequences. In the United States and Malaysia, standards for process safety management (PSM) have been established by US OSHA and PETRONAS, respectively. However, these standards are not always properly understood or followed by employers, resulting in ineffective safety programs and uncontrolled hazards. Plug and abandonment (P&A) activities in the upstream oil and gas industry require high control of well barriers. To assess the gap between PSM industrial standards and crew awareness in P&A activities, a study was conducted throughout one cycle of the project campaign. The study found that 70% of offshore crews had a high awareness level of the health, safety, and environment management system (HSEMS) and PSM, and 96% compliance was achieved from audit activities. However, two proposed PSM elements scored low in the assessment, indicating a need for improvement in site implementation. The study provides valuable information for offshore crews and readers seeking to improve and assess PSM elements in process safety. The results can help identify and control potential hazards related to technical safety, operational safety, and personnel safety. Furthermore, the study aims to support the development and implementation of PSM standards in Malaysia.

Survey of the health, safety and environment climate and its effects on occupational accidents.

Preserving and protecting the human resources is considered as the most important capital in any economic section by industrial development. The aim of this study was to evaluate the health, safety and environment (HSE) climate and its effects on occupational accidents in a petrochemical industry. This cross-sectional study was performed on 354 male workers in a petrochemical industry (10 different categories of site operators). Data was collected through a questionnaire, which its validity and reliability were standardized with Cronbach's alpha at 0.85. In this questionnaire the safety condition, workplace environment, disease symptoms were investigated in five, four and three dimensions, respectively. Data was analyzed by SPSS version 23 and LISREL version 8.8. According to the model values, there were significant correlation between safety condition and workplace environment r = 0.66, also between work safety condition and disease symptoms. The three hidden variables of work safety condition, work mental environment and physical workplace had significant effects on disease symptoms. Therefore, safety condition was the most effective variable on disease symptoms. Two significant predictors were work safety condition and physical workplace for work mental environment with coefficients γ= 2.29, β= -0.1, respectively. HSE condition indicators, working environment and disease symptoms reflect workers' views on HSE issues in the workplace. It can be beneficial in rooting the factors affecting occupational accidents and performance evaluation in the organization HSE management system.

Evaluation of HSE Culture and Identification of Its Promotion Strategies in Northern Khorasan Province Gas Company

Background and Objective: Nowadays, in order to improve the level of Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) culture of employees, organizations have reached this important conclusion that the weaknesses and strengths of the system should be identified .This is done by periodically evaluating the level of HSE culture, in order to determine and apply the targeted promotion. Therefore, the aim of this research is to evaluate the level of HSE culture among the employees of Gas Company of Northern Khorasan Province.
 Materials and Methods: This is a descriptive-analytical, cross-sectional study conducted in 2009-2010. The questionnaires were self-administered and semi-supervised by the participants. The statistical population included 400 official, contractual and non-official employees. Simple random sampling method and Cochran formula were used to select the statistical population, which included 198 employees in all organizational levels of the company. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 23, and descriptive statistics, inferential statistics and correlation tests. HSE culture promotion strategies were identified and presented after reviewing and analyzing the scores.
 Results: Compared with the determined limit using the relevant formula (number 177), in this study, the general level of HSE culture of North Khorasan Gas Company was evaluated as positive with a score of 198.42. The minimum and maximum HSE culture scores of the participants were 131 and 281, respectively. Education indicator had the most positive effect, and disregard and violation indicator in rules of HSE had the most negative effect on HSE culture score.
 Conclusion: The positive level of HSE culture in a high percentage of employees, compared to the defined boundary, shows successful implementation of HSE management system indicators, such as training, employees' participation, rules and instructions, and commitment of managers are priority in the company under study.

Implementation of Health, Safety and Environment Management System (HSE-MS) Requirements with Emphasis on Payment Management

Background: In this study, the implementation of the requirements of health, safety and environment management system with emphasis on payment management in contracting companies has been compared. Methods: The current research is a cross-sectional study in which 200 persons were randomly chosen from a Krejcie and Morgan table as a sample (159 contractors of the gas company and 41 of the two contractors of the water and wastewater company). Two questions created by the researcher were included in the data gathering instrument. The first questionnaire included ten questions comparing HSE standards, while the second questionnaire had 28 questions comparing the two organizations' health, safety, and environmental indicators. Descriptive statistics and t-test were used to analyze the data. Results: The questionnaire's validity (qualitative content analysis) and reliability (Cronbach's alpha) were both validated as a consequence of the findings (0.879). Based on the findings, it was discovered that the Gas Organization's contracting companies implement the requirements of the health management system and safety better than the Water and Sewerage Organization of South Khorasan Province, and that the reason for this appropriate situation is the Gas Organization's emphasis on payment management (P<0.001). Conclusion: The results showed that the implementation of health, safety, and environmental management system requirements in the contracting companies of the Gas Organization is better than the Water and Sewerage Organization of South Khorasan Province. There are various aspects at play, and one of the most significant in the correct circumstances is the gas company's concentration on payment management.

Analysis research of industry accident law based on barrier theory and text semantic recognition technology

One of the important reasons for the repeated occurrence of the same type of accidents in the group company over the years is the insufficient utilization of accident resources. This paper introduces barrier theory and establishes an accident analysis method system based on barrier theory. Barrier theory changes the traditional accident analysis mode, and adjusts the object of accident analysis from consequence to barrier, which provides a new perspective for the analysis of accident law. This paper develops a HSE text semantic recognition model which can automatically extract the production operation link, production stage and type of failed barriers of the accidents from the accident investigation report, finds out the cause factors leading to the failures of these barriers and establishes a direct relationship with the HSE(Health, Safety and Environment) management system, in a way to find out some common laws of the accidents and reveal the defects and shortcomings in business management.

HSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AT HIGH ELEVATION IN SHIPBUILDING PROJECT

The Shipyard industry is one of the growing industry in Malaysia. There is still a lot of room for improvement with regards to the safety aspects within the industry. This study presents the finding of a survey on the safety management in shipyard operation of class C and D in Peninsular Malaysia as registered with Ministry of Finance Malaysia. Shipyard operation is considered a hazardous job. Most of the cases were due to fall from height, fire and explosion. The accidents were due to crane collapsed and explosion during welding works inside a hull of a Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) carrier. The research aims to study the Health, Safety and Environment Management System (HSEMS) of shipyard operations in Malaysia particularly in Class C and Class D. This study was conducted using a survey method following the Glenn D’s equation. The findings of this study shown that almost all the shipyards had HSEMS in placed but some were incomplete. Accidents still happen in the Malaysian shipyard industry from time to time. Nearly 10% of shipyards did not have clear HSE Policy due to low priority given to HSE matters.

Data driven update to industry Life-Saving Rules

The International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (IOGP) is a global forum in which member companies identify and share best practices to achieve improvements in many areas including upstream safety. The IOGP first published Life-Saving Rules in 2010, having based the choice of topics covered and actions recommended on an analysis of 1484 fatal incident reports and 1173 high potential event reports collected through IOGP’s annual Safety Performance Indicators. In 2017, IOGP launched an initiative called Project Safira with the aim of eliminating fatalities; one of the work streams within this project was to refresh, simplify and reduce the number of industry Life-Saving Rules to encourage industry standardisation. An industry team of subject matter experts, health, safety and environment (HSE) and operations professionals conducted a comprehensive analysis of the latest 10 years of fatality data and streamlined the original 18 rules down to nine, while retaining the level of applicability in fatality prevention and incorporating the latest thinking on human performance and lessons learned from member companies’ experiences in implementation of similar programs. The Life-Saving Rules are not intended to replace company HSE management systems but rather to complement existing organisational processes and procedures. The rules provide simple actions, in the form of ‘I statements’ which can provide a final barrier that individuals have control over, using their own actions to prevent fatalities. From 2008 to 2017, 376 workers lost their lives in incidents that may have been prevented by following one of the new nine IOGP Life-Saving Rules.

Why does the offshore wind industry need standardized HSE management systems? An evidence from Denmark

The offshore wind sector is one of the key sources for producing renewable energy. Though there is a rapid growth in the offshore wind sector, there is still a dearth of synchronization in HSE (Health, Safety and Environment) standards. This paper attempts to ascertain what are the major challenges of the company specific HSE standards, why does the offshore wind industry need a standardized HSE management system and who can play the key role in this process? To achieve these objectives, this research applies the interview and survey techniques. The research identified several key challenges such as gaps in coordination and communication among the stakeholders, gaps in incident reporting systems and the absence of a common HSE standard to overcome these challenges. Seven stakeholders were identified who can influence the development process of a harmonized HSE management system. However, the operators and turbine manufacturers are the key stakeholders to play role in this development process. The results of this study provide the top management to understand the problems associated with the current un-harmonized company specific HSE management systems and how to address these problems by creating a common HSE management standard to achieve the goal of 'zero accidents'.

Occupational Risks Management as a Basis of Industrial Injuries and Occupational Disease Prevention

The Government of the Russian Federation sets the task to create a new Health, Safety and Environment Management System (HSEMS) based on the implementation of procedures described as occupational risks management. The functioning of the new HSEMS model will promote turning from the practice of reacting to the already occurred facts of injuries and occupational diseases into the mechanism of the development and performing the preventive measures against accidents, and maintaining the personnel health. However, the implementation of the risk management into the health and safety activities of enterprises is constrained by the methodological difficulties in identifying measurable or estimated parameters, which are required for implementation occupational safety management processes. The recommendations for establishment of qualitative characteristics of the occupational risks assessment, methods of their turning from verbal parameters into quantitative parameters, as well as in determining the boundaries between acceptable and unacceptable risks are presented.

How to write a proper HSE management system policy?

Health, safety and environmental management system (HSE.MS) policies plays an important role in implementation of HSE factors in industrial fields and helps to reduce accident, injuries and hurt to environment. One of the key elements of HSE.MS is policy that is drafted and implemented in organizations. The purpose of this study is to provide an appropriate template for policy writing. At first, the HSE policies of many organizations were examined. Then these policies were classified according to missions, visions, and goals/commitments. The total of the collected policies was 190. Finally, according to these classifying, we proposed a proper HSE management system policy template. The proposed template helps managers of various organizations to write a proper HSE policy.

Determining the effectiveness of Health, Safety and Environmental (HSE) management system based on anomaly report measurement in oil projects

Today, development of a Health, Safety and Environmental (HSE) management system which can protect human resources and the environment, while remaining accountable for demands of the companies involved in the large and national projects, seems to be essential. Certificates issued for developing such management systems are an evidence for the claim on existence of HSE management systems. However, the question which still remains is whether the established systems have any real effect on the organization’s performance in HSE management. Do the instruments designed to measure the performance of an HSE management system properly reflect the performance realities? This study seeks to measure the field performance of companies based on indicators of anomalies (reporting all cases of potential damage) and compare it with scores of HSE management system performance obtained by MCAT, in order to find out whether the companies having more robust management systems, especially those with a management certificate, gain better results in practice. A total of 24 contractor companies involved in construction of Phase 19 of South Pars were randomly selected from the statistical population and studied for 6 months in terms of operating results and management system performance. The obtained results were analyzed using a statistical software. Comparisons between the two groups of companies (with and without a certificate) in terms of management system score indicated the superiority of the group with a certificate. The superiority, however, was negligible with a difference score of 3.69 compared to the total score of 200. Considering the incident indicator, the average severity rate of incidents in the companies with a certificate was lower than in the ones without a certificate. However, the abundance indicator and its level revealed a better condition in the companies without a certificate. Considering the number of the anomalies reported per one million total man-hours worked, the companies without a certificate (with 821.5 anomalies) superperformed the companies with a certificate (with 937.8 anomalies). The number of lost working days to close each anomaly per one million total man-hours worked was calculated to be 283.9 lost working days for the companies with a certificate and 317.1 working days for the companies without a certificate, showing the better performance of the companies with a certificate.

HSE Management System for Hotwork Operation at High Elevation in Shipbuilding Project

Shipyard industry is one of the growing industry in Malaysia. There is still a lot of room for improvement with regards to the safety aspects within the industry. This study presents the finding of a survey on the safety management in shipyard operation of class C and D in Peninsular Malaysia registered with Ministry of Finance Malaysia. Shipyard operation is considered a hazardous job. Most of the cases were due to fall from height, fire and explosion. Similar accidents happened in South Korea, where 8 fatalities and 31 injuries were reported in January to August 2017. The accidents were due to crane collapsed and explosion during welding works inside a hull of a Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) carrier. This paper aims to study the Health, Safety and Environment Management System (HSEMS) of shipyard operations in Malaysia particularly in Class C and Class D shipyard. This study was conducted using a survey method following the Glenn D’s equation. The survey was targeted at the people who are involved in the industry including the staffs of clients, consultants and contractors. The findings of this study show that almost all the shipyards of Class C and D have HSEMS in placed but some are incomplete. Accidents still happen in the Malaysian shipyard industry from time to time. The gaps in the HSEMS that lead to the accident are highlighted in this paper. Nearly 10% of Class C and D shipyards do not have clear HSE Policy and this one of possible causes of accidents due to low priority given to HSE matters in this particular Class C and D shipyard.

A Survey of Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) Management and Safety Climate in Construction Sites

The principles of health, safety and environment (HSE) in different development activities, including construction, are constantly gaining in significance. This study aims to evaluate the condition of HSE management and safety climate in construction sites. In this descriptive-analytic study, 111 male employees are randomly selected. To determine HSE condition and management and safety climate condition, the NOSACQ questionnaire was used. The collected data are analyzed using SPSS. Based on data analysis a significant relationship between the mean scores of safety climate, job groups and HSE management system with job groups, education and experience (P<0.05) was found. The study results show that HSE management and safety climate in sites are relatively acceptable, that the perception of safety had no special association with age, work experience, education and that the creation of a safety climate depends on the people high in the hierarchy.

Health, safety and environmental unit performance assessment model under uncertainty (case study: steel industry).

Performance assessment is a critical objective of management systems. As a result of the non-deterministic and qualitative nature of performance indicators, assessments are likely to be influenced by evaluators' personal judgments. Furthermore, in developing countries, performance assessments by the Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) department are based solely on the number of accidents. A questionnaire is used to conduct the study in one of the largest steel production companies in Iran. With respect to health, safety, and environment, the results revealed that control of disease, fire hazards, and air pollution are of paramount importance, with coefficients of 0.057, 0.062, and 0.054, respectively. Furthermore, health and environment indicators were found to be the most common causes of poor performance. Finally, it was shown that HSE management systems can affect the majority of performance safety indicators in the short run, whereas health and environment indicators require longer periods of time. The objective of this study is to present an HSE-MS unit performance assessment model in steel industries. Moreover, we seek to answer the following question: what are the factors that affect HSE unit system in the steel industry? Also, for each factor, the extent of impact on the performance of the HSE management system in the organization is determined.

A new framework for HSE performance measurement and monitoring

Measurement of performance is rooted in quality measurement subject which has been one of the challenging branches of the research in the recent years. Measurement of the performance of an organization in the field of health, safety and environment (HSE) is a prerequisite for continual improvement policy which is the spirit of the new HSE management systems. In this work, after a review of literature, the HSE key performance indicators (KPIs) and frameworks for measurement of HSE performance were reviewed, and a comprehensive classification of KPIs based on three factors (time, scope, and type) was presented. In this research a new framework with an innovative philosophical and mathematical formulation was presented for performance measurement. In the proposed framework, by combination of qualitative and quantitative techniques, a logical selection-aggregation process is performed to determine the performance status from KPIs. The proposed methodology is based on ‘award and punishment’ policy, and it aggregates the negative and positive performance elements to compute the HSE performance index. In this methodology a lead index and a lag index are calculated and combined to compute the overall HSE index. This methodology was used in a case study for performance measurement in three drilling companies. The results indicated that the model is applicable in the industry for HSE performance measurement and monitoring. The presented framework is risk-related and has 12 special characteristics which makes it possible to use it as a basis for development of an international ISO standard for performance measurement.

The Relative Costs of Accidents Following the Establishment of the Health, Safety and Environment Management System (HSE-MS) for the Construction Industry in Tehran

BACKGROUND: Accidents in the construction industry are a significant problem in many countries around the world. Occupational accidents result in reduced working hours, loss of life, and other related costs. These accidents result in socio-economic losses such as disability support costs, loss of working time, and increased medical care needs. They also create a lot of waste for communities and labor organizations. Objectives: Despite extensive studies calculating the cost of accidents, our understanding of these costs is still not clear or practically applicable; consequently, the ultimate aim of the present study is to provide a new framework for the calculation of the (direct and indirect) costs of construction accidents. Methods: In this paper, using a new and structured seven-step approach, the costs of construction accidents were calculated. In order to calculate the total cost of construction accidents in the city of Tehran for 2013 - 2014, the severity of accident results were first classified into five groups: 1, short-term absences from work; 2, long-term absences; 3, partial disability; 4, total disability; and 5, death. The types of costs resulting from accidents were also categorized: 1, production disturbance costs; 2, human capital costs; 3, medical costs; 4, administrative costs; 5, transfer costs; and 6, other costs. These costs were classified according to the direct or indirect costs resulting from the incident and the imposition of costs on workers, employers and society. Finally, the calculated amount of investment in HSE-MS was analyzed using statistical tests. Results: The present study indicates that before and after the establishment of HSE-MS that the maximum calculated cost was related to the production disturbance cost (before: $568,000; after: $80,500) and the lowest cost was related to transfer costs (before: $15,000; after: $3,000) and other costs (before: $98,000; after: $28,500). Statistical analyses indicates that there is a significant difference (P =.007) between the direct and indirect costs of accidents for before and after the establishment of HSE-MS. In other words, the direct and indirect costs had multiple, significant differences. The present study indicates that the indirect cost is four times greater than the direct costs. Conclusions: Accidents resulting in death, total disability and partial disability impose huge costs that are borne by society, and employers bear relatively low costs due to the health, treatment and welfare systems provided by society for the treatment and rehabilitation of injured workers and their families. Also, the results of this study show that investment in the HSE-MS is effective and associated with reduced accidents. Keywords: Accidents; Indirect Costs; Direct Costs; HSE-MS; Construction Industry Language: en

A sustainability paradox? Sustainable operations in the offshore oil and gas industry: The case of Petrobras

Improved sustainability performance in increasingly complex business environments is a challenging task for organizations operating in many different industries. In the offshore oil and gas industry, the use of potentially hazardous materials and operation under progressively hostile environments increases the risk of major accidents. Regulators have been trying to catch up on the design of regulatory frameworks that prevent these types of events, aiming to protect people, assets, and the environment. Although there are some recommended practices that companies have been using as the basis for their process safety management systems (PSMS), lack of uniformity and inefficient enforcement remain as two fundamental problems. This paper explores these two problems and takes some first steps toward a broader discussion about these important issues. We draw from the literature on sustainable operations to develop a descriptive case study of the offshore oil and gas industry by employing document analysis and an analysis of the Health, Safety and Environment Management System (HSEMS) of Petrobras, a world leader energy company. By employing multiple primary and secondary data collection strategies, including a number of formal expert interviews, we map, explore and compare major recommended practices for PSMS, identify a series of gaps in policy and practice, and offer a number of recommendations and implications for practice, policy, and research.

Improving performance evaluation of health, safety and environment management system by combining fuzzy cognitive maps and relative degree analysis

The performance evaluation of health, safety and environment management system (HSE-MS) is considered to be an effective way to eliminate out dated measures and help managers adopt proper rectification measures. The objective of this paper is to design a weight distribution model for HSE-MS performance evaluation, the importance of which stems from the current lack of integrated approaches for interpreting and ranking HSE-MS performance evaluation elements. Initially, Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (FCM) is adopted to illustrate the direct and indirect effects of HSE-MS elements on system performance indicators, and the results of FCM are used to develop leading factors helpful for decision making in an intensive management system. Then, the weight distribution from FCM is amended by Relative Degree Analysis (RDA), the aim of which is to combine the advantages of quantitative and qualitative knowledge-driven methods. Finally, the level of HSE-MS performance is obtained and analyzed. The whole performance evaluation framework highlights the potential correlations of evaluation elements as well as expert opinions, which will improve the reasonability of the HSE-MS performance evaluation.

Impact of integrated HSE management system on power generation in Iran by a unique mathematical programming approach

Purpose Concern for health, safety and environment (HSE) is increasing in many developing countries, especially in energy industries. Improving power plants efficiencies in terms of HSE issues requires considering these issues in performance assessment of power generation units. This study aims to discuss the use of data envelopment analysis methodology for the performance assessment of electrical power plants in Iran by considering HSE and conventional indicators. Design/methodology/approach Installed capacity, fuel consumption, labor cost, internal power, forced outage hours, operating hours and total power generation along with HSE indices are taken into consideration for determining the efficiency of 20 electric power plants or decision-making units (DMUs). Moreover, DMUs are ranked based on their relative efficiency scores. Findings Results show that HSE factors are significant in performance assessment of the power plants studied in this research, and among HSE factors, health has the most powerful impact on the efficiency of the power plants. Originality/value The approach of this study could be used for continuous improvement of combined HSE and conventional factors. It would also help managers to have better comprehension of key shaping factors in terms of HSE.

Effect of health, safety, and environment management system training on safety climate in a mine in Yazd Province, Iran

Background: Today, with the development of technology, the presence and role of human resources has been highlighted in industrial environments. Hence, the importance of safety culture is growing. Mining is the one of the most dangerous occupations. Therefore, this study was performed to determine the effect of health, safety, and environment management system (HSE-MS) on safety climate in one of the mines in Yazd Province, Iran, in 2014. Materials and Methods: The study population consisted of 32 employees of the operations unit working in one of the mines in Yazd Province. The standard 20-item Safety Climate Questionnaire (α = 0.77) which was valid and reliable was used to evaluate the safety culture at the unit. In this questionnaire, the items were scored based on a 5-point Likert scale. Data were collected before and 2 months after the HSE-MS training courses. The inclusion and exclusion criteria were willingness to participate in the project, at least 1 year of work experience, and the lack of specific and neurological diseases. The collected data were entered into SPSS statistical software. Results: In this study, 28.1 of the study population was single and 71.9 married. The average score of the safety climate dimensions of managerial commitment, safety communications, safe environment, responsibility of managers, perception of risk, job satisfaction, and knowledge and awareness of safety issues was 11.09 ± 2.66, 7.50 ± 2.36, 8.09 ± 1.92, 6.56 ± 1.58, 8.43 ± 1.56, 4.59 ± 1.58, and 4.25 ± 1.27, respectively. The dimension of understanding of risk and knowledge and awareness of safety issues were predictors of job satisfaction in workers. Conclusions: It can be concluded that attitudes of the examined miners toward safety climate were at a moderate level, and that the level of their attitudes increased after the HSE-MS training course. Therefore, safety climate can be greatly improved with HSE-MS training course.