1. The document discusses process safety and how it is an industry leadership issue. It notes that process safety is difficult to understand, measure, and manage due to a lack of consensus on what it constitutes. 2. Several major accidents in the marine and offshore drilling industries are reviewed that were caused by process safety failures and were preventable. The document argues companies focus too much on personnel safety over process safety. 3. It provides lessons learned that companies are measuring the wrong things, using the wrong tools focused on lagging indicators, and looking in the wrong direction not focused on prevention. Process safety requires a disciplined framework applying good design, engineering, operations, and maintenance practices.

2. 1: How are we doing?
About PTAI: We help companies answer this question:

3. We are
doing great!
See how
we’ve grown
since last year
To which most companies typically respond…
Last Year This Year
Growth

4. 1: How are we doing?
We are
doing great!
Really?
…which begs another question: “Compared to whom?”

5. Process Safety is an industry leadership issue:
Is HSE the right department to handle it?
•
•
•

6. •
1
2
3
Process Safety is an industry leadership issue:

7. Q: What do Ocean Ranger, Piper Alpha, and
Deepwater Horizon have in common?
1. They were the worst
marine disasters in their
respective countries
2. They were a result of Process
Safety failures
3. They impacted the entire industry
Answer:

8. While we may argue over who was at fault, one
thing we cannot dispute:
All these accidents were preventable

9. There is confusion on what constitutes Process Safety
What is
Process
Safety?
How do you
measure it?
How do you
manage it?
So what’s the problemo?

10. There is no common understanding even
amongst the Drillers and their customers

11. Unlike Personnel Safety where the connection or the link between
the cause and the effect is painfully obvious….
Here’s another problem…

12. …when it comes to Process Safety,
it is just not so

13. In the past, we have fixated on all kinds of slips, trips, and falls—things that are
biased towards Personnel Safety and not towards major hazard precursors—the
stuff Process Safety is made up of
So what can we learn from our past…

14. We focus on all kinds of slips, trips, and falls—things that are
biased towards Personnel Safety and not towards major
hazard precursors—the stuff Process Safety is made up ofLesson 1. We are measuring the WRONG things

15. To reward and promote behavior our management systems rely on tools such as
LTIRs and TRIRs—indicators of Personnel Safety—without paying similar attention
to tools that measure Process Safety performance

16. Lesson 2. We are using the WRONG tools

17. Our safety performance appraisal systems rely
on data that is after the fact.
It is lagging

18. Lesson 3. They are facing in the WRONG Direction

19. measuring the WRONG things
…using the WRONG tools that are
…facing the WRONG direction
Bottom-line…
We are

20. So where do we go from here?

21. Unfortunately, Compliance, while necessary,
is not the answer
Option 1: Do as told

22. Here is an example of what the being “in compliance” audit
would look like
Seriously?

23. Option 2:
Think outside the box

24. …by doing things we haven’t
done before…such as
collaborating amongst ourselves

25. In addition, we can also learn from the upstream
Operators and the downstream Chemical industries

27. 1. They have a formal platform in place that allows them to compare
their entire business performance with their competitors
2. They compare their process safety performance through
another benchmarking program designed specifically
around the CCPS’s Risk Based Process Safety Guidelines

28. 2. We need a different set of leading indicators
to measure the integrity of our operations
1. We need a similar platform that allows comparing our
design, engineering, operating, and maintenance practices
so that we can also learn from each other’s best practices

29. So what’s holding us back?
Over the years we have
accumulated some baggage that
needs to be shed

30. •
Process Safety is an industry leadership issue:

31. Right?

32. Well Defined
Structured
Steady State
Routine
Less Risky
PredictableProcess Safety is a downstream industry issue since their operations are…..

33. Ill-defined
Un-structured
Risky
Unpredictable
Dynamic
Non-routine

34. It’s time to formally define Process Safety

35. 1. What does it look like? 2. What does it do? 3. How does it do that?
In order for us to remember it better, we can breakdown
the definition into answers to these three simple questions:

36. 1. It is a disciplined framework

37. 2. For managing the integrity of hazardous
operating systems and processes

38. 3. By applying good Design principles, Engineering, Operating, and
Maintenance practices
D E O Mar i
Just remember…

39. …a disciplined
framework
by applying good
Design principles,
Engineering,
Operating, and
Maintenance
practices
for managing
integrity of
hazardous
operating systems
and processes
Once again, Process Safety is defined as…
1. What does it look like? 2. What does it do? 3. How does it do that?

40. So, do you still
believe Process
Safety doesn’t apply
to us?

42. Unfortunately, that’s not true

43. It doesn’t matter who is at fault;
the whole industry is affected once we have a
catastrophic disaster

44. Which means, whether we like it or not, “process safety” problems
of our peers are our problems as well
Holy S#&%..!!

45. •
Process Safety is an industry leadership issue:

46. In our line of work do we have conflicts between Design, Engineering, Operations, and
Maintenance people?

47. And do you think our HSE person has the power and the resources to prevent or resolve them?

48. Mama..!!!
If not HSE’s then whose baby is it anyway?
Mama…..!!!!
Mamma
...!!!

49. To better understand why Process Safety is a leadership issue
let us look at where are we in this journey

50. 5. GENERATIVE
Safety is how we do business round here
3. CALCULATIVE
We have systems in place to manage all
hazards
2. REACTIVE
Safety is important, we do a lot every time
we have an accident
1. PATHOLOGICAL
Who cares as long as we are not caught
In his research, Dr. Patrick Hudson
mentions five stages that
differentiate organizational safety
cultures
4. PROACTIVE
We work on the problems that we still find

51. Look at the nets in the picture here. Wonder why they are there?
Let us look at an example of a company from another industry
that is at the bottom of this ladder

52. Between 2008 and 2010 , 19 committed
suicide by “jumping or falling” off of its
factory or dormitory buildings
Four died in two factory explosions and
another 77 who were injured
59 injured during a December 2011 plant
explosion
Workers have to sign a “no suicide” pact
and the families have to sign “no
litigation” agreement
They are there to “catch” workers jumping off of the top floors of this
manufacturing plant in China in an attempt to prevent them from
committing suicide—a rather ingenious response devised by the
company leadership to combat workforce reaction to its inhuman
working conditions
The Leader

53. Workplace Injury Rate down by 90%
Within a year Profits reach record High
By the end of his tenure Annual Net Income 5 times larger than before he arrived
Market Capitalization $27 Billion an eightfold increase
Safest company in the world. More likely to get hurt in a software firm designing graphic animations
than here working with 2000 degrees Fahrenheit of molten aluminum
And here is one that arguably at the top of the ladder
The changes in a company after a new CEO takes over and declares
Safety as his TOP priority

54. “There should never be a trade-off between values and
economics. Values should always win”
“if you want to understand how Alcoa is doing, you need to
look at our workplace safety figures. Profits don’t matter as
much as safety”
“I went to Alcoa with a burning fire…to demonstrate that it
is possible for a truly great organization to be value-based
without any reservations”
The new leader

55. Process Safety is an industry leadership issue:
Is HSE the right department to handle it?

56. Why do we continue to focus on Personnel Safety even
though several major disaster investigations have shown that
Process Safety issues are the root cause?
First, the bad news
…with some Good news and some Bad news
Time to wrap up….

57. Why do we continue to focus on Personnel Safety even though several major
disaster investigations have shown that Process Safety issues are the root cause?
First, the bad news

58. Process Safety is hard to understand
!?!
Because……

59. Process Safety is
difficult to measure
!@??

60. There is little consensus on what constitutes Process Safety let alone how to
manage it
What the…
!&@!

61. Regulators
Clients
Stock Markets
Even though our stakeholders agree on the importance of safety, they have
different interpretations at operational level

62. Yipee…!!!!!!

65. All it takes is just one person to do what’s right
for the rig to stop the unfolding disaster from
following through

66. …all it takes is just one person to do what’s right for the rig to
stop the unfolding disaster from following through

67. Questions/ Comments/ Suggestions?
“Be sure to let go before
it hits the shredder”

68. Thank You
Vivek Bhatnagar
Phillip Townsend Associates, Inc., Houston, TX
onlyvivekbhatnagar@gmail.com

69. Lieutenant Colonel (ret.) Vivek Bhatnagar is a veteran with over 21 years of service in the Indian Armed Forces. He retired
in 2006 after serving as a Commanding Officer of an Electronic Warfare Regiment.
For the past 6 years Vivek has been working in the energy, chemical, and petrochemical sectors in the US with an
emphasis on Process Safety and Operational Excellence, and more recently with its relevance to the global offshore
drilling industry.
Vivek is an Engineer and an MBA. He is a graduate from the National Defense Academy and the Indian Military Academy.
He did his B.Tech. from the College of Military Engineering and his MBA from Babson College in Massachusetts, US. In
addition, Vivek is a qualified commando, physical trainer, and an instructor in ADP systems.
Vivek’s papers on process safety have been selected for presentations at the IADC, Society of Petroleum Engineers, the
International Association of Oil and Gas Producers, and the Canadian Society of Chemical Engineers conferences in North
America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. In addition, he has authored several articles for the BusinessWeek. This presentation
from Colonel Bhatnagar includes excerpts from his upcoming book on process safety and its relevance to the drilling
industry.
2012 Bio-data: Vivek Bhatnagar
Phillip Townsend Associates, Inc.