Major hazards conference

Leading from the top: avoiding major incidents, 29 April 2008

• Conference storyboard

The conference provided a forum for chief executives and industry leaders in the major hazards sector to discuss and share experiences on how top level commitment and leadership can make such a huge difference to securing the strong, positive health & safety cultures so important if major incidents are to be avoided.

Delegates;

• heard how others have improved their health & safety and business performance through strong leadership
• had the opportunity to make new contacts and gained new ideas to help ensure their organisation’s focus is on effective control of its process safety risks.

• Selection of the presentations given at the conference

Citing recent major incidents – such as, BP Texas City refinery, Buncefield and the THORP plant in Sellafield - regulatory bodies, TU and government ministers were able to challenge industry and discuss lessons learned. Particular emphasis was placed on seven key principles;

• Leadership;
• Process safety management taking place at all business levels;
• Real and dynamic risk assessments;
• Robust management of change approaches;
• Sustainability;
• Well trained and competent people; and
• A learning organisation.

Delegates later took part in a number of workshops where their outcomes have been summarised and available as follows;

• Process safety leadership
• Leading and learning – building on experiences on peer review
• Leadership and the STEPCHANGE initiative in the offshore industry
• Equipping independent directors for their task in major hazards organisation

Further reading available at:

• More information on the seven principles of leadership
• Key Process Safety Performance Indicators
• BP Texas City incident report