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