2010 - Power/oil

Andy was asked to carry out an alarm audit at a facility controlling power generation and supply to oil production sites. Over 20 gas turbines and a distribution network were controlled from a central location. Andy found that the system had evolved over a number of years, resulting a mismatch of control and monitoring technology being used. All had their own alarm systems, with varying problems and were in desperate need of review and rationalisation. Andy identified that operators were overloaded with alarms, but had developed coping strategies that allowed them to prioritise their actions. He provided the client with a plan to fundamentally change the way alarms were being managed that would improve reliability and process safety.  This was very well received, and Andy was asked to return to implement the proposals at a new facility. In fact the client was so impressed they offered a financial bonus.

2010 - Oil

Andy was engaged by a company carrying out safety reviews for a new oil facility. His role was to attend the project offices in the middle east in order to carry out a human factors and ergonomics review. He ran a three day workshop, attended by representatives of the design contractors, suppliers of control equipment and the client. His review covered the control room, site layout, working conditions and potential for human error resulting in process safety incidents. From this he was able to identify a number of actions, prioritised according to the stages of the project where they could be implemented. His report was well received, with participants at the workshop being impressed with what could be learnt from a human factors review that had not been uncovered during the numerous engineering safety studies (e.g. HAZID, HAZOP).

2008 - Electrical system at an oil company

The client's operation involved a number of remote, onshore sites that were supplied by 33kV electrical supplies. In the past any work on the electrical supply lines required them to be isolated. In order to minimise production interruption the client was considering carrying out some activities with the electrical systems live. Andy was asked to evaluate the risks of human error of live line working and to advise whether it should be pursued by the client. He visited the preferred contractor for the work, observed them in practice and held lengthy discussions with their technical experts. He completed task analyses of the tasks for both live and dead line working, and used these to identify the potential human errors. His conclusion was that live line working has been accepted in many countries as a safe way of working and with good management and control there was no reason why the client should not adopt it. In fact it could be safer than dead working implemented correctly. Andy provided the client with the information they needed to inform their decisions and a list of recommendations that they would need to implement to carry out live line working safely.

2007 - Oil products distribution terminals

One of the conclusions from the inquiry into the Buncefield oil storage depot explosions and fire was that organisations must have effective shift handover arrangements.

Andy was asked to review arrangements at two of the client's sites to determine if they were suitable and sufficient. He was provided with copies of logs, handover procedures and audit findings; and had informal discussions with personnel. Comparing with available guidance he concluded that the existing system were too informal and ad hoc, and so needed improving. However, he recognised that no problems were identified with the way handovers were actually carried out in practice, and so was able to recommend that the action required was to largely formalise existing arrangements rather than generate a new system.

2006 - Oil refineries, environmental

Thanks to his general knowledge of oil refining activities, Andy was asked to assist in a project for setting emissions benchmark figures for new plant. This involved him searching literature to identify best available techniques for reducing emissions based on energy use and developing simple equations for calculating emissions from process throughput. Working to a tight time-scale he was able to develop benchmarks as required, but also pointing out that they were based on scarce data, which ultimately calls into question the validity of the proposed approach. The results from this work are being used to inform the DTI on administering the EU ETS.

2006 -Oil Refinery/Petrochemical

The client had recognised that in certain circumstance that procedures are a key risk control measure. As part of preparation for COMAH it was necessary to demonstrate that the actual procedures in place were covering all the requirements to minimise the likelihood of major accidents and to ensure mitigation. Due his previous involvement in procedures at the site, Andy was asked to review the current situation.

Working to a tight timescale, Andy directed an internal audit of procedures and COMAH carried out by the client's personnel. He then visited every department to carry out his own 'sample' audit to act as a cross reference. This combined approach meant Andy had information to demonstrate that whilst minimum requirements were being achieved, there was an underlying problem that meant the link between procedures and COMAH was not being made in an effective manner. As a result he was able to recommend a change of emphasis in the way tasks were analysed that would have multiple benefits of focusing procedures onto major hazards and improving the understanding of people who use the procedures.

2005 - Oil products, Bitumen

The client had recognised that the operating procedures for the site had become out of date and that rewriting them in their current style was unlikely to represent current best practice. Andy was asked to assist in implementing an improved approach to procedures. Working with the site, Andy developed the principle of an operators' manual. This would provide the basis for operator training and contain all the necessary procedures, job aids and other documents to be used by operators. The idea being that only information relevant to the operators was included so that it would always be easy to find what was needed.

2004 - DEFRA

The project involved developing cost curves to show abatement efficiency vs. cost for techniques available for industry to reduce releases of Sulphur-oxide compounds. Andy's role was to collect the data for the refining, steel and quarrying sectors, that fed into the wider project. This included identifying options for abatement and gathering cost and efficiency data. Andy reviewed BREF and BAT notes and talked to industry experts.

2004 - Health and safety executive

The Health and Safety Executive had recognised that many organisations had changed their team structures (e.g. downsizing, multi-skilling, self-managed teams), and this had affected the way supervision was being delivered. This project examined how these changes could affect health and safety, and developed a method that organisations can use to assess their supervisory arrangements and make improvements. Andy managed the project, and had a major role carrying out site visits, developing the methodology and writing the research report. He was assisted by a small team of consultants assisted performed literature searches and carried out some of the site visits. The practicality and value of the methodology was demonstrated in a series of site trials with eight process companies in the UK. The report was published as Research Report RR292.

2004 - Oil

The site had recently become a COMAH establishment. This created the requirement for a formal permit-to-work system. Being a very small and simple operation, the client did not have the resources to develop, operate or maintain a complex system. Andy was asked to develop a system that was compliant with relevant regulations and guidance, but practical for the operations taking place and staffing levels present on the site. Andy developed a two-part permit-to-work system. The first part was used during the planning stage of a job to analyse the potential risks and specify the necessary controls. The second was used to control the work on the days it was being carried out. The client felt this was a very practical solution.

2004 - Energy Institute

The Energy Institute (formerly the Institute of Petroleum) had identified that the staffing assessment methodology (CRR 348/2001) developed by Entec for the Health and Safety Executive was a very valuable tool, but that some companies were not using it because they perceived it to be too difficult to learn and use. Also, the Institute had received feedback from its members saying that they did not feel the methodology was suitable for automated plant. Working closely with the Institute's human factors working party, Andy developed a 'User Guide' that explained the practical aspects of conducting an assessment using the methodology. As well as explanations about the underlying principles and terminology used, the guide provided practical advice and forms that could be used to collect information during assessment workshops. Also, it explained how companies should use the methodology in managing organisational change, including the assessment of risks associated with existing staffing arrangements and the impact of proposed changes. An extension to the methodology was developed to provide users with a method of assessing the impact to the operator of implementing technological change. The report and associated material is freely available from the Energy Institute's website.