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Top Challenges in Process Safety

Top Challenges in Process Safety

Nov. 27, 2024
Experienced personnel are leaving and facilities are aging, increasing the likelihood of something going wrong.

While intention is admirable, it’s actions that count. And when it comes to process safety, 66% of companies cited disparities between process safety goals and reality, according to a report from Sphera.

“The stakes are higher than ever for process safety improvements,” said Paul Marushka, Sphera’s CEO, in a statement. “Our newest Process Safety Report shows that experienced personnel are exiting the industry, aging facilities are increasing the likelihood of something going wrong — such as incidents with facilities, equipment or people — and visibility into potential hazardous incidents continues to be limited for many organizations that have not adopted proven digital capabilities. 

“On the bright side, we have seen increased interest from senior management who appreciate the connections between improved systems, profitability and competitiveness. The reality is that improving process safety performance helps to keep people, assets and the environment safe while also reducing costs for stakeholders.”  

Compliance is Driving Force 

Over time, there has been a material shift in process safety ownership. Compliance obligations and sustainability regulations could be why nearly one-third (32%) of respondents now say senior leadership is driving process safety compared to 29% in 2023.

Three-quarters (74%) of respondents agree that regulations have helped improve safety; yet, just over half of respondents (56%) believe that organizations have moved beyond compliance as an obligation.

The top drivers for improving safety performance are:

  • Reducing major accident hazard (MAH) exposure (61%)
  • Operational excellence/ process improvement (52%)
  • Regulatory compliance (41%).

These top drivers remain the same from last year’s report but the biggest increase from this year is the focus on production uptime (reducing downtime) — now 36%, up from 29% — which is a critical concern for senior leadership.

Lag in Technology 

Companies have made progress, with respondents noting that digital tools and real-time data are seen as effective with just over half (51%) pointing to the reduced vulnerability to MAHs. Despite these advances, less than one in four organizations (23%) complete all safety-critical maintenance activities on time and on schedule and just one in ten (9%) are confident they are aware of all MAHs.

Looking to the future — as plants get older the probability and consequences of incidents become more significant — almost four in ten respondents (39%) are concerned about lack of visibility into operational risk.

Workforce Factors 

The survey found that human factors are seen as the top challenge to delivering effective process safety management, with 40% indicating management involvement and 41% indicating competency as top concerns. This is compounded by experienced personnel leaving the workforce with nearly half of respondents (49%) seeing the loss of and lack of experienced workers as the top factor to increase risks.

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