TSA launches leadership charter

TAKE IT FROM THE TOP

LEADERSHIP • TSA’S MEMBERS HAVE SIGNED UP TO A CHARTER THAT REAFFIRMS THAT THE TANK STORAGE INDUSTRY IN THE UK AND IRELAND IS COMMITTED TO PROCESS SAFETY MANAGEMENT

THE INVESTIGATIONS INTO the disasters that took place in 2005 at the BP refinery in Texas City and the Buncefield oil depot in Hertfordshire, UK both highlighted the need for effective leadership from the highest levels of an organisation, to promote the proper application of process safety management (PSM) principles in high-hazard operations.

Indeed, the report authored by James Baker on the Texas City explosion specifically called on BP’s top management to provide effective leadership and establish appropriate goals for process safety, articulating a clear message and matching that message with policies. Board-level management should set expectations regarding process safety performance, both in terms of verifiable objectives and the means by which the company was to achieve them. That system should incorporate a mechanism by which process safety risks could be identified, reduced and managed.

Similarly, the response in the UK to the Buncefield explosion, which involved government, industry, trade unions and other stakeholders, also identified a lack of effective leaders on process safety as an underlying factor; that response led to the formation of the Process Safety Leadership Group (PSLG), which established the necessary improvements to safety and environmental controls required to improve the overall level of safety; first among these improvements was the need to demonstrate effective leadership within the sector.

TAKING PART The Tank Storage Association (TSA), which represents independent bulk liquids storage terminals in the UK and Ireland and which played a role in PSLG, has followed up since then in promoting PSM throughout the industry. TSA also takes part in the work of the COMAH Strategic Forum (CSF), which sets out the need for leadership in the following terms:

“Understanding and managing risks are critical to any business, whether these are operational, financial, safety, environmental, ethical or reputational risks. If these risks are not managed, they have the potential to harm people, damage the environment and destroy facilities along with corporate reputation. Good major hazard leadership helps an organisation to ensure these risks are given the resource, priority and attention that they need to reduce the likelihood of a major accident.”

TSA has followed up on its work on PSM by issuing a new Safety Leadership Charter, reaffirming its commitment to the original principles of Process Safety Leadership. The Charter consists of seven pledges that demonstrate commitment on the part of its members to managing major hazard risks by promoting an engaged, positive, informed and cooperative safety culture.

“TSA, with the support of its members, has developed the Safety Leadership Charter to promote a positive and cooperative safety culture within member organisations,” says Paul Denmead, president of TSA. “This Charter clearly demonstrates our commitment to major hazard safety, starting at the top, and puts the TSA at the forefront of safety leadership within our sector.”

THE PROMISE IN WORDS All of TSA’s terminal member companies have signed up to the Charter, which carries the signatures of senior directors at each of them.

This confirms that each company will use the appropriate resources to help improve their safety performance and that, as leaders, they understand and recognise that the consequences of not properly managing risks at their sites could be catastrophic for people, the environment and their businesses.

“Good leadership is critical to sustained management of risk,” the Charter states. As leaders in their organisations, the signatories have committed to: - Understand what could go wrong that could cause a major accident - Know what systems are in place to stop this happening - Provide continued assurance that those systems are working effectively, and - Ensure that employees continue to be appropriately skilled and competent.

In practical terms, this means that at least one board member at each company will be conversant in the management of major hazard risks – CSF already provides some tools to deliver this expertise. The entire board should also understand the importance of good major hazard leadership and performance, for which all are ultimately responsible, and also understand the implications that business decisions can have on major hazard management, both in the short and long term.

In addition, the signatories have committed to promote a positive culture throughout the organisation by being visible and passionate about managing major hazard risks and to involve the workforce so that all employees understand their role in managing risk. Companies will establish meaningful indicators of how well those risks are being managed – which does not include lagging indicators such as lost-time injury rates. Furthermore, the signatories commit to share learnings from relevant incidents both from within the business and from external events.

STANDARDS MATTER Explaining the role of the new Charter, Peter Davidson, executive director of TSA, says: “TSA is committed to ensuring that safety lessons and best practice are shared across the sector wherever possible. Our dedicated Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) committee is key to achieving this, and we remain a driving force in a number of industry safety forums, including the Process Safety Forum and the COMAH Strategic Forum.

“Since its publication in 2009, TSA’s members have fully supported the Process Safety Leadership Group’s Principles of Process Safety Leadership and the launch of our Commitment to Good Major Hazard Leadership further strengthens this support. Our aim is to ensure that these principles are embedded in all that we do as a sector,” Davidson adds.

One of the signatories to the Chater, Martyn Lyons, CEO of Inter Terminals and himself a former president of TSA, says: “High standards of leadership are essential to ensure effective control of major hazard risks. The Safety Leadership Charter, developed by the Tank Storage Association in conjunction with sector’s leaders, is a testament to our strong commitment to strive for the highest standards and continue leading from the front.”

More information on the work of CSF and the resources it has available for use by industry can be found on the UK Health & Safety Executive (HSE) website at https:// webcommunities.hse.gov.uk/connect.ti/ COMAHSF/groupHome. Among those resources is a report by CSF looking back on how the high-hazard industries in the UK changed their approach to process safety in the ten years following the Buncefield explosion. More information on the work of TSA can be found on its website, https://tankstorage.org.uk.

EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP AND STRONG OVERSIGHT OF

SAFETY IN TERMINALS WILL BE INSTRUMENTAL IN

AVOIDING DISASTERS SUCH AS THE 2005 EXPLOSION