Unit-1

INTRODUCTION TO HEALTH, SAFETY

AND ENVIRONMENT ASPECTS
5.2.14

 Objectives
The criticality of Health Safety
Environment (HSE) aspects of
Petroleum Operations.
The importance of integrating HSE
functions with other management
functions.

Introduction:

Reducing error and

influencing behaviour (HSG48) is the
key document in understanding
HSEs approach to human factors.
It gives a simple introduction to
generic industry guidance on human
factors, which it defines as:

 "Human factors refer to environmental,

organizational and job factors, and human
and individual characteristics, which
influence behaviour at work in a way which
can affect health and safety"
This definition includes three interrelated
aspects that must be considered:
the job,
the individual and
the organization:

 The job:[1] including areas such as

the nature of the task,
workload,
the working environment,
the design of displays and controls,
and the role of procedures.

 Tasks should be designed in accordance

with ergonomic principles to take account
of both human limitations and strengths.
This includes matching the job to
the physical and the mental strengths
and limitations of people.
Mental aspects would include
perceptual,
attention and
decision making requirements.

The individual:[2] including his/her competence,

skills,
personality,
attitude, and
risk perception.
Individual characteristics influence behaviour in
complex ways.
Some characteristics such as personality are fixed;
others such as skills and
attitudes may be changed or enhanced.

The organization:[3] including

work patterns,
the culture of the workplace,
resources,
communications,
leadership and so on.

 Such factors are often overlooked

during the design of jobs but have a
significant influence on individual
and group behaviour.
Petroleum industry is also one of the
organizations.

 Petroleum industry, by its nature, is a

hazardous industry.
Why it is hazardous industry?
Processing,
handling,
storage and
transportation of large volumes of
hazardous petroleum products .

The petroleum operations have been constantly

developing,
upgrading, and
improving their design and
operating techniques
in terms of economy of scale,
high quality products and
energy optimization to meet the stiff market
competition.
All this has increased the potential of major risks.

 Major accidents like Bhopal, Mexico

City, Seveso, Flixborough and others
in the last two decades or so have
shaken the confidence of general
public about the safety of people,
property and environment.

HSE Model and its Integration with Business

HSE is an integrated management function

comprising disciplines of
occupational health,
safety,
environment and
fire protection.
Whatever way look at these functions,
industrial hazards
unsafe acts or situations are the basic
problems to be managed.

When an industrial hazard leads to an

immediate or sudden accident or incident
like
an injury, fire, explosion or a toxic
release,
it becomes a safety issue and
safety management comes in the picture.

When the hazards have chronic effects

on
the health of workforce like
stress,
musculoskeletal disorders and
other industrial diseases,
it becomes occupational health
problem.

 On the other hand,

when the effect of the unsafe
situations is long term and
spread over larger areas beyond the
boundary limits,
it becomes an environmental
problem.

 HSE efforts of many organizations

are driven by statutory requirements
and they do whatever minimum is
required to avoid litigation and fines.
However, an efficient and
enlightened corporate see HSE in a
much broader perspective.

 For them a good HSE performance is

an integral part of efficient and
profitable business management.
They are committed to
improve their health,
safety and environment and
fire protection performance on a
continuous basis and in a sustainable
way,

 i.e., meeting needs of present

without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their
needs.
The compulsion of integrating HSE
functions with business can be well
appreciated by looking into the cost
of an accident/ incident.

 The word accident has a negative

implication and could result in loss of
life, or damage to goods.
An incident on the other hand can
refer to any even that happens; it
could be positive or negative.

 Consider the following direct or indirect costs of

major accidents/incidents:

Injury/loss of life to self or co-workers

Workman compensation
Cost of inquiry/investigation
Loss of property and material
Loss of profits
Punitive sanctions and fines

Closure/shutdown of the installation

Public litigation
Environmental pollution
Ecological damage
Loss of public image
Loss of business
Shareholders wrath

 The above does not include the cost of

psychological and social factors associated
with major incidents.
Considering all these it is sensible to integrate
HSE as important management function like
production,
maintenance,
finance,
marketing,
human resources, etc.

 HSE Management Framework

As said earlier, many organizations
try to meet only the minimum
regulatory requirements.
But this is not enough in todays
business and social environment.
Regulations alone can not guarantee
the safety of petroleum installations.

 Most of the regulatory agencies lay down

rules and regulations,
which are the minimum basic
requirements for the safe design and
operation of an installation.
Sound and safe engineering practices
are
equally important but are not adequately
addressed in their requirements.

 The statutory and law enforcing

agencies are generally slow in
updating
their rules and requirements to keep
pace with the technological and
social changes.

 Further, many regulatory agencies do

not have adequate infrastructure and
manpower to exercise
superintendence and
control of industrial safety
performance on a continuous basis

 For example, number of safety inspectors,

boiler inspectors and environment
Health, Safety and Environmental (HSE)
Challenges
specialists in most states are far less than
what would be required to undertake
meaningful inspection visits to a large
number of installations under their
jurisdiction.

 Further, with the background and

training that many factory inspectors
have,
their visits to factories are restricted
to checking basic amenities like
first-aid facilities,
guards for machines
personal protective equipment,
potable water and canteen facilities,
etc.

 They probably dont have

the right training and
aptitude for identifying the many process
hazards which are not so obvious.
Requirements and have a highly
efficient self-regulatory system in-house.
The regulatory requirements are just
very minimum requirements to obtain
license and operate an installation.