A great number of resources are used by companies to create a safe and healthful workplace. Strategies are defined, programs are written, processes and equipment are assessed, audits and inspections take place, measurements are taken, and results from any number of metrics are analyzed and reported to management and employees in order to drive continuous improvements in injury and illness reduction.
This presentation describes an innovative methodology for fatality and serious injury (FSI) risk assessment and reduction. It explores the key challenges and success factors that have been identified during its global roll-out of the new approach to risk assessment of activities related to higher hazards in the workplace.
The solution integrates a uniform manner to risk characterization, prioritization, and management with a systematic evaluation of safeguards, controls and layers of protection (LOP) for all common hazard identification inputs. This method is applied to the evaluation of incidents, near misses and potential hazards.
Hazard risks are systematically prioritized based upon the analysis of the holistic effectiveness of all intended safeguards. This look at all LOP, safeguards and controls is used to define the most effective and efficient improvement strategy when gaps are identified. When improvement steps have been completed, a final hazard risk characterization is performed so that overall risk reduction can be quantified.
Corporate policies in all cases require that we work to maintain safe & healthy operations that comply with applicable rules and standards. The process described here is designed to help identify and prioritize improvement opportunities, and reinforces the well-established advantages of engineering controls over administrative and PPE. Its use is especially helpful for understanding the need for additional LOPs for high hazard activities.
Through on-site workshops, data analysis and frequent communications, this practical approach to risk management of activities associated with higher hazards has been rolled out on a global scale to sites across the corporation and has become a key tool in hazard management used by the sites.
