45 years on from the Seveso disaster, we take a look at what happened to remind ourselves of some key learnings for process safety and emergency response. What happened at Seveso? On 10 July 1976 a bursting disc ruptured on a chemical reactor at the [...]
Communication is fundamental to working efficiently and safety. It seems straightforward to expect a high level of skill and effectiveness for teams working in high hazard contexts such as chemical processing and storage facilities. But when we take a closer look we find that problems [...]
Some of the most challenging and rewarding work we do is around crisis management teams under pressure. Whether the pressure is real or simulated, we get to watch leaders perform in a ‘pressure cooker’, often with interesting results. The ‘pressure cooker’ tends to amplify some [...]
When things go wrong in aviation the consequences are usually severe and because of this the industry has long been at the forefront of safety research and development. Not only have aircraft become increasingly reliable, but advancements in the understanding of human performance have also [...]
In the last five months two customers have postponed strategic Crisis Management training at group level because of COVID-19 and an operational issue. Postponing Crisis Management training because of an operational interruption is like running a bus company that have repeated crashes and postponing refreshing [...]
Organisations continue to invest heavily in training however it remains the case that many do not collect the information required to determine the usefulness and impact of their training programmes. Techniques remain unevaluated, transfer remains unmeasured and return on investment is considered too difficult to [...]
Many high-hazard industries require 24/7 operations. Complex site processes need to run continuously and this necessitates long hours of shift work. This also means the potential for human fatigue needs to be considered as a risk factor. Fatigue is acknowledged to be a significant safety [...]
A successful operational-level response relies on a competent and effective Emergency Response Team (ERT). Shift teams in the COMAH sector need to be prepared to respond to emergencies 24/7 with a consistent level of response capability across every shift. When something unexpected happens on site, [...]
A successful tactical-level response relies on an effective Incident Management Team (IMT) leader. The IMT takes a ‘whole-site’ perspective to emergency management – a demanding brief – and the role of leader is pivotal to the outcome. The IMT needs to quickly understand the scale [...]
A year on: lessons learned Around a year ago we committed to supporting clients with emergency management support throughout this pandemic, wherever possible. Not all clients have taken up our offer, but we have continued training and exercising for several, throughout. In fact, we have [...]