Major hazard guidance offers detailed support
April 1st 2010 The Chemical Business Association and the UKWA have launched guidance designed to assist in achieving higher levels of major hazard management. Major incidents, such as those at Buncefield (pictured) and Texas City, underline the importance of high standards and the consequences of failure.
Investigations often reveal evidence of a failure to recognise the early warning signs of increasing hazard risks.
CBA's director, Peter Newport, said: “We recognised that smaller businesses and warehouses may have limited technical and managerial resources.We were therefore keen to develop a pragmatic framework which recognised these constraints, but nevertheless moved the management of safety beyond the reliance on historical data to key leading indicators.”
The CBA/UKWA guidance provides a six-step programme to creating Safety Performance Leading Indicators (SPLI). It covers the formation of a properly resourced Implementation Team; defining the scope of the SPLI programme; identifying existing risk control systems; establishing the critical risk element in each control system; data collection and reporting; and the formal review of safety data by senior managers and directors.
UKWA CEO Roger Williams said: “Though the Guidance is focused mainly on sites within the scope of the Control of Major Accident Hazard (COMAH) Regulations, it provides a model of performance measurement which can be easily adapted to other facilities needing to maintain the integrity of their safety systems.”
The Guidance provides examples of key indicators relevant to the warehouse sector. As part of the process of developing the Guidance, pilot tests of these indicators were conducted to ensure their practicality and effectiveness.
The CBA/UKWA guidance has been endorsed by the Health & Safety Executive. The full text can be viewed at the CBA’s website - go to www.chemical.org.uk/spli.asp More articles from Handling & Storage Solutions: | 
