Industrial Factory Automation

The Chemical Business Association (CBA) and the UK Warehouse Association (UKWA) have launched guidance for their respective member companies to assist in achieving higher levels of hazard management. Major incidents, such as those at Buncefield and Texas City, underline the importance of high standards of control for hazard risks and the consequences of failure. Investigations into these incidents revealed evidence of a failure to recognise the early warning signs of increasing hazard risks. In July 2009, the CBA signed a commitment on behalf of its member companies to the Principles of Safety Leadership. Since this time, it has been working with the UKWA and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to develop practical guidelines to help companies to manage hazard risks. Peter Newport, the CBA's director, said: 'We recognised that smaller businesses and warehouses may have limited technical and managerial resources. 'We were, therefore, keen to develop a pragmatic framework ...

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has made process safety in the major-hazards sector a priority. The HSE has reinforced the need to adopt procedures and monitoring systems that maximise the safety of operations, following feedback from the investigations into the Buncefield and Texas City incidents. In July 2009, CBA signed a commitment on behalf of its member companies to the 'principles of safety leadership'. CBA and UKWA recognise that smaller businesses and warehouses have limited technical and managerial resources, and that their participation in any safety leadership initiative may vary in nature and time in different organisations. Many organisations rely on historical data, so-called lagging indicators, to monitor safety performance. CBA has therefore, in partnership with UKWA, written and is now launching the 'Safety-performance leading indicators guidance' to enable successful implementation of SPLIs. While the implementation of SPLIs is being pushed by H...