| dc.description.abstract | In today’s world, organizations are constantly being challenged by the fast changing economic environment in which the need to remain competitive is the key to ultimate survival. In the downstream oil sector, these challenges are real, on-going and refineries are constantly adapting and evolving to ensure that they continue to operate responsibly, effectively, efficiently and minimize loss to avoid those economic realities such as closure. To remain in business, the downstream oil sector is looking toward and relying more on the use of improved technology and the support of the individual organization’s internal management systems. The outcome of such economic realities is creating a work environment that is becoming more complex to navigate and the human component is increasingly being identified as a key risk element that need to be effectively managed to be—or remain—competitive. There have been many incident analyses conducted that have improved our understanding of how human factors (HF: Chapanis, 1996; Salvendy, 2012) have contributed to major process safety events in the downstream oil sector (e.g., HSE, 1997; Kletz, 2009; US CSB, 2007). Some of the HF elements identified by these analyses relate to organization culture, human reliability and performance, work structures, practices and behaviors, and operating philosophy (reactive or proactive) to name a few. The Abnormal Situation Management Consortium (ASMC)1 has initiated a number of research studies for process related industries (Bullemer & Laberge, 2010, 2011; Bullemer & Reising, 2014; Laberge, Bullemer, & Whitlow, 2008). The aim of these studies is to improve the effectiveness and interaction between technology, system and people within the operating environment during abnormal and emergency situations. An early ASMC article, captured the challenges that operations groups have to deal with on a daily basis and their impacts to effectively manage abnormal events (Bullemer, & Nimmo, 1998). The substance of the article is perhaps more relevant today as to when it was written due to continual effects from major process safety events, increased technological capabilities, increased risk & environmental requirements, further centralization of console operation, separation of work teams and workforce rationalization within the downstream oil industry. Over the past 29 years, this author has personally experienced his share of normal, abnormal and emergency events in the refinery operations environment, having served in various roles from field operator, to console operator, shift team leader, day operation specialist, and operations area superintendent. On reflection, most operation groups are still challenged when it comes to managing abnormal events. The main challenge being the organization’s ability to provide and maintain the required knowledge and skills needed to effectively operate and manage abnormal events as a collaborative work group. While most organizations have improved their training support systems, the majority of these efforts have focused on unit-based, individual-role competencies rather than multiple-unit, team-role competencies or collaborations, which are essential during abnormal events. The following is an excerpt (italics) from the article “Tackle Abnormal Situation Management with Better Training” (Bullemer & Nimmo, 1998): Effective training to handle abnormal situations requires more than high-fidelity simulation- based training or individual role based training strategies. The operations task is typically a collaborative activity involving other operational team members, as well as people from other functional groups. Effective training should include dealing with conflicts about goals, negotiating resources and constraints, and handling the ways in which individual decisions can propagate effects to other people and processes. Hence, training should avoid oversimplifying interactions among tasks, communication constraints, or complexity due to human limitations and possibilities for error. The body of this document will specifically focus on a tool designed to capture those collaborative activities, the operation team’s goals, workload and interaction activities during abnormal events. The document will exhibit an approach utilizing Scenario-based Risk Assessment (SBRA) methodology in order to capture and then examine those tasks and activities that support the teams goal during such events. | en |
