Process safety performance improves when we treat metrics as vital signs of process safety system health and use them as part of strong feedback and learning systems. In my 2022 paper in Process Safety Progress — Effectively Use Metrics as Part of Process Safety Feedback and Learning Systems to Monitor and Improve Performance — I described a process safety performance model requiring an effective metrics and feedback activity:
“Successful process safety feedback systems are sensitive to operations—understanding what is really happening—and focused on learning—understanding why something is happening.”
Vital Signs – Choosing the Right Metrics
“…vital signs – process safety metrics – are used to measure the health or effectiveness of process safety programs to provide early warning of potential performance problems.”
Just as doctors monitor vital signs to assess patient health, process safety metrics should give us a clear picture of the health of our process safety systems. Effective programs use a balanced set of leading and lagging indicators that are relevant to the specific risks at the site. Leading indicators (such as overdue inspections, MOC compliance, alarm management, and near-miss reporting quality) are especially important because they can reveal problems before incidents occur. The references provide several sources describing process safety metrics.
Feedback Systems – Closing the Loop
“Without appropriate program feedback, warning signs of problems may be missed and learning opportunities for improving performance can be lost. Ensuring the right things are measured and evaluated, based on process safety program goals, provides information on the current performance level and trends.”
Metrics alone have limited value unless they are part of a disciplined feedback system. This means regularly reviewing trends, investigating deviations, assigning accountability for follow-up, and ensuring leadership stays engaged. Without effective feedback mechanisms, even good metrics become just another compliance exercise rather than a tool for improvement.
Sensitivity to Operations – The Sherlock Holmes Approach
“Sensitivity to operations is a current and continuing focus on the possible failure of hazardous processes as part of feedback systems. As such, key activities include anticipating potential problems, continuously monitoring operations, and appropriately responding to data as it is obtained.”
A critical part of the model is developing sensitivity to operations — the ability to notice and respond to small anomalies or negative trends before they escalate. When metrics show something unusual, we should investigate with a curious, investigative mindset (the “Sherlock Holmes” approach) to understand what the data is telling us about the underlying health of our barriers and systems and respond to correct problems before they become larger.
Learning Systems – Turning Insights into Long-Term Improvement
“A learning organization has been defined as ‘an organization skilled at creating, acquiring, interpreting, transferring, and retaining knowledge, and at purposefully modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights.’”
The ultimate goal is to build strong learning systems that convert metric insights into lasting improvements. This requires integrating findings from metrics into PHAs, audits, incident investigations, training, and operational discipline efforts. When these four elements — vital signs, feedback, sensitivity to operations, and learning systems — work together, organizations can move from reactive compliance to proactive, continuous improvement in process safety performance.
Are You Utilizing Effective Metrics and Feedback Systems?
“Designing and implementing an effective feedback and learning system for monitoring process safety program effectiveness is essential for achieving high performance and prevention of serious incidents and injuries.”
How effective is the design and functioning of your metrics and feedback system to support strong process safety performance?
Download the Author’s Accepted Manuscript (preprint):
- Effectively Use Metrics as Part of Process Safety Feedback and Learning Systems, Process Safety Progress, September 2022
- Download Original Preprint PDF
Posted in accordance with Wiley author rights for educational use on psmnews.com.
Recommended Resources
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- Process Safety: Key Concepts and Practical Approaches
- CCPS Guidelines for Process Safety Metrics
- CCPS Guidelines for Integrating Management Systems and Metrics to Improve Process Safety Performance
- CCPS Process Safety Metrics Guide for Leading and Lagging Indicators
- IChemE Lead Process Safety Metrics – Selecting, Tracking and Learning
- IOGP Report 456 – Process Safety – Recommended Practice on Key Performance Indicators (3rd Edition)
- HSE HSG 254: Developing Process Safety Indicators