Process Safety Indicators and Safety Culture Maturity: A Field Study in the Process Industry
Abstract
Background: There is growing agreement about using indicators for evaluating and measuring safety in major hazard facilities. This study aimed to investigate process safety indicators in the process industry in Iran. Additionally, the levels of safety culture maturity of the site employees and HSE (Health, Safety, and Environment) staff were assessed.
Methods: Data were collected from the process industry in Iran over three years (2014 to 2017) as part of a routine reporting process. Lagging safety indicators were established based on incident reporting and analysis. Leading indicators were developed based on the desired operation of risk control systems. The British Health and Safety Executive (HSE) safety culture maturity model was used to determine the levels of safety culture maturity among site employees and HSE staff members.
Results: According to the results of this field study in the process industry, total recordable injury rate and lost time injury frequency were identified as lagging indicators. Staff competence and safety training, operational procedures, permit to work, emergency arrangements, and inspections of safety-critical items were determined as leading indicators. The assessment of safety culture maturity among staff revealed that the maturity of most safety culture elements was at level three “involving,” moving towards level four “cooperating.” The safety culture was therefore relatively mature in the study industry.
Conclusions: The study showed that safety culture was relatively mature in the process industry, and process safety indicators such as leading and lagging indicators were already monitored. Thus, improvement in safety performance measurements was expected.
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| Files | ||
| Issue | Vol 17 No 1 (2025) | |
| Section | Original Article(s) | |
| Published | 2025-03-03 | |
| Keywords | ||
| Leading indicators; Lagging indicators; Safety culture maturity; Process industry. | ||
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