Giving a keynote address at the Cefic Annual Responsible Care conference on October 23, Hackitt said: “Directors and senior managers need to monitor the effectiveness of internal controls to avoid major losses and incidents. Process Safety Performance indicators can provide assurance that major hazard risks are under control, and this is just as applicable and important for Small and Medium sized businesses (SME’s). Carefully chosen indicators can monitor the status of key systems and provide an early warning should safety critical systems deteriorate. The importance of good corporate memory and the ability to learn lessons from others cannot be over-emphasised.”
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has recognised that the HSE is a forerunner in this area and has reflected HSE’s approach in their recently revised guidance on Developing Safety Performance Indicators.
- An increased assurance on risk management and a protected reputation
- Demonstrated the suitability of their risk control systems
- Avoided discovering weaknesses through costly incidents
- Stopped collecting and reporting performance information which was no longer relevant – thereby saving costs; and
- Made better use of information already collected for other purposes, e.g. quality management
