Process Hazard Analysis: A Tool for Knowledge Transfer

By John Binion, P.E., FSEng TÜV Rheinland (#9915/15)| Process Safety Technical Consultant

Experienced operators – those who have years of hands-on familiarity with a plant’s processes and equipment – play an important role in ensuring a facility’s efficiency, uptime, and safety. As these skilled operators – many of whom are Baby Boomers and Gen Xers – retire and step away from the workforce, companies are facing the very real possibility of losing a wealth of institutional knowledge. This leaves plant managers and supervisors facing the question, “How can we transfer this knowledge – much of which can’t be taught through formal training sessions – to other operators, and do so without disrupting the facility’s day-to-day function?”

Theory Versus Reality: Experienced Operators Understand the Difference

Plants and processes are designed and engineered to work in specific ways – from the mechanical and electrical systems to the chemical processes and controls that orchestrate their interactions. In an ideal world, these systems would always operate as predicted, and formal training would give staff all the knowledge they need to keep the processes running smoothly.

In the real world, however, unforeseen variables and slight fluctuations in physical parameters often cause equipment and processes to behave differently than expected. Through years of experience with these imperfect systems, operators learn how the equipment and processes actually behave and what factors cause them to deviate from their predicted behavior. Simply put, highly-skilled, experienced operators develop a “feel” for the process, allowing them to recognize when something isn’t working as expected – regardless of what the data or the training manual says should be happening.

Traditional Methods for Capturing and Retaining Institutional Knowledge

To bridge this pending knowledge gap, companies often rely on their traditional training playbooks. One common approach is to have a new or less-experienced operator work side-by-side with an experienced operator. Another way to share institutional knowledge is through cross-training, where operators work in different areas of the plant for a period of time to gain exposure to various processes, scenarios, and best practices. While both of these methods can be effective, they inevitably divert valuable resources away from their primary roles, causing a strain on the facility’s day-to-day operations and reducing efficiency.

The Process Hazard Analysis as a Knowledge Transfer Tool

An often-overlooked tool for knowledge transfer is the process hazard analysis (PHA). Typically, a PHA team includes one or two experienced operators who are involved with and highly knowledgeable about the process being evaluated. But there’s a strong case to be made for including less-experienced operators on the team as well. Specifically, including both highly experienced and newer, less-experienced operators on the PHA team yields two benefits.

First, bringing together operators with varying levels of experience fosters discussions that might not happen otherwise – such as examples of adverse events during startups or maintenance issues that aren’t part of the documented maintenance plan. Experienced operators rarely come to the PHA with a prepared list of concerns or topics to discuss, so this type of knowledge is difficult to uncover and capture unless the PHA team includes a diverse audience that wants to learn and is willing to ask questions. (Having a PHA facilitator who is also willing to ask questions and dig deeper for detailed answers is important as well.)

Second, including less-experienced operators on the PHA team exposes them to these discussions and scenarios that wouldn’t typically come up during routine training or job-shadowing sessions. This approach allows knowledge transfer to happen organically, and at the same time, improves the effectiveness and depth of the hazard analysis.

The Window is Closing, But There’s Still Time

As companies’ most experienced operators begin to retire and leave the workforce, the risk of losing valuable knowledge is becoming a reality for many plant managers and supervisors. Once this tribal knowledge is gone, it can’t be recovered. Re-learning it will take years – or even decades – and could come at a steep cost, including a potential uptick in process safety incidents. The window of opportunity to capture and transfer this knowledge is closing, but it can still be salvaged. The key is to ensure that newer, less-experienced operators have meaningful opportunities to work side-by-side with experienced operators, both in day-to-day work and on projects such as hazard analyses.

The Hargrove Controls & Automation Process Safety Team includes process hazard analysis facilitators who are experienced at driving meaningful dialogue and asking questions to understand your facility’s safety management system and where training or knowledge transfer are needed. To engage with one of our experts and get the most from your next process hazard analysis, contact us today.