A Question of Leadership in Process Safety

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This 1-day workshop will help senior leaders and managers to understand their role in creating an environment where colleagues openly and consistently ask each other the challenging questions that underpin sustainably good H&S performance.

Prerequisite:

Delegates will need to be a key decision maker for process safety management and hold a senior position such as, but not exclusive to:

• Directors
• Senior Managers
• Department Heads

A Question of Leadership

Why do bad things happen to good companies?   Why are we constantly surprised to hear that organisations which we regarded as having good safety performance have experienced a catastrophic incident, accident or event?

Like you, these companies had certified health, safety and environmental management systems.  Like you, these companies had an enterprise-wide risk management process.  Like, you, these companies monitored data and reported on a suite of KPI’s.  And, like you, these companies invested heavily in behaviour based safety programmes  So what went wrong?

It’s a question of leadership.

For well over a decade, investigation and inquiry panels have consistently identified leadership failings as the root cause of major (and near-major) incidents.  Specifically, they point towards the failure of leaders to understand what is happening in the workplace.

Safety, they say, ultimately comes down to a leader’s ability to ask questions.

Putting in systems, setting targets and commissioning audits are relatively straightforward transactions that can be executed remotely.  But asking (and receiving) probing, thought-provoking and challenging questions, needs to be done up-close and personal, from the boardroom down to the operational front-line. 

And there’s the challenge: As a senior leader, how can you ensure that, in amongst the myriad demands on your time, you are consistently and effectively asking, and being asked, the right questions, and that these questions are enabling and encouraging others to do the same?

Evidence, anecdote and experience tells us that this is where senior leaders struggle…leaving them exposed to bad things happening to their otherwise apparently good company.

Workshop Outline

This one day workshop will help senior leaders and managers to understand their role in creating an environment where colleagues openly and consistently ask each other the challenging questions that underpin sustainably good H&S performance.

To allow open and honest dialogue, this workshop will have limited spaces and will be held under Chatham House Rule.   

Delegates will be introduced to the four leadership questions that drive:

• Wilful compliance
• Organisational mindfulness
• Empowered leadership; and
• Colleague engagement  

which together form the four pillars of robust and sustainable safety performance in high hazard businesses.

Who should attend

Senior Decision Makers, Directors, Senior Managers, Department Heads  who have a responsibility for Process Safety Management

Contact details

Training Team: webtraining@energyinst.org, +44 (0)20 7467 7178

Book now