Sunday, 7 September 2025

🌟 Story: Hana and the Competency Transformation


Hana had just been promoted as the Group HSSE & Competency Manager in a leading petrochemical company. Her organization managed six operating units, each with unique challenges—refining, utilities, tank farms, olefins, logistics, and power generation.

But there was one common issue she quickly identified:
👉 Competency gaps across supervisors, engineers, and managers.

Accident investigations showed that while equipment failures were rare, human factors and competency gaps often contributed to incidents¹. Hana knew something had to change.


Step 1: Listening to the Ground

Hana spent her first 90 days visiting all six units.

  • She joined shift handovers with supervisors.
  • She sat in control rooms with engineers.
  • She joined management review meetings with plant managers.

From these conversations, she mapped out a picture:

  • Supervisors needed stronger frontline leadership and safety practices.
  • Engineers needed deeper technical exposure and process safety skills.
  • Managers needed strategic HSSE leadership and risk governance skills².

Step 2: Designing the Framework

Hana didn’t want a generic training. She designed a tiered competency framework:

  1. Supervisors – Focus on process safety fundamentals, permit-to-work, emergency response, and behavioral leadership in the field.
  2. Engineers – Build skills in HAZOP, MOC, asset integrity, human factors, and incident investigation³.
  3. Managers – Elevate leadership through barrier-based risk management, crisis command, stakeholder engagement, and continuous improvement⁴.

She ensured that the program aligned with global oil & gas best practices and included job rotations, simulations, mentorship, and cross-unit learning forums.


Step 3: Gaining Buy-in

Hana knew that a training program would only succeed if leaders supported it. She prepared a business case showing:

  • Reduced incidents = reduced downtime.
  • Higher competency = improved reliability.
  • Stronger leadership = better culture and talent retention.

At the board presentation, she ended with one simple message:

“Competency is not just training—it is our license to operate safely.”

The executives approved the program immediately.


Step 4: Implementation & Impact

Within the first year:

  • Supervisors reported greater confidence in handling permits and emergency drills.
  • Engineers began leading HAZOP sessions and applying digital tools for asset reliability.
  • Managers showed stronger leadership during a multi-unit emergency simulation exercise.

Most importantly, the company saw a 40% reduction in process safety near-misses⁵, proving Hana’s vision was working.


✨ The Legacy

Hana’s training program soon became a benchmark across the industry. Other companies visited her plants to learn about the model.

For Hana, this was more than just a corporate initiative. It was her way of ensuring that every worker went home safely each day, and that her company could grow with resilience and excellence in the oil & gas industry.


📚 Footnotes

  1. Vinodkumar, M. N., & Bhasi, M. (2010). Safety management practices and safety behaviour: Assessing the mediating role of safety knowledge and motivation. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 42(6), 2082–2093.
  2. Hale, A. R., & Borys, D. (2013). Working to rule, or working safely? Part 2: The management of safety rules and procedures. Safety Science, 55, 222–231.
  3. CCPS (Center for Chemical Process Safety). (2018). Guidelines for Risk Based Process Safety. Wiley.
  4. Sklet, S. (2006). Safety barriers: Definition, classification, and performance. Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries, 19(5), 494–506.
  5. Khan, F. I., & Amyotte, P. R. (2003). How to make inherent safety practice a reality. The Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering, 81(1), 2–16.

#blog #blogger #kembarainsan #safety #training #plantsafety #hsse #usm #ukm #um #uia 

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