Major incidents in recent years are never caused by any new or unknown technical issues. The causes always turn out to be well-known technical issues but:
- Technical knowledge was not applied at the time
- People responsible did not have access to appropriate people
- Knowledge was not shared within the organisation ,was not available, or was inaccessible
- Procedures were ignored or not followed.
All of these are social issues – well studied by sociology but virtually unknown to most engineers in the chemical industry.
We are familiar with and have contacts with sociologists who have studied and researched these issues. We can offer an initial discussion and review. We can recommend further areas for investigation and establish contacts with the leading people in this field to improve your own performance.