Much has been written on human error, but almost all of it focuses on the operator-equipment interface. This provocative webinar looks at the “blunt end,” with insights into the role of management and especially motive in major accidents and management system failure. It also considers why there is a reluctance to discuss these factors and an apparent resistance in the chemical process industries to lessons from other fields, and ends with some defenses that can improve management of acute risks under real-life conditions.
Graham Creedy has long been fascinated by how major accidents and unplanned events continue to happen, despite the apparent faith of senior management in the supposed existence of systems designed expressly to prevent them. He is now retired from a career in the chemical industry, after operating plants for some of the world’s leading multinational companies, consulting for various government agencies, the former Major Industrial Accidents Council of Canada and mostly for what is now the Chemistry Industry Association of Canada. He now teaches risk management at the University of Ottawa, to pass on some of his knowledge to the younger generation of engineers. Apart from the qualifications shown above, he is also a member of the Institution of Chemical Engineers, the Royal Society of Chemistry and the System Safety Society.