Key contributing factors to safety incidents at gas processing facilities

N. Behari, Shell Canada Ltd., Calgary, Alberta, Canada Companies too often cite human factors and equipment malfunctions as the root causes of accidents at gas processing facilities. However, extensive research reveals one commonly overlooked factor at play—the lack of a well-defined process safety culture, especially regarding human errors and interaction. Extensive study of the maturity of a facility’s process safety culture as it relates to all human factors provides a clearer and more comprehensive explanation for some major, and even catastrophic, incidents at several plants. As an example, note the percentage of human errors at a storage tank facility compared with the total percenta