Skills Gap Emerges as Top Process Safety Risk, Survey Finds

Nearly half of the 300 process safety and operational risk management professionals responding to the survey indicated that lack of experienced personnel caused risk to increase in their facilities – the top factor cited by respondents.

Human factors overall ranked as the top challenge to delivering effective process safety management, with 41% of respondents citing training and competency and stating 40% management involvement was an issue.

“Our newest process safety report shows that experienced personnel are exiting the industry, aging facilities are increasing the likelihood of something going wrong — such as incidents with facilities, equipment or people — and visibility into potential hazardous incidents continues to be limited for many organizations that have not adopted proven digital capabilities,” said Paul Marushka, Sphera CEO and president.

Other factors impacting process safety include 39% of respondents who cited lack of visibility within aging facilities and conflicts between procedures and working practices 41%

Compliance obligations and sustainability regulations are likely leading to more senior leadership involvement on safety initiatives, with nearly one-third (32%) of respondents now saying upper management is driving process safety compared to 29% in 2023.

While 74% of respondents agree that regulations have helped improve safety, just over half say their organizations have moved beyond compliance as an obligation.

The top drivers for improving safety performance are reducing major accident hazard exposure (61%); operational excellence/ process improvement (52%); and regulatory compliance (41%).

These top drivers remain the same from last year’s report, but the biggest increase from this year is the focus on production uptime (reducing downtime) — now 36%, up from 29% in 2023.