Management Systems

An effective management system is essential to provide a structured framework to oversee the hazards identified and prevent significant incidents. For the high hazard industries, getting it right is good for business.

We provide essential support in the development, implementation and improvement of effective and efficient Management Systems to ensure the hazards at your site are appropriately managed at every life cycle stage.

SMS

A Safety Management System (SMS) is employed to ensure that major accident hazards are properly controlled.

To help you develop an effective SMS, we collaborate with you to consider how all activities need to work together to achieve your organisation’s goals while effectively controlling hazards. These activities fall into one of four categories in line with industry guidance:  Process Safety Leadership, Risk Identification and Assessment, Risk Management and Review and Improvement. We can assist you in ensuring appropriate policies, processes and procedures are in place to demonstrate that risks are effectively managed for each of these categories and guide you in the development of such documentation and processes where demonstration requires strengthening.

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Leadership and Culture

The safety culture of an organisation begins at the top. Putting risk management at the heart of leadership makes good business sense, especially for high-hazard industries. Board members play a critical role in the management of major accident hazards.

At RAS, we have a wealth of experience in supporting high hazard industries with their major accident hazard awareness and wider risk literacy, including at board level.

We also provide specialist coaching on process safety leadership to empower leaders to embrace the principles of process safety.

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Knowledge & Competence

Successful management of major accident hazards relies on the knowledge and competence of the workforce.

We can help you take a challenging look at your teams’ competence and knowledge and work with you to develop programmes to strengthen your internal competence.

We also offer training courses which can be tailored to the requirements of your business and your people. Process Safety Competence isn’t just for the consultants and process engineers – it should be seen as part of every operational role in your business.

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Engineering & Design

Whether you are building a new manufacturing operation or extending an existing one, we can support you from the outset of your journey. The earlier we join your team, the better we can advise you on all process safety aspects at the Front End Engineering Design stage, ensuring that your new plant is inherently safer from the start. We are experienced in performing location and layout assessments to minimise the risk from the beginning.

Our support continues as the project develops through construction, commission and onto operations. We apply our expert knowledge to identify hazards and control risk at each stage of the plant lifecycle.

For industrial processes involving hazardous materials, we can advise you all the legislative requirements for your new facility including DSEAR, COMAH and Hazardous Substance Consent.

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Systems & Procedures

The smooth running of an organisation relies on tasks being performed correctly and safely. The systems supporting these tasks therefore need to be robust and well established, particularly where tasks are hazardous, to ensure safe operation. Well-written and easy-to-follow procedures are essential in the safe execution of tasks.

We can assist in ensuring all your tasks are supported by clear and accurate procedures, whether that be tasks related to operation, maintenance or emergency response.

Our capabilities include auditing your existing systems, benchmarking against good practice, and finding practical improvements that will work for you and your systems.

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Assurance

We have a wealth of experience in defining programmes that you can use for the systematic monitoring and evaluation of your business, including the development of metrics, verification, and audit. We can help you track how a process is performing, measure the effectiveness of a specific system, or deliver a structured, competent, and independent programme of investigation on your safety management system in its entirety.

Understanding the data and making the right decisions is vital, and we are here to help you.

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KPI Development & Monitoring

Performance monitoring is a key element of any management system, and the general term ‘Key Performance Indictors’ (KPIs) is well known. Process Safety Performance Indicators (PSPIs) are a specialised subset of the more general KPIs and are designed to measure how well an organisation manages the risks of major accidents and incidents in its operations.

Once performance indicators have been identified and are being measured, they need to be monitored and analysed to look for trends and potential system improvements. We can support you in both developing and analysing your performance indicators by building record keeping spreadsheets and interactive dashboards to illustrate your data.

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Management of Change

When change is well managed and understood, it can ensure a sustainable future for your organisation and be an opportunity for learning and improvement. We can help you to implement the appropriate processes to identify the risks involved in change and devise means to avoid or manage them.

Whether you are looking at implementing operational plant modifications or a change to procedures, it is important to undertake a systematic review from a safety, engineering and technical perspective. We can advise on and help you implement the correct management processes for change, including suitable assessment and identification of hazards related to a proposed change, whether that change be permanent or temporary.

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Stakeholder Engagement

We can advise you on all aspects of engagement. Effective stakeholder mapping will help you determine who your stakeholders are and how much engagement, communication, or consideration they need.

In supporting the development of a strong stakeholder engagement strategy, we can ensure that you identify and build good relationships with new stakeholders or handle existing ones by identifying any issues and managing their risk.

Whether you are developing a new facility, understanding your Public Information Zone (PIZ) for emergency response, or building good relations with your stakeholders, we can help.

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Want to Find Out More About our Process Safety support?

We will provide bespoke solutions that are the right fit for you and your team.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is hazard identification and why is it important?

Hazard identification is evaluating processes and systems to identify potential causes that could result in hazardous consequences. We specialise in helping our clients understand and manage complex risk. Only once your hazards are properly understood can they be managed.

Hazard identification is the bedrock of risk assessment. If the hazard identification technique is incorrect or quality of the study is poor, then all risk analyses, assessments and decisions made based on those studies are of equally low quality, and you cannot be sure that your risks are appropriately managed.

What does COMAH compliance require?

A key area of our expertise is compliance with the requirements of the Control of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH) Regulations 2015, which are designed to minimise the risk of major accidents involving dangerous substances to protect both people and the environment.

Operators of COMAH sites, whether they are a Lower or Upper Tier, must demonstrate that they have taken all measures necessary to minimise the risk of major accidents.

Aspects required under COMAH include a Major Accident Prevention Policy (MAPP), a robust risk assessment, emergency response procedures and for upper tier sites, a COMAH safety report.

We can work with you to develop a bespoke plan that is the right fit for you and proportionate to the level of risk and scale of your operations.

How does RAS tailor their studies to specific project needs?

We are innovative, creative and agile. Every piece of work we undertake is bespoke to the needs of our clients.

We have a holistic approach to complex risk management, developing smart solutions which work for you.

Can’t find what you’re looking for? Contact our team here.

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