If you work in a high-risk industry, it’s very likely that you have heard of the terms personal safety and process safety. These types of safety measures have similarities, but they also have significant differences that are important to recognize when protecting your workforce.
Both personal and process safety revolves around injury and hazard prevention, but on different scales. Here we will detail exactly what each safety procedure involves, what makes them different and why and how they’re important to high-risk industries.
What is personal safety?
Personal safety, also known as occupational safety, is considered to involve lower-level hazards that are likely to occur at work on a more regular basis. Personal safety is taking preventive action to reduce hazards that can result in slips, trips falls and manual handling injuries – these risks are much more common. Personal safety injuries come from a result of interactions between people and/or equipment – often seen as easily preventable with training and reminders around the workplace in the form of posters.
Most industries and lines of work have personal and occupational safety procedures in place to prevent injuries – ranging from construction to office work.
According to a study conducted by the University of Regina – the number of lost time injuries (time lost due to recovery from a workplace injury) between 2013 -2017 amounted to 251,625 hours. This statistic shows just how many people suffer from workplace injuries as a result of hazards from work – this figure does not include the number of fatalities.
What is process safety?
The term process safety is aimed at implementing controls to reduce the risk of large scale and potentially catastrophic workplace risks. The type of risks considered to be part of process safety includes explosions, fires, and sometimes the release of harmful chemicals – all of which are major hazards.
Process safety looks at the bigger picture when it comes to hazard and injury prevention, rather than slips and trips, manual handling accidents or personal injuries from chemicals or electrical equipment. Industries that focus on process safety include oil and gas firms, as they work with highly dangerous hazardous materials which can cause major incidents.
It’s important that those who work within the oil, gas, chemicals, and pharmaceutical industries have up to date process safety training, as they will need this the most in their jobs. Training will demonstrate how to handle dangerous situations, as well as learning how to prevent catastrophes to save lives.
Process safety incidents result in thousands of deaths, environmental damage and business/property loss for individuals. Process safety is often seen to be the responsibility of large chemical safety experts – however, it’s important to recognize that any high-risk line of work should have a responsible department that deals with any potentially damaging issues.
Why is training important?
We all know that training is important to reduce workplace injuries and to save lives - but different kinds of training are required for personal and process safety.
The Personal Safety industry training often requires staff to work alone at times – therefore employees should have knowledge of lone working procedures through training programs. Lone workers are naturally at risk as they do not have any assistance if they have an accident or come into contact with danger. Measures can be taken to help minimize risks, such as - warning devices (panic alarms, etc.), first training and kits, PPE (personal protection equipment), to name just a few.
Process Safety requires further management training, risk assessments and emergency response – these modules can also involve safety in nuclear operations, pharmaceuticals and chemical industries. As previously mentioned, process safety deals with higher risks, meaning the training is more intense and specialized. For instance, the NEBOSH Certificate in the UK and OSHA in the USA for Process Safety Management teaches delegates advanced technical health and safety, as well as fire and explosion protection – not something you would tend to know whilst working in an office environment.
Which is more important?
Both personal and process safety have injury prevention in common – as well as creating a strong safety culture within the workplace. Despite their similarities, implementing a good personal safety procedure does not ensure that the process safety procedures are taken care of. The issues surrounding both types of safety are widely different but just as important. Taking care of your workforce is essential for saving time, money and potential lives.
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