Avoiding the Watermelon Effect

ABB. Developing a ‘chronic sense of unease’ towards major accidents is seen as a vital step for companies with hazardous facilities to reach the levels of performance being achieved in truly high reliability organisations. Major accidents at Texas City and Buncefield in 2005 marked a watershed for the global process industry and led to general agreement that senior leadership is vital in developing an effective process safety culture. Fast forward over a decade however and evidence suggests that large losses are still happening at a consistently high rate across the global process industry. In this white paper ABB Consulting presents the findings from analysis of feedback and data from senior process safety professionals. It introduces the concept of the ‘watermelon’ effect.