New Report from Sphera Reveals Adoption of Technology to Prevent Major Accident Hazards and Human Factors Are Top Challenges in Process Safety

“The stakes are higher than ever for process safety improvements,” said Paul Marushka, Sphera's CEO and president. “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. On the bright side, we have seen increased interest from senior management who appreciate the connections between improved systems, profitability and competitiveness. The reality is that improving process safety performance helps to keep people, assets and the environment safe while also reducing costs for stakeholders.”  

Sphera, the leading provider of Enterprise Sustainability Management (ESM) performance and risk management software, data and consulting services, surveyed 300 process safety management (PSM) and operational risk management (ORM) professionals from around the world and in 10 different industries for the 2024 Process Safety Report. The survey explored the state of process safety and operational risk management in some of the most high-hazard industries, from petrochemicals to power utilities.

Senior leadership and compliance are driving forces in process safety
Over time, there has been a material shift in process safety ownership. Compliance obligations and sustainability regulations could be why nearly one-third (32%) of respondents now say senior leadership is driving process safety compared to 29% in 2023. Three-quarters (74%) of respondents agree that regulations have helped improve safety; yet, just over half of respondents (56%) believe that organizations have moved beyond compliance as an obligation. The top drivers for improving safety performance are reducing major accident hazard (MAH) 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% — which is a critical concern for senior leadership.

Process safety improvements still lag behind the technology
Companies have made progress, with respondents noting that digital tools and real-time data are seen as effective with just over half (51%) pointing to the reduced vulnerability to MAHs. Despite these advances, less than one in four organizations (23%) complete all safety-critical maintenance activities on time and on schedule and just one in ten (9%) are confident they are aware of all MAHs. Looking to the future — as plants get older the probability and consequences of incidents become more significant — almost four in ten respondents (39%) are concerned about lack of visibility into operational risk.

Workforce factors highlighted as a top challenge
The survey found that human factors are seen as the top challenge to delivering effective process safety management, with 40% indicating management involvement and 41% indicating competency as top concerns. This is compounded by experienced personnel leaving the workforce with nearly half of respondents (49%) seeing the loss of and lack of experienced workers as the top factor to increase risks.

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About the Process Safety Survey
Since 2016, the Sphera Process Safety Report has provided a telling snapshot of the state of process safety and operational risk management. Sphera surveyed 300 process safety and operational risk management professionals on the current state of PSM and ORM within their organizations for the Process Safety Report 2024. Respondents represented several global industries, such as Manufacturing, Oil and Gas, Utilities and Energy, Chemicals and Petrochemicals, Mining and Metals, among others.

About Sphera
Sphera is the leading provider of Enterprise Sustainability Management (ESM) performance and risk management software, data and consulting services focusing on Environment, Health, Safety & Sustainability (EHS&S), Operational Risk Management (ORM), Product Stewardship and Supply Chain Transparency. For more than 30 years, we have served over 8,400 customers and a million-plus users in 95 countries to help companies keep their people safe, their products sustainable and their operations productive. Learn more about Sphera at www.sphera.com. Follow Sphera on LinkedIn. 

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• Sphera Process Safety Report 2024