Promoting process safety in the Finnish process industry

A research programme to promote process safety is being prepared in Finland. The goal is to improve process safety by combining the expertise and resources of major companies, authorities and research institutes. One concern is with small and medium-sized enterprises. The aim is to reduce the number of accidents, and the losses caused by them, and to improve the working environment in the process industry. The programme will also generate material suitable for training employees. For the programme, a survey looking into the safety-related needs within the process industry was carried out. During the winter of 1998/99, 52 representatives from the process industry, various authorities and research institutes were interviewed. The identified needs dealt with, for instance, knowledge management, human and organisational performance, safety in process plant design and construction, and ensuring safety in multi-company sites and production networks. The results and conclusions of the survey are presented in this paper.