OIL AND GAS

The HSE has defined Human factors as the characteristics of the job, individual and organisation that influence human performance.

HSE expectations are that the General Duty under Control Of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH) requires that every operator must take all measures necessary to prevent major accidents and limit their consequences for human health and the environment.

Where reliance is placed on people as part of those necessary measures, human factors and human reliability should be addressed with the same rigour as technical and engineering measures. Duty-holders at non-COMAH sites may also be required to address HF with a similar degree of rigour under other legislation, if they rely heavily on people to manage high-hazard risks.

HSE also require that competent people undertake Human Factors assessments. Paul Traub Associates are deemed competent and have a long and strong record in undertaking Human Factors assessments under COMAH including Safety Critical Task Analysis (SCTA), Human Reliability Analysis, Control room design/assessment and fatigue risk assessments for number of duty holders including Tier 1 sites.


A brief summary of some projects completed for some of our clients is provided below.

Storengy Gas Storage Facility - Human Factors Integration Review and Fatigue Risk Assessment

This work was to support production of a COMAH Safety Report. The depth and breadth of HFI was assessed against detailed criteria derived from a number of standards from railways, defence and Air Traffic Control. The scope of work also included a detailed Human Reliability Assessment. This work also included a fatigue risk assessment of the proposed shift system.

EON-Holford Gas Storage Facility - Control Room Assessment

This work undertaken in support of a COMAH Safety Report. The control room was assessed against modern standards and best practice such as ISO11064 and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Control Room Guidance.

"No matter how well equipment is designed, no matter how sensible regulations are, no matter how much humans excel in their individual or small team’s performance, they can never be better than the system that bounds them." - Charles Haddon-Cave QC.

Oikos Storage Canvey Island - Task Analysis and Human Error Assessment in Support of a COMAH Safety Report

This work was completed in support of a COMAH assessment. A number of recommendations were made with respect to alarm management and control room design to improve safety.

Confidential Client - Hazardous Waste Human Reliability Assessments across 5 UK Sites and Investigation into a Hazardous Waste Spillage Accident (in Tanker Loading)

This work was conducted in response to a significant solvent spillage at a large plant facility. The work involves assessment of tasks, human errors and design of the tanker loading systems.

Confidential Client - Safety Critical Task Analysis and Human Error Analysis to support a COMAH Safety Report for a Tier 3 off-shore Supplier

This work involved a workshop with Offshore Operators, Maintainers and Managers to ascertain Safety Critical Tasks with potential high consequences. As a result of this work a number of procedural, training and engineering safety guards were proposed that were selected for further review so as to improve production safety.