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- Title
Pass it on! Revisiting shift handover after Buncefield.
- Authors
Wilkinson, John; Lardner, Ronny
- Abstract
Since it was first recognised as a key issue after the Piper Alpha disaster, failures in shift communication, including shift handover, continue to be a significant contributor to industrial major accidents worldwide and are now increasingly recognised as critical in other domains such as patient safety. This paper reviews the current literature and uses the Buncefield oil storage depot explosion and fires as an exemplar incident. It then reviews what is known about handover and whether there is a knowledge or application gap for the on and offshore major hazard sector. Finally, it compares the onshore major hazard industry experience to that for offshore oil and gas. The review concludes that, despite the increasing interest in this topic, there has been little new original research since Lardner's seminal work in 1992. A number of papers have attempted to tailor what is already known about handover and apply it to new domains such as patient safety. In other key industry sectors, the focusis significantly narrower and more specialised e.g. for air traffic control (ATC), aircraft maintenance, and spacecraft ground control. The nuclear sector, while it has done much to progress this. issue within the industry, has published little in the public domain. Going forward, the review identifies the main gap in the application of existing knowledge about good practice in handover, and not in the underlying research. There is also an over-focus on shift-to-shift handover specifically and not on wider - but equally critical - within- shift and shift/days or shift/management communication issues. The lessons from Buncefield, while identified at a general level, lack the impact that a fuller understanding of the background story leading up to the incident could provide. With respect to offshore, some unique features of the offshore working environment are identified as making shift communication and handover even more difficult and important to manage. For example, it is argued that offshore working is in effect a complete shift operation because of the physical separation from onshore and this exacerbates communication difficulties with the shore or 'beach'. Finally, recommendations are made for the way forward for both the on and offshore sectors.
- Subjects
BUNCEFIELD Oil Storage Depot (Hemel Hempstead, England); OIL storage tank accidents; FACTORY accidents; AIR traffic control; EXPLOSIONS
- Publication
Loss Prevention Bulletin, 2013, Issue 229, p25
- ISSN
0260-9576
- Publication type
Article