Process-Safety Operating Discipline Recovery Authority — Petrochemicals

The mandate

Three serious near misses revealed permits extended without field revalidation, standing alarm suppressions carried between shifts and temporary bypasses whose operating conditions were no longer understood. Procedures are current, yet supervisors and console operators describe different thresholds for stopping, escalating and returning equipment. The operations director was suspended while an independent investigation proceeds, creating an immediate authority and credibility gap.

The interim assumes shift-operating authority within five days for nine months, through immediate containment, twelve shift residencies, two major restarts, five abnormal-operation drills and permanent-leader induction. Any bypass, inhibited trip, overdue proof test, alarm flood, permit extension, temporary repair or boundary-condition change becomes a visible operating-discipline event. The final five weeks are reserved for independent successor command.

Handover requires a reconciled temporary-operating register, shift decision standards, permit revalidation, alarm and bypass ownership, stop-work reinforcement, field-console verification, supervisor observation and closure evidence. The permanent leader must direct an unannounced utilities disturbance with a conflicting maintenance permit and degraded alarm picture, demonstrating safe stabilisation and complete shift transfer without interim cues.

The authority may stop units, cancel or revalidate permits, remove personnel from safety-critical duty pending authorised review, close unsafe temporary instructions, replace temporary shift leads and direct €48 million of approved remediation resources. Process Safety owns standards and independent assurance; Engineering approves technical modifications; authorised investigators own causes. Permanent discipline, restart after defined high-risk events and capital above delegation require site-board approval.

Investigation conclusions, major capital design, collective agreement change, regulator negotiation, environmental remediation and long-term production optimisation are outside scope. The interim cannot coach evidence for investigators, redefine engineering limits, reward throughput achieved through control impairment or keep temporary restrictions after their verified exit conditions have been met and approved by the accountable owner.

Why this seat is open

The operations director was suspended when near-miss evidence showed that formal controls and shift practice had separated under production pressure. Temporary command is required during investigation and two major restarts, while the board identifies a permanent leader who can sustain disciplined decisions after heightened scrutiny recedes.

What you will own

• Reconcile every active bypass, suppression, temporary repair and permit extension to conditions, owner and expiry.
• Standardise shift decisions for abnormal operation, work continuation, stabilisation, escalation, shutdown and safe return.
• Verify field and control-room understanding through paired walkdowns, scenario questioning and observed shift transfer.
• Protect stop-work decisions from production pressure while exposing repeated weak preparation and avoidable interruption.
• Direct containment resources toward control impairments with the greatest escalation potential and weakest current barriers.
• Lead five drills involving alarm flood, utility loss, conflicting permit, failed communication and abnormal restart.
• Transfer command after the successor safely resolves an unseen disturbance and reconciles every temporary control.

Candidate qualifications

• Held site operations authority in petrochemicals, refining or another complex major-hazard process environment.
• Recovered operating discipline where current procedures failed to govern permits, bypasses and abnormal situations.
• Directed safe operational containment and restart while maintaining independent investigation and process-safety assurance boundaries.
• Built calibrated supervisor observation and shift-transfer evidence that changed daily operating behaviour under sustained production pressure.
• Exercised stop-work and personnel restriction authority proportionately without predetermining disciplinary outcomes.
• Handed site command to permanent leadership through live restarts and unannounced abnormal-operation drills.

Non-negotiables

• Available within five days for Rotterdam authority, twelve shift residencies and five controlled drills.
• Direct major-hazard operations command is required; process-safety auditing without line authority is insufficient.
• Will disclose petrochemical operators, engineering firms, contractors, insurers, investigators and regulatory advisers.
• Will not influence investigations, change technical limits, negotiate with regulators, redesign capital or decide permanent discipline.

1. 49 words maximum. Describe a current procedure that failed because actual shift decision thresholds had drifted.
2. 49 words maximum. How did you restore bypass and permit discipline without coaching an active investigation?
3. 49 words maximum. Confirm your earliest Rotterdam start and your most recent major-hazard restart authority.