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Creeping changes are the accumulation of minor changes which often are ignored or accepted as the new norm, but which over time can add up to a big change and ultimately lead to a major incident. The well-known phenomenon, “normalization of deviance” fits into with this category too, with accepting deviations from the norm. The theory behind creeping changes is that no industrial sites are static, there are changes made to the original design or there are changes due to ageing and degradation of equipment over time, together with organizational changes that can affect plant integrity.
Ask yourself and your crew:
- How can something like this happen here (e.g. on our site)?
- What safety measures (i.e. procedures, controls/barriers) do we have in place to mitigate the risk?
- How do we know the risk controls/barriers are working?
- What improvements or changes should we make to the procedures, controls/barriers or the way we work?
Original content courtesy of IChemE Safety Centre
Other issues from ISC Safety Lore series:
ISC Safety Lore issue 1 - Key lessons from incidents during startup operations
ISC Safety Lore issue 2 - Key lessons from incidents during maintenance on atmospheric storage tanks
ISC Safety Lore issue 3 - Key lessons from incidents involving flare systems
ISC Safety Lore issue 4 - Key lessons from incidents relating to ageing
ISC Safety Lore issue 5 - Key lessons from incidents relating to creeping changes
ISC Safety Lore issue 6 - Key lessons from incidents relating to flanges
ISC Safety Lore issue 7 - Key lessons from road transportation incidents
ISC Safety Lore issue 8 - Key lessons from incidents related to shift-handover
ISC Safety Lore issue 9 - Key lessons from incidents related to permit to work
ISC Safety Lore issue 10 - Key lessons from incidents related to alarm management
ISC Safety Lore issue 11 - Key lessons from incidents related to ammonium nitrate fertilisers
ISC Safety Lore issue 12 - Key lessons from coal mine methane explosions
ISC Safety Lore issue 13 - Key lessons from incidents related to audits
ISC Safety Lore issue 14- Key lessons from incidents - inadequate hazard identification
ISC Safety Lore issue 15 - Key lessons from incidents related to dust explosions
ISC Safety Lore issue 16 - Key lessons from incidents related to procurement
ISC Safety Lore issue 17 - Key lessons from incidents related to intermediate bulk containers (IBCs)
ISC Safety Lore issue 18 - Key lessons from incidents related to flammable atmospheres
ISC Safety Lore issue 19 - Key lessons from incidents involving confined space entry
