Water & Wastewater Asia May/June 2019

INSIGHT | 49
WWA: How is process safety discipline presently maintained in
Singapore and what are some of the disadvantages of this current
system?
EPK: On top of the existing Workplace Safety & Health (WSH)
framework, the process safety discipline is on a learning curve right
now with a new regulation in Singapore — called Major Hazard
Installation Regulations (i.e. Safety Case Regime), which is applicable
to the major hazard installations — and it came into effect recently in
2017. These regulations require major hazard installations to better
manage the process safety risks.
Right now, we are on a journey and it’s going in the right direction.
One of the main challenges companies face with the new regulations
is that the major hazards have to be managed in a different
manner when compared to what we have been doing in the past
(e.g. demonstration to the regulators) — which means additional
resources with the right skillset is required. Not every company has
this capability internally. There is also the cost pressure as everything
done involves some form of cost, and there is a potential for a cost
impact. Unfortunately, almost every operating company has a tight
margin and so this poses a challenge to them.
WWA: Because of the new regulations, are there any new training
procedures and new standards?
EPK: There is a framework provided by the agencies. But each
company has to deal with this internally, though industry-wise, there
are government-approved service providers that give training.
more reliable. For example, digital transformation has come with a
wireless system, and we don’t need to spend a significant amount
of cost on the infrastructure to get that kind of gas/leak detection
system.
WWA: With this increasing reliance on digitalisation, how do you
approach the issue of cybersecurity?
EPK: We cannot compromise cybersecurity protection requirements
for critical equipment/facility, but it may not be a concern for the less
critical ones. Critical ones refer to the pieces of information that are
very important for health and safety or perhaps equipment that can
lead to the shutdown of the entire facility resulting in a significant
business impact. In case of a breach due to cybersecurity on these
critical equipment/facilities, there is a potential for a significant
impact and so we can’t rely on wireless or other vulnerable systems
at this point in time
But if this piece of information or equipment does help us to better
operate the plant but is not really critical, then we can move that
onto digitalisation (e.g. wireless).
WWA: What advice do you have for leaders in the process safety
industry?
EPK: I think it’s really about the competence and skillset. If the
competence and skillset is there with the workforce, no matter
whatever the change/disruption happens in the future, the workforce
is able to handle and manage them better
The framework is intentionally designed to be flexible so that it can
be applied to a wide-range of companies involved — from small
companies such as chemical storage facilities to big petroleum
refineries. At the same time, the practitioners are also on a learning
curve, and everyone is doing their best to incorporate each other’s
learnings and continue to correct themselves slowly.
WWA: How has the digital transformation helped the process
safety discipline?
EPK: In order to detect a leak in the past, people would install a
permanent gas/leak detector and physically wire it like what we do
with lights, running a cable. It takes a lot of infrastructure, but it is
For example, if we don’t have a workforce with a complete process
safety knowledge today and a disruption comes in tomorrow,
requiring us to do things in a certain way, we do not have the
background of what was done historically. Without the knowledge
and skillset, we may not be able to make better decisions.
On the soft side, workforce should also be flexible and receptive to
the changes. The workforce may need to unlearn certain things and
relearn new things. Some of us may have the difficulty to unlearn
because we have been doing things in a particular way. This mindset
has to change as it may not work today or in the future. WWA
Water & Wastewater Asia • May / June 2019