As industries across the Asia-Pacific region accelerate investments in Liquified Natural Gas (LNG), hydrogen, refining and petrochemicals, process safety is emerging as a boardroom priority rather than just a compliance requirement. Ajay Gurao, General Manager at Dekra India, sat down with ENERGDIVE to discuss leadership blind spots, safety culture, digitalisation, and why AI-driven process safety systems could shape the sector by 2030.
Q: Many organisations report strong personal safety metrics, yet major process incidents still occur globally. Since you oversee the Asia Pacific, where do companies in the region most commonly misunderstand process safety maturity?
A: We believe that there has to be a collective approach when we talk about process safety involving people, process, and organisation, where leadership plays a very important role. I believe that the incident we witnessed occurred because of the leader’s lack of leadership, wherein the mindset and approach have to come from top to bottom. Companies can always have the processes and the SOPs, but unless there is a strong mindset coming from the leadership, this cannot be taken care of effectively. Having a good culture is something that needs to be transformed from the top management to the employees of the organisation.
Q: With petrochemicals, LNG, hydrogen, and refining expanding across the region, what systemic process safety risks are being underestimated during rapid capacity expansion?
A: Any risk associated with the system or the process, we always see that it is documented well, or could be done with the support of a consultant. However, the implementation and continuous monitoring of the processes are quite important because, unless organisations have a thorough monitoring system and a review system in place, the implementation does not work. So this is something that needs to be taken care of and should be considered as a priority.
Q: In your experience, what differentiates organisations that genuinely learn from near misses from those that simply document them?
A: Documentation alone does not help effectively. It is always the approach and mindset of individuals that actually helps. Talking about safety is easy but actually following and practicing it is important. The leadership plays a very important role here. Even if there are incidents or near misses, they need to be thoroughly investigated. After the root cause analysis, proper corrective and predictive action has to be taken by the management. Beyond that, organisations should continuously monitor and revisit processes over time to measure their effectiveness. Only through this approach can safety goals truly be achieved.
"One major issue I see in India is that safety is often overlooked or treated casually. Unless leadership has a clear vision on safety and demonstrates it through actions, this mindset will not change "
Q: Plants are being seen to be adopting digital twins, AI-based monitoring, and remote operations. How should company re-evaluate traditional Hazard and Operability Study (HASOP) and risk assessment methodologies?
A: In India, the digitalisation of systems and processes is evolving; however, the pace is slow. But, customers and plant owners are now giving it due consideration because it is helping to achieve predictive maintenance and a more proactive approach towards safety. So yes, digitalisation is something that is the future that we see.
Q: Safety failures often stem from leadership blind spots rather than frontline errors. What governance structures should boards and CXOs institutionalise to prevent catastrophic incidents?
A: When we visit plants to deliver process safety management implementation or conduct gap assessments, we talk about leadership roles, particularly their vision, mission, and overall understanding of safety. With the right mindset of the leadership, the whole process and the system becomes effective. The approach is evolving right now but the top-to-bottom approach or the implementation is something that needs to be continuously or regularly revisited and checked. So that is something very important.
"By 2030, I would like to see process safety risk assessments becoming more automated rather than being entirely dependent on people "
Q: Looking ahead to 2030, what is on your wish list for the energy sector in process safety?
A: I believe the future of process safety lies in digitalisation and AI-driven solutions. By 2030, I would like to see process safety risk assessments becoming more automated rather than being entirely dependent on people. Human-driven systems can sometimes lead to gaps in implementation or inconsistency in approach, whereas technology can help improve effectiveness and standardisation. However, building such systems requires a large amount of quality data, along with deep knowledge and industry information. That is the real challenge. Still, this is clearly the direction the industry is moving towards. At Dekra, for instance, we are already working on digital solutions in process safety and designing tools that can support industries in carrying out studies such as Process Hazard Analysis (PHA) and related assessments. That said, the effectiveness of process safety studies still depends heavily on human interaction and expertise. So, while automation and AI will play a major role, they cannot completely replace human judgment. By 2030, I expect to see significant growth in the digitalisation of process safety systems across the energy sector.
