Book excerpt: The definitive leadership guide on safe practices The release of chemicals and other hazardous materials pose significant, potentially catastrophic threats worldwide. An alarming number of such events, all of which are preventable, occur too often. Reducing the frequency of serious incidents is a fundamental responsibility of leadership at all levels, from frontline managers and supervisors to C-suite executives and the board of directors as well. Process Safety Leadership from the Boardroom to the Frontline is a practical, authoritative guide that clearly demonstrates how to create a viable culture of safety within an organization, implement and maintain disciplined management systems, and address the risks of process safety deficiencies. The most important factor in any management system is leadership. For chemical process safety management, effective and informed leadership provides direction, reinforces commitment, and drives responsibility. Written by experts from the Center for Chemical Process Safety, the world's largest provider of engineering curriculum materials for process safety, this pragmatic book contains the critical information and guidelines required to lead and manage process safety. Detailed yet accessible chapters examine topics such as strengthening management system accountability, driving operation within constraints, ensuring corporate memory, verifying execution, and more. Designed to be frequently used, shared, and discussed by leadership teams throughout an organization, this indispensable resource: Demonstrates the many ways process safety benefits an organization, based on benchmarking and broad industrial experience Develops skills and expands knowledge needed to drive consistent, reliable process safety performance Describes essential behaviors and actions for leaders to drive excellence in process safety cultures and disciplined management systems Helps establish risk criteria and safeguards for companies Presents new and previously unpublished experiences, approaches, and thinking Written for executives, plant leaders, functional managers, frontline supervisors and also individual contributors, Process Safety Leadership from the Boardroom to the Frontline provides a much-needed guide for instituting safe practices within a company. The Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) has been the world leader in developing and disseminating information on process safety management and technology since 1985. The CCPS, an industry technology alliance of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), has published over 100 books in its process safety guidelines and process safety concepts series, and over 10 training modules through its Safety in Chemical Engineering Education (SAChE) series.