Process safety management

Process safety management (PSM) is a practice to manage business operations critical to process safety. It can be implemented using the established OSHA scheme ^[1] or others made available by the EPA, ^[2] AIChE's Center for Chemical Process Safety, ^[3] or the Energy Institute. ^[4]

PSM schemes are organized in 'elements'. Different schemes are based on different lists of elements. This is a typical list of elements that may be reconciled with most established PSM schemes:

• Commit to process safety
  • Process safety culture
  • Compliance with standards
  • Process safety competency
  • Workforce involvement
  • Stakeholder outreach
• Understand hazards and risks
  • Process knowledge and documentation management
  • Hazard identification and risk analysis
• Manage risk
  • Operating procedures
  • Safe work practices (e.g. a permit-to-work system)
  • Asset integrity management
  • Contractor management
  • Training and performance assurance
  • Management of change
  • Operational readiness
  • Conduct of operations
  • Emergency management
• Learn from experience
  • Incident investigation
  • Process safety metrics and performance measurement
  • Auditing
  • Management review and continuous improvement

Industry participation

Alongside regulatory frameworks and industry standards, process safety management is implemented with support from private engineering and consulting firms that provide technical services such as hazard analysis, risk assessment, and management system support. Examples of organizations offering such services include IRESC Global, ABS Group, Jensen Hughes, and PSRG, which operate in sectors involving hazardous industrial processes.

References

1. "Code of Federal Regulations, Title 29, Subtitle B, Chapter XVII, Part 1910, Subpart H § 1910.119". eCFR. 2023-06-15. Retrieved 2023-06-20.
2. EPA (2013-10-29). "Risk Management Program (RMP) Rule Overview". United States Environmental Protection Agency . Archived from the original on 2023-06-18. Retrieved 2023-06-22.
3. CCPS (2007). Guidelines for Risk Based Process Safety. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN   978-0-470-16569-0.
4. Energy Institute (2010). High Level Framework for Process Safety Management (1st ed.). London: Energy Institute. ISBN   978-0-85293-584-2.

Further reading

Nwankwo, Chizaram D.; Theophilus, Stephen C.; Arewa, Andrew A. (May 18, 2020). "A Comparative Analysis of Process Safety Management (PSM) Systems in the Process Industry" (PDF). Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries . 66. doi:10.1016/j.jlp.2020.104171. S2CID   219495043.