Principles of Process Safety Management

The blog The Principles of Process Safety Management summarizes the principles of the series of posts at The Process Safety Report.

The headings in the post are:

Overview
Process Safety Management
Elements of PSM
Definition of Process Safety Management
Safe Limits
Operating, Safe and Emergency Limits 
Managing a PSM Program
   Measurement
   Involvement
   Thoroughness
   Holistic
   The ‘Most Important’ Elements

Overview

Process Safety Management (PSM) is a management system used in the design and operation of industrial processes that handle large quantities of hazardous and flammable chemicals.

PSM is not new; indeed it has always been an integral part of the process industries. Companies have always carried out activities such as writing operating procedures, planning for emergencies, training technicians and investigating incidents. But it was in the late 1980s and early 1990s that PSM programs became more formalized and regulated. Trigger events were the catastrophic release of toxic chemicals from a facility in Bhopal, India in the year 1984, and the offshore Piper Alpha disaster in the year 1986. 

In the United States the first nation-wide regulation was 29 CFR 1910.119, Process Safety Management of Highly Hazardous Chemicals, from OSHA (the Occupational Safety & Health Administration), introduced in the year 1992. This regulation served as a model for PSM programs in many other nations and for internal programs developed by many large energy and process companies.

Process safety programs are generally developed for large process and energy facilities such as chemical plants, refineries, offshore oil and gas platforms and pipelines. It is also used in related industries such as pharmaceuticals, food processing and power generation.

Process Safety Management

PSM can best be understood by examining its component words. 

The first word is Process. PSM is concerned with process issues such as fires and the release of toxic gases, as distinct from occupational safety issues, such as trips and falls. 

The second word is Safety. Although an effective PSM program improves all aspects of a facility's operation, the driving force for most PSM programs is the need to maintain safe operations, with a focus on the prevention of catastrophic accidents such as explosions, fires and the release of toxic gases. (It is worth noting, however, that the 2019 fatal incident at the KMCO facility led to closure of the facility involved. The economic impact of a process safety event can be disastrous.)

The Center for Chemical Process Safety provides guidance as to what constitutes a PSM event.

• It must involve a chemical or have chemical process involvement;

• It must be above a minimum reporting threshold;

• It must occur at a process location; and

• The release must be acute, i.e., it must occur over a short period of time.

The third word is Management. A PSM program is to do with creating and implementing management systems that prevent and control major incidents. It is not fundamentally about meeting prescriptive rules or engineering standards. In this context a manager is taken to be anyone who has some degree of control over the process, including operators, engineers and maintenance workers.