Process Safety Management System Research Articles

The Evolution of Process Safety: Current Status and Future Direction.

The advent of the industrial revolution in the nineteenth century increased the volume and variety of manufactured goods and enriched the quality of life for society as a whole. However, industrialization was also accompanied by new manufacturing and complex processes that brought about the use of hazardous chemicals and difficult-to-control operating conditions. Moreover, human-process-equipment interaction plus on-the-job learning resulted in further undesirable outcomes and associated consequences. These problems gave rise to many catastrophic process safety incidents that resulted in thousands of fatalities and injuries, losses of property, and environmental damages. These events led eventually to the necessity for a gradual development of a new multidisciplinary field, referred to as process safety. From its inception in the early 1970s to the current state of the art, process safety has come to represent a wide array of issues, including safety culture, process safety management systems, process safety engineering, loss prevention, risk assessment, risk management, and inherently safer technology. Governments and academic/research organizations have kept pace with regulatory programs and research initiatives, respectively. Understanding how major incidents impact regulations and contribute to industrial and academic technology development provides a firm foundation to address new challenges, and to continue applying science and engineering to develop and implement programs to keep hazardous materials within containment. Here the most significant incidents in terms of their impact on regulations and the overall development of the field of process safety are described.

Korean experience of process safety management (PSM) regulation for chemical industry

From the 1960s, Korean industries have been encouraged by the government to nurture heavy and chemical industry and to modernize the economics and industrial structures. The development of chemical industry particularly became the turning point in industrial development, and played a major role in the construction of a new industrialized country. However, the process systems in the chemical industry have become more complex and larger, and the inventories of dangerous chemicals that are produced or consumed have continuously increased. Therefore, the hazards from potential accidents such as fire and explosion or release of toxic chemicals have also increased. In fact, from the end of 1980s to the beginning of 1990s in Korea, a number of major industrial accidents such as ABS extruder explosion, TDI release and dryer explosion, etc. Occurred and caused many fatalities. As the chemical companies recognized the importance of preventing major hazards, PSM system, the prevention of major industrial accidents, was introduced in January 1995 by amending Industrial Safety and Health Act, and it has been enforced from January 1, 1996. According to the law, the business owner of a workplace with hazardous or dangerous equipment shall submit a process safety report to the Government to prevent any accidents, which could inflict an immediate damage on workers or on areas in the vicinity of the workplaces. As a result of PSM implementation for 19 years, chemical accident prevention system has been stabilized and various kinds of effectiveness and desirable customer satisfaction have been made.

The meaning and importance of process safety competency

Process safety competency is subject to regulation in some jurisdictions, such as in the United Kingdom by the Health and Safety Executive (UK HSE) under the Control of Major Accident Hazard regulations. Process safety competency is one of 20 elements in the risk-based process safety (RBPS) management system developed by the Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS). However, competency as used in this RBPS element is not the same as the competency regulated by the UK HSE. The RBPS competency element addresses managing a knowledge base of process information and not competency as defined by other CCPS publications which use the term with a similar meaning to the UK HSE. This makes for a confusing situation for companies interested in improving their management of process safety competency. The scope of the RBPS element should be revised to address true competency. Currently, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Process Safety Management Standard and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Risk Management Program rule do not address competency. However, both regulators are considering revisions to these regulations, including the incorporation of additional elements from the CCPS RBPS management system that are not currently in the regulations. One of these elements is process safety competency, as defined in the CCPS RBPS management system. This action would result in an inadequate treatment of competency. If a competency element is incorporated into the regulations, it should address true competency. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Process Saf Prog 35: 171–175, 2016

PROCESS SAFETY MANAGEMENT LEARNING MODULE

An engineer’s paramount duty is to protect the welfare of the public. This duty includes ensuring that technical systems are designed and operated as safely as possible. This is achieved by minimizing the risk of injury or harm to people, property and the environment. Process Safety Management (PSM) is a framework for managing process risks associated with the storage, handling and manufacturing of hazardous substances, but the general principles are not industry-specific. The ultimate goal of PSM is to prevent the occurrence of major hazard incidents for the lifetime of the process, regardless of changes in personnel, organization, or environment. In PSM, a hazard incident is the unintended release of harmful substances or energy from equipment that is meant to contain it. PSM requires organizational commitment, and active participation of all stakeholders. PSM is based on process knowledge combined with systematic hazard identification and risk analysis. Risk is a measure of the probability and severity of a hazard incident. While risk is never zero, it can be minimized by taking measures to reduce the probability of occurrence, and to limit the severity of the consequences. Measures to reduce risk include inherently safer design, improving operating procedures, safer work practices, improving maintenance procedures and process documentation, improving management of change, and planning for responding to incidents. PSM systems undergo continuous improvement by incorporating lessons from hazard incidents, measuring and auditing performance, and generally learning from experience. Western University has developed a learning module on Process Safety Management to introduce engineering students to these important concepts. The module has been developed using PowerPoint, and is fully editable by instructors to suit specific learning objectives. The module includes numerous case studies to illustrate important PSM concepts, and a library of sample quiz questions is also included.

1996 amines plant explosion

Process safety management systems should be in place to ensure repeatability in operations. A good system consists of higher level procedures that describe what to do. At the plant level, the management system describes who does the activity and how it is done. Following procedures leads to predictability in operations. In 1996, Celanese had established a rigorous management system that consisted of 21 elements of process safety. However, before the elements could be fully implanted globally, failure to rigorously apply several elements led to an explosion in our Cangrejera facility resulting in two fatalities. This article discusses the management system failures of conduct of operations elements, safe operating limits, standard operating procedures and training, and critical safety equipment management and how each failed due to a common weakness of management systems. An overview of the Celanese Process Safety Lessons Learned program is presented as our way of embedding knowledge of this and other incidents in our culture to prevent similar incidents in the future. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Process Saf Prog, 2015

Accidental Release of Chlorine from a Storage Facility and an On‐Site Emergency Mock Drill: A Case Study

In the current industrial scenario there is a serious need for formulating strategies to handle hazardous substances in the safest way. Manufacture, storage, and use of hazardous substances pose a serious risk to industry, people, and the environment. Accidental release of toxic chemicals can lead to emergencies. An emergency response plan (ERP) is inevitable to minimize the adverse effects of such releases. The on-site emergency plan is an integral component of any process safety and risk management system. This paper deals with an on-site emergency response plan for a chlorine manufacturing industry. It was developed on the basis of a previous study on chlorine release and a full scale mock drill has been conducted for testing the plan. Results indicated that properly trained personnel can effectively handle each level of incidents occurring in the process plant. As an extensive guideline to the district level government authorities for off-site emergency planning, risk zone has also been estimated with reference to a chlorine exposure threshold of 3 ppm.

Development of Process Safety Management System (PSMS): Mechanical Integrity (MI)

Accident is one of the big issues that occur repeatedly in the process industries today though there is numerous application of the variety safeguarding measures that have been introduced. Equipment failure is identified as one of the root causes of these major accidents. One of the established standards that addressed the above issue is a Mechanical Integrity (MI) element of Process safety Management System (PSM) 29 CFR 1910.119(j). The main objective of this study is to introduce a systematic technique to implement PSM MI in process industries. This study covered analysis of requirements of the standard, development of framework and prototype tool as well as concept validation through a case study. Implementation of this technique will help employers to prevent major accidents and compliance to the PSM standard simultaneously.

Enterprise PSM development, implementation, and auditing

Process safety management (PSM) system auditing is evolving into a more business critical function and is receiving far more attention than previously as PSM evolves. The expectation for success in PSM is high and auditing is a key opportunity to validate the process and improve performance. Most auditing processes address the PSM system from an incomplete approach without consideration of the actual design of the management system or goals of the organization. Auditing can be more effective if synchronized to organizational design and goals. PSM management systems and the audit process that review them need to be defined from the fundamentals, including the following considerations: What management model will be used? Which elements will the process comprise? Is the program regulatory driven or performance driven? Are there multiple performance objectives to be met? What key performance indicators (KPIs) will be used to measure performance? With that foundation, the auditing process can be defined to assure compliance to the required system. Many companies are only now facing the rationalization of global PSM performance. This article will outline an approach for defining corporate objectives, understanding options available, defining a PSM program, defining performance objectives and KPIs, designing an audit program, and then executing the audit process. This is a necessity to ensure that the enterprise‐wide process is defined and managed for responsible management of process hazards [9th Global Congress on Process Safety, San Antonio, TX, April 29–May 1, 2013]. © 2014 The Authors. Process Safety Progress published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of American Institute of Chemical Engineers Process Saf Prog 34: 94–99, 2015

산업안전규제 순응 스트레스, 인적오류, 직무만족도간의 연관성 분석

Abstract : This study aims to suggest a measure to reduce industrial accident and secure adaptation to the industrial safety regulation policies by empirically establishing the effects of stress from adaptation to the industrial safety regulation on the human error, one of direct causes of industrial accident to the target groups of the industrial safety regulation policies. This study as for content range examines the stress from adaptation to the industrial safety regulation, job satisfaction, human error, and as for spatial range, this study performed an empirical research on the workers of 24 companies located within Chungcheong region centers district among 153 companies nationwide that uses 7 chemicals by introducing PSM (process safety management) system of the Ministry of Employment & Labor as of January 2012. Based on these results and suggestions there are five(5) necessities to reduce industrial safety regulations adaptation stress and human error generation, first(1st) is the necessity of understanding influential factors to stress, second(2nd) is the necessity to customized vocational training, third(3rd) is improving enhance system of job satisfaction, forth(4th) is preparing stress-reduction program, and fifth(5th) is introducing on-site restrictive action of advanced country as politics items.

대규모 PSM 사업장의 자체감사에 대한 효율적 운영 연구

산업시설의 대형, 첨단화에 따라 각 산업현장에서 다양한 종류의 유해 위험물질이 대량으로 사용되고 있다. 이에 따라 독성누출, 화재, 폭발 등의 중대산업사고가 지속적으로 발생되고 있으며 그 위험은 점점 높아지고 있는 실정이다. 여러 예방 시스템 중 Process Safety Management (PSM, 공정안전관리)제도가 있지만 아직까지도 제도의 취지와는 다르게 자율적인 운영보다는 해당 관청의 지도 점검에 맞추어 PSM 제도가 운영되고 있어 보이지 않는 중대위험이 잠재한 대규모 PSM 사업장의 안전성 확보에는 한계가 있다고 할 수 있다. 사업장의 안전시스템을 검증하기 위해서는 기존 시스템의 보완이 절실히 요구된다. 이에 본 연구에서는 PSM 자체감사의 중요성을 강조하고, 현재 제도의 문제점을 분석하여, 이에 대한 시스템 검증으로 제도 개선의 제안과 효율적인 자체감사 운영을 통해 자율 안전성을 강화하도록 하였으며, 또한 제도적으로도 이를 뒷받침할 수 있는 방법을 연구하여 제안하였다. Industrial facilities are becoming bigger and more up to date, And a kind of the hazardous material used in the industrial filed is diversified. Therefore, serious accidents such as leakage of toxic materials, fire and explosion, is continuously occurred. There is Process Safety Management (PSM) system of the several preventive systems, but it is supposed to be a limitation to ensure safety or huge PSM industrial sites where have potential to catastrophically invisible and unexpected risks because it is still being managed by instruction and inspection of authority having jurisdiction other than self-regulating management differing from the primarily aim of PSM system. To verify safety management system of work-place, supplementation of existing system is urgently required. In this study, it suggests that PSM self-audit be emphasized significantly analyzing problems of the current systems for enhancing self-audit be emphasized significantly analyzing problems of the current systems for enhancing self-control safety through efficient self-audit management and improving the existing system and improving the existing as verifying the system there of, as well as studying methods which can support institutionally.

Using assessments to improve process safety culture

Deficiencies in conduct of operations and operational discipline can lead to a decline in the quality of an organization's process safety culture and an increase in the likelihood of process safety incidents. A process safety assessment is one tool especially suited for identifying and correcting organizational safety culture deficiencies. Both AIChE/CCPS and API offer recent guidance documents on how to conduct effective assessments of process safety management systems. This article first introduces some basic concepts from game theory and applies them to the methodology of process safety assessments. A conceptual framework for the implementation of the process safety assessment process with balanced positive and corrective actions will be described. Assessment guidelines typically focus on the negative outcomes—correcting deficiencies. This article argues that the assessment process must also use the positive outcomes—the compliance successes—to provide positive reinforcement to the process safety culture. Implementing this strategy is consistent with pragmatic management practices and is supported by empirical studies in behavioral science. Finally, this article discusses how these ideas fit within the framework of AIChE/CCPS and API guidance documents. © 2013 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Process Saf Prog 33: 148–151, 2014

A Benchmarking Study on Asset Integrity and the Issues of Ageing Plant in the Chemical Industry and the Challenges of PSM Implementation across Global Sites

Guidance on best practice for Process Safety exists in the form of HSE documents and literature from the Process Safety Leadership Group (PSLG), but in general the high hazard industry’s approach to it has been somewhat disjointed. In order to address this, HFL Risk Services, together with the Chemical Industries Association and the National Skills Academy for the Process Industries embarked on what was the first ever Process Safety Management benchmarking programme for UK COMAH sites. The focus of the benchmarking programme was Asset Integrity Management, one of the most fundamental aspects of an effective PSM system and a topic that is of concern on account of the continuing use of ageing plant. Further studies were later carried out across Europe, independently of the UK stakeholders, with 18 sites taking part in all. Whilst is it recognised that countries may operate under differing regulatory requirements and that sites may have differing cultures it emerged that, irrespective of geography or language, the same safety issues arose within benchmarked sites in each of the separate global production plants. The challenge for any dispersed global organisation is to operate a world class process safety management system appropriate for all sites regardless of geographical location or language.It was clear from the research that although there were several instances of world class performance in terms of PSM, there were weaknesses in other areas, most notably Process Safety Leadership.This paper examines the key results of the benchmarking programmes, their implications for the chemical industry as a whole and provides examples of best practice in implementing and sustaining effective safety management system.

사고 데이터베이스를 활용한 안전 관리 시스템의 정량적 Audit 시스템 개발

Abstract : In the chemical process industries, accidents have a high potential and large effects on catastrophic results. Therefore the safety management for accident prevention plays a crucial role to guarantee the process safety. For these reasons, many systematic methods for safety management system have been widely employed in the fields of chemical processes. PSM (Process safety management) is one of most representative methods. The audit system, which is one of PSM system components, evaluates the performance of PMS system. However, most existing safety audit systems are not systematic and these are performed based on knowledges and experiences of various specialist. Moreover, the safety audit is only performed based on each independent technical component. So, the results of safety audit are not a quantitative index but only a series of commentaries. Finally, it is very difficult to obtain the comparison with other plants or industries. In this study, the novel systematic method and index-based accident database of auditing safety management systems for quantitative assessment are proposed. First, the elements of safety audit replace technical methods to categories of accident database. The F-N curve of each category for accident database is employed to derive the index for quantitative assessment. The Accidental Factor Risk Index (AFRI) is suggested for evaluating the effect of each element in accident database and safety audit system. The safety audit can be modified according to the proposed index.

Integrating IEC 62443 cyber security with existing industrial process and functional safety management systems

Integrating IEC 62443 cyber security with existing industrial process and functional safety management systems

석유화학공장에서 피해지역 및 재정적 손실에 의한 사고 피해크기 비교

PSM 제도와 더불어 사고 피해크기 예측기법은 국내 석유화학공장에 많이 보급되어 활용되고 있으나, 사고로 인한 영향, 즉, 작업자, 조업중단, 유틸리티에 미치는 영향을 고려하지 않고, 비상조치계획을 수립하고 있어서 다소 현실적이지 못한 문제점이 있다. 따라서 본 연구에서는 현실적인 비상조치계획을 수립하고, 위험기반 안전관리를 수행할 수 있도록 하기 위하여 석유화학공장의 설비에서 사고로 인한 피해지역과 재정적 손실을 산출하여 사고 피해크기를 비교 분석하였다. 피해지역을 기준으로 하는 경우에는 장치손상지역, 상해지역 그리고 독성지역을 동시에 고려한 안전지역을 기준으로 피해크기 등급을 산출하여야 하고, 또한 공정의 특성 및 주변 환경을 고려하면 피해지역을 기준으로 하는 것보다 재정적 손실을 기준으로 하는 것이 현실적인 사고 피해크기 산출방법이었다. The consequence analysis (CA) is widely using in the petrochemical plant through adoption of the process safety management (PSM) system, but it has not practical problem that the CA was not reflected effects for employee count, business interruption loss, utility usage, and etc.. In this study, to establish the practical emergency response plan and to achieve risk based management, the consequence based on the damage area and the financial loss were estimated and compared through application on facilities in the petrochemical plant. If the damage area is used, the consequence category must be determined by safety area considering simultaneously damage area, fatality area and toxic area. Also, the consequences based on the financial loss is more practical method for the case of considering process properties and circumstances.

Improving operational discipline to prevent loss of containment incidents

AbstractProcess safety and risk management systems are implemented to reduce injuries and process incidents. The effectiveness of these systems is dependent on the company's implementation and support for operational discipline (OD)‐related programs to ensure that the process safety management system requirements are followed day‐to‐day at all levels of the organization. However, OD‐program‐related problems continue to contribute to process incidents, including loss of containment (LOC) incidents, especially since they may not be formally addressed during incident investigations. This article provides a brief historical overview of major LOC incidents, describes how poor OD increases process safety risk and can contribute to LOC incidents, and provides an incident investigation tool to help monitor and improve OD characteristics. © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Process Saf Prog, 2011

PSM system upgrade in response to an Occupational Safety and Health Administration NEP inspection

AbstractThis article presents a brief analysis of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Petroleum Refinery Process Safety Management National Emphasis Program (NEP) citation results as of early 2009. It includes trends distilled from the OSHA inspections performed to date. Recommendations for preparing for PSM NEP level inspections are provided.A proven approach to designing and implementing an upgrade project for OSHA process safety management systems and EPA risk management program is described. The model presented can be targeted to a facility's NEP specific citations or used for a general PSM system effectiveness upgrade.This article includes recommendations for improving PSM as a result of an NEP inspection. The recommendations are for the PSM elements that routinely have major OSHA citations; that is: Operating Procedures, Mechanical Integrity, Process Hazards Analysis, Process Safety Information, Management of Change, and Incident Investigations. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Process Saf Prog 2009

Performance evaluation of process safety management systems of paint manufacturing facilities

The objective of this work was to develop a model to evaluate the performance of process safety management systems of paint manufacturing facilities. The model was constructed based on a three-level multi-attribute value model (MAVT) approach. The first level consisted of Deming's PDCA cycle, labeled as Plan, Do, Control, and Act Factors. The 20 attributes of the second level and 101 elements of the third levels were significant attributes derived from the literature search. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and factor analysis were used to assign their weights. Using this model, a Safety Index (SI) of a paint manufacturing facility could be calculated based on the independent evaluation of safety auditors. Safety audits on four paint manufacturing facilities were conducted by three auditors chosen from government inspectors, safety consulting engineers and paint industry professionals. The results showed that the two OHSAS 18001 certified facilities with zero Disabling Severity Rate (SR) and Disabling Frequency Rate (FR) statistics in 2006 scored much higher than those without OHSAS 18001 certification and with high SR/FR. The result of a two-way ANOVA and the low standard deviations indicated that the bias among different auditors was minimal. The framework developed in this work will be modified, generalized, and applied to other industry sectors in the future.

Improved process safety management and simple metrics

AbstractA Process Safety Management (PSM) system was recently implemented at Gulf Coast Waste Disposal Authority (GCWDA). This approach enabled management of increased process risks. These increased risks were brought about by the introduction of large quantities of oxygen for the processing of chemical waste and the destruction of emissions in Regenerative Thermal Oxidizers. This was a voluntary effort by GCWDA, since they do not fall under the OSHA PSM Standard (29 CFR 1910.119).A tailored PSM system was developed that could comply with the OSHA Standard. This PSM system also included additional elements that are considered improvements on OSHA elements. These additional elements are utilized by some leading U.S. chemical manufacturing companies. These additional elements included Management Commitment, Management Review, Conduct of Operations and Continuous Improvement.Simple metrics were created for selected PSM elements, in order to allow for continuous and proactive management review. These metrics supplemented periodic audits and replaced reliance on the common use of incident statistics.This article will deal with the implementation of the PSM system from both the perspectives of the consultant that assisted in the implementation and the facility management that managed the implementation. The successes and some of the barriers for implementation in a small company will also be discussed, as well as the management success in the year after its implementation. © 2008 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Process Saf Prog, 2008

Process safety improvement—Quality and target zero

Process safety practitioners have adopted quality management principles in design of process safety management systems with positive effect, yet achieving safety objectives sometimes remain a distant target. Companies regularly apply tools and methods which have roots in quality and productivity improvement. The “plan, do, check, act” improvement loop, statistical analysis of incidents (non-conformities), and performance trending popularized by Dr. Deming are now commonly used in the context of process safety. Significant advancements in HSE performance are reported after applying methods viewed as fundamental for quality management. In pursuit of continual process safety improvement, the paper examines various quality improvement methods, and explores how methods intended for product quality can be additionally applied to continual improvement of process safety. Methods such as Kaizen, Poke yoke, and TRIZ, while long established for quality improvement, are quite unfamiliar in the process safety arena. These methods are discussed for application in improving both process safety leadership and field work team performance. Practical ways to advance process safety, based on the methods, are given.