Process Safety Management

Introduction

Process Safety Management is a methodology that Major Accident Hazard (MAH) sites may use to protect their employees, the public and the environment from the risks presented by the operation of these MAH sites. Since most MAH scenarios involve a release of energy, chemicals or other highly hazardous materials it can be envisioned in the phrase “Keep it in the Pipe”

It is fundamentally different to Personal Safety Management in that a management system to deal with slips trips and falls is designed to deal with High Frequency, Low Consequence events whilst the Process Safety Management system is designed to prevent and mitigate against Low Frequency High Consequence events

Application

There are several framework models for PSM but most are aligned to either the Energy Institute (EI) or the Centre for Process Safety (CCPS) with 4 focus area

EI

  • Process Safety Leadership
  • Risk Identification and Assessment
  • Risk Management
  • Review and Improvement

CCPS

  • Commit to Process Safety
  • Understand the Hazards and Risks
  • Manage Risk
  • Learn from experience

Each of the focus areas identified then has several different elements that details how the company will prevent, control and mitigate the Major Accident Hazards present in their facilities.

The elements in each focus area details how the company will achieve operational safety to the required tolerability as laid down in local / national / international legislation dependent on location. The elements will detail how for each phase of the lifecycle that plant, equipment and people go through that Process Safety will be maintained at the required level (as a minimum) but preferably improved as the lifecycle progresses.

Services

ProSalus has assisted a number of our clients in carrying out training in Process Safety Management and helping them develop their PSM Systems