Process Safety Management (PSM)

Process Safety Management (PSM), according to Managing Hazardous Materials – A Definitive Text, is considered when applying management systems to identify, evaluate, and control process-related hazards with the goal of safe operation and maintenance of chemical processes. This applies to specific processes rather than entire facilities. A process is considered to be "any activity involving a highly hazardous chemical, including any use, storage, manufacturing, handling, or the on-site movement of such chemicals, or combination of these activities." Any process is subject to PSM standard if it could contain greater than a threshold quantity of a chemical listed in a standard. The PSM program elements include employee participation (availability to review processes and procedures), process safety information (must be revised and reviewed after every change in procedures), process hazard analysis (updated and revised to account for potential hazards associated with the new equipment), operating procedures (mandate steps for operators), operator training (requiring training and verification for new procedures), contractor management (installs new materials), pre-startup safety reviews (shutting down or starting processes), mechanical integrity (routine inspection of equipment), management of change (selecting and installing new nodes of materials or machinery that is effective and cost-friendly), hot work (brazing lines), incident investigation (investigating the portion of the process involved in an incident), emergency response (reviewing the response plan), audits (evaluates the whether the management of change program adequately addresses the changes made in the procedure), and trade secrets (involved in the business-confidential process). Each of these elements are critical in the overall success of Process Safety Management.

(http://www.training.dupont.com/process-safety-management-system)

DuPont's Process Safety Management

The process safety information that must be documented must include chemical information ( hazards, properties, and reactivity/incompatability), process technology (process or blow flow diagrams, process chemistry, and safe operating limits), and process equipment (piping and instrumentation diagrams, materials of construction, and design codes and standards). 

Process Hazard Analysis (PHA) is considered a formal, team-based approach that helps evaluate the risks that are associated with chemical hazards, to identify procedures and equipment where the risks aren't adequately managed, and to make recommendations to correct these issues. Examples of PHA include checklists, what-if analysis, hazard and operability analysis, failure mode and effect analysis, and fault-tree analysis. The first technique mentioned uses a checklist comprised of pre-determined questions relevant to the system. This type of process safety analysis is most applicable to the early design of processes, relatively simple processes, or a process with which the facility or industry has extensive experience or knowledge. What-if analysis is used by team-brainstorming to determine and question the potential process failures the facility or industry might have. Hazard and operability uses guidewords to focus team discussions around specific deviations (high flow, low flow, or high temperature). Failure mode and effect analysis focuses on ways in which individual process components might fail. Fault-tree analysis focuses on top events first, such as an explosion, and then identifies potential combinations of events that could have led to the top event. This process uses AND and OR logic gates when discussing possible modes of events. This event gives the most quantitative analysis of event probabilities.

An OSHA-compliant PHA must be based on thorough process safety information and must be preformed by a multi-disciplinary team. A proper PHA must address the hazards of the process, administrative, and engineering controls, the consequence of failure of these controls, human factors, facility sitting, previous incidents, and the range of effects.

Pre-Startup Safety Reviews (PSSRs) ensure that the new or modified process is constructed to the appropriate design specifications, that the appropriate operating and emergency procedures are put in place, and that employee and contractor training has effectively been completed before the start-up. They also ensure that PHA's have been modified and subject to management-of-change programs and have been conducted on new processed as well.

(http://www.sustainableplant.com/2011/04/the-future-of-process-management/)

Devastation from process safety management issues

The management of change evaluates proposed changes or alterations to processes to identify and address potential health and safety risks. These changes include adding new/different equipment, modifying the design, changing operation parameters, or using different material for construction. A change with grades of stainless steel in the facility or industry could be catastrophic if the chemical and hazards in the area if they are not able to process the chemical and its conditions.