Safety design reviews process

A safety design review process will not be effective until the participants in the review team have acquired knowledge of hazards and risks and agreed on the risk assessment methods and risk assessment matrix to be used. Chapter 7, A Primer on Hazard Analysis and Risk Assessment, serves as a basis for the education of team members. Also, a safety design review process can be successfiilly applied only if senior management has been convinced of its value. 

Crucial to the success of the UAW-GM joint process was the inclusion of the hourly skilled trades and production personnel, who were extensively involved in the task-based risk assessments. This involvement was based on the premise that the person who does a job every day has intimate knowledge of it and can make meaningful contributions on how a job or process can be changed to make it safer. (The TABRA process has matured now, internally developed computer-based software is used in the safety design review process and for recordkeeping.)... 

Implementing an inherent safety review process is one mechanism companies can use to institutionalize inherent safety. The review process should integrate well with company systems for process safety management, new product development, and project execution. Safety, health, and environmental considerations in the new product or process development effort can be strengthened via the introduction of the inherent safety review. Companies may also build inherently safer design concepts into their existing process safety management system and process hazard reviews. 

Assessment. An analysis of the hazards present in this laboratory show the most significant hazard to be the release of vapor CSM from engineering controls and into the workplace. The significance of this hazard mandates further efforts in system safety in the form of a Preliminary Hazard List (PHL) and a Preliminary Hazard Analysis (PHA). The user must in this instance take an active role in the design review process. 

Identify and control hazards in the design process and when changes are made in operations—which requires that safety design reviews be made for new and altered facilities and equipment. 

Having written and stressed that the most effective and economical way to minimize risks is to have the hazards from which they derive addressed in the design process, I commend the drafters of ZIO for including the safety design review provisions in the standard. If it becomes the norm for employers to include these provisions in their safety and health management systems, injuries and illnesses will be substantially reduced. 

Much was made in Chapter 12, Hierarchy of Controls The Safety Decision Hierarchy, of the need to design work methods so that they were not error-provocative or overly stressful. Safety design reviews should not be Umited to the facility, equipment, and processes, that is—the hardware. They should also limit the hazards and risks in the work methods prescribed, taking into consideration the capabilities and limitations of the workers so that the risks of injury and damage are at a practicable minimum. 

An Internet search on design reviews will yield many results, but only a few address safety considerations. Enter safety design reviews into any search engine, and you will find that the literature on safety design reviews is scarce. That is one reason why outlines of several safety design processes as they are applied by individual companies or a combination of companies are included in this chapter. 

Although the requirements for the Procurement processes are plainly stated in ZIO and easily understood, they are brief in relation to the enormity of what will be required to implement them. As is the case for the provisions in ZIO on safety design reviews, the purpose of the Procurement processes is to avoid bringing hazards and risks into the workplace. 

As is the case with ZlO s safety design review provisions, safety professionals who are not involved in the design or purchasing processes should consider ergonomics as fertile ground in which to get started. Some of the comments made in Chapter 13, Safety Design Reviews, are repeated here because they apply equally to ZlO s design and procurement provisions. 

Design Safety Reviews In the design process, risk assessments would be made as often as needed on a continuum. In addition, a formal design safety review procedure should be put in place. Tliis section is supported by Addendum E which is titled Safety Design Review Guide. 

From a system safety perspective, it does not matter which development model is used because they each ultimately undergo the design review process. 

Participate in the design review process, identifying health and safety hazards and PtD opportunities to the design team. 

Introduction Review and audit processes are used in the chemical process industry to evaluate, examine, and verify the design of process equipment, operating procedures, and management systems. These processes assure compliance with company standards and guidelines as well as government regulations. Reviews and audits can encompass the areas of process and personnel safety, environmental and industrial hygiene protection, quality assurance, maintenance procedures, and so on. 

To distinguish between a review and an audit, some definitions will be provided. A review is a critical examination or evaluation of any operation, procedure, condition, event, or equipment item. Reviews can take many forms and be identified as project reviews, design reviews, safety reviews, pre-start-up reviews, and so on. The following discussion of the review process will deal with project reviews associated with capital projects and focus on the area of process safety. 

The "Capital Projects Design Review Procedures" element of process safety management assures that the design, the equipment and the construction are properly reviewed for all new projects. Process safety review procedures should be involved with the project from its inception. One method of illustrating the various phases of a project is shown in Figure 8.1 (Figure 5-1 from CCPS, 1989a). 

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