Safety management processes importance

The three management terms above are widely used but seldom understood. In presenting workshops around the world I have asked numerous groups if they understood the difference and interrelationship between authority, responsibility, and accountability, and they had admitted that a refresher would be welcome. Since these are the most important assignments in the safety management process, some clearer definitions are given here. 

In many of the top companies around the world, the safety director s position is as a vice president reporting directly to the chief executive. This clearly shows the organization s commitment to safety and supports the importance of its safety philosophy. The person in this position needs to be a professional who clearly nnder-stands the safety management process. 

That is the whole of it—one brief paragraph on incident investigation sets forth the requirements for this very important subject. It might seem as if this significant safety management process is dealt with too briefly. On the other hand, within an ANSI management system standard, all that needs to be said is said. 

However, before we look more closely at the two safety management processes, it is important to consider that both risk management and loss control are linked by controlling or managing hazards within the workplace. 

Each of these processes is addressed in more detail below. Other important safety management processes that are not included here include operating and maintenance procedures, project quality assurance arrangements, the control of subcontractors, and security arrangements (including information technology security, as discussed in Chapter 3). 

Joint consultation between employers and employees is an important feature of the safety management process. Managers may liaise with trade union appointed safety representatives through the operation of a health and safety committee, or as part of a normal employer/employee consultative process. 

We are motivated by consequences, however, so let s consider certain benefits you can expect to gain from a successful behavior-based safety management process as reviewed in this chapter. Since most injuries are caused in part by at-risk behavior, a reduction in at-risk behavior and an increase in safe behavior will lead to injury prevention. However, we d like you to consider five other benefits that result from people contributing interdependently to an effective behavior-based safety process. These outcomes are critically important and relate to much more than safety. In fact, they can benefit every important function of your organization. In explaining these we ll review most of the key psychological principles covered in this chapter. 

Though occasionally a time consuming exercise, a well-performed PHA can be a source of satisfaction and may be required by the OS HA Process Safety Management Standard or the EPA Risk Management Program Rule. It is important members actively participate and lively interaction is promoted during the sessions. 

It is important that the inspection and maintenance activities be docn-mented as reqnired per company practice and any process safety management regnlatory reqnirements. Maintenance records shonld indicate the inspection resnlts and the scope of maintenance work performed, if any. Before the flame arrester is reinstalled in the process, it shonld be visnally inspected to make snre that reassembly conforms to the mannfactnrer s recommendations. Some companies affix a tag to the flame arrester indicating the inspection and maintenance date. 

V thout such a commitment from management, process safety management will be far more difficult and time-consuming to implement. An initiative that lacks a collective sense of utgency and priority is likely to be carried out piecemeal, despite the best efforts and intentions of its champion. Over time, piecemeal implementation is a false economy, since it is likely to take longer and cost more most important, it is very likely to be less effective. PSM is a continuous process, not an event, or a series of discrete activities. Without continuity, the process can easily break down. 

An important part of (name s) mandate from the Committee is to assure that our plan for managing process safety reflects our businesses diverse needs and takes full advantage of our resident experience and specialized expertise. To do this, (name) needs your help effective implementation of PSM can only be achieved as a team effort. For this reason, we have encouraged him to identify and call on experts throughout Company X to work with him. 

Background Fundamentals of Process Safety Management —What is PSM and why is it important ... 

Most important, our process safety management initiative needs management s commitment to proceed. 

Chapter 1, The Role of Human Error in Chemical Process Safety, discusses the importance of reducing human error to an effective process safety effort at the plant. The engineers, managers, and process plant personnel in the CPI need to replace a perspective that has a blame and punishment view of error with a systems viewpoint that sees error as a mismatch between human capabilities and demands. 

Accountability is the obligation to answer for one s performance with respect to expectations, goals, and objectives. It is an important element of an effective process safety management system. To improve safety, the risk associated with human errors must be reduced. The work situation is the predominant cause of human errors and management has control over the work situation. 

One of the most important elements of the PSM Rule is the process hazard analysis (PrHA). It requires the systematic identification of hazards and related accident scenarios. The PSM Rule allows the use of different analysis methods, but the selected method must be based on the process being analyzed. The PSM Rule specifies that PrHAs must be completed as soon as possible within a 5-year period. However, one-fourth of the PrHAs must have been completed by May 26, 1994, with an additional one-fourth completed each succeeding year. The highest risk processes were to be done first. A schedule for PrHAs must be established at the outset of a process safety management (PSM) program to give priority to the highest risk processes. PrHAs must be reviewed and updated at least every 5 years. 

The Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) has identified twelve elements that must be part of any chemical process safety management program [5]. Application of these elements specifically to plant operations has also been defined [6]. Because of the critical importance of these twelve elements, they are listed here as follows for reference ... 

Inadequate process safety management practices are often cited as the cause of reactive incidents, as discussed in Section 3.0 (Table 4). Incident data underscore the critical importance of successfully implementing the following key elements throughout the life cycle48 of a manufacturing process ... 

Twelve process safety elements have been identified as important in the context of plant design, construction, start-up, operation, maintenance, modification, and decommissioning. This does not include personnel safety, transportation issues, chronic releases to the environment, or community response, which are separate and important issues. Process safety management must deal with each element. Even the best companies, with the best safety records, have room for improvement. 

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