30th Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS)

The Center for Chemical Process Safety International Conference (CCPS) is one of four parallel symposia that comprise The Global Congress on Process Safety (GCPS). Organized by volunteers from industry and academia, the CCPS conference promotes process safety by identifying emerging process safety issues and advancing leading process safety management practices. The final conference agenda will consist of nine sessions, each with at least 25-minutes presentations. Papers are selected by session chairs based on an abstract of 100- 200 words. The abstract must offer a brief account of the contents, conclusions, and the relevance to the topic area. Submitted abstracts must include the author, their affiliation, full address, email, and phone number. The papers will be published in the GCPS proceedings. 

"Managing process safety systematically, locally, regionally and internationally"

CCPS Chair

• Samantha Scruggs, CCPS_chair@aiche.org

Featured Topics

• Committed Culture
• Vibrant Management Systems 
• Disciplined Adherence to Standards
• Intentional Compentency Development
• Enhance Application of Lessons Learned 
• Enhanced Stakeholder Knowledge 
• Responsible Collaboration
• Human Factors 
• Featured CCPS Projects 

Joint Session

• Case Histories and Lessons Learned

Call for Abstracts 

Committed Culture

This session will be focused on the Vision 20/20 Industry Tenet of Committed Culture.  In a Committed Culture, executives involve themselves personally, managers and supervisors drive excellent execution every day, and all employees maintain a sense of vigilance and vulnerability. Papers on this topic will highlight best practices in which executives, supervisors, managers, engineers, operators and mechanics enable and encourage a committed culture which supports safe and reliable operations.  

Potential Topics:

• —  Personal v. Process Safety
• —  Conduct of Operations/Operational Discipline
• —  Development of Company Tenets (POV: Industry)
• —  Translating daily experiences (i.e. snap shot views of operations) into continuous improvement

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Vibrant Management Systems 

This session will be focused on the Vision 20/20 Industry Tenet of Vibrant Management Systems and the Societal Theme of Meticulous Verification.  Vibrant Management Systems are ingrained throughout the organization and readily adapt to the organization’s varying operations and risks.  Meticulous Verification by knowledgeable independent parties helps companies evaluate their process safety programs from an independent perspective. Papers on these topics will highlight best practices in management system documentation, accessibility, ease of use, assessment and audit. 

Potential Topics:

• —  Development/design of a management system (ref: ACC Process Safety Code)
• —  3rd Party vs. Internal Audit
• —  Recommendation management
• —  Management Review of metrics
• —  Use of metrics dashboards (POV: Managers)
• —  Responding to metrics (POV: Facility Level)

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Disciplined Adherence to Standards 

This session will be focused on the Vision 20/20 Industry Tenet of Disciplined Adherence to Standards.  Disciplined Adherence to Standards means using recognized design, operations, and maintenance standards, which are followed everytime, all the time, and are continually improved. Papers on this topic will highlight best practices in use of standards to promote efficiency, reduce major accident potential, and minimize opportunities for error in design and operations and maintenance of existing equipment.

Potential Topics:

• —  Aging Equipment: Maintenance Strategies, Fitness for Service, Risk Criteria/ALARP
• —  RAGAGEP: What can companies do to make sure they are adhering to best practice (ref: OSHA PSM & EPA RMP RFI)
• —  Lifecycle of RAGAGEP: When to retire old practices/upgrade to current practices
• —  Enabling agile updates when a standard just isn’t right
• —  Focus on Process Safety standards not related to design, i.e. Maintenance

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Intentional Competency Development 

This session will be focused on the Vision 20/20 Industry Tenet of Intentional Competency Development.  Intentional Competency Development ensures that all employees who impact process safety are fully capable of meeting the technical and behavioral requirements for their jobs. Papers on this topic will highlight best practices in understanding competency expectations, providing educational resources, and allowing time for people to build competency at all levels of the organization.

Potential Topics:

• —  Internal Competency Development Program
• —  Internal v. External Accreditation
• —  Grooming a world class process safety/technical organization
• —  How to defined competency in process safety: Is it a vertical silo or cross-functional?

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Enhanced Application of Lessons Learned 

This session will be focused on the Vision 20/20 Industry Tenet of Enhanced Application of Lessons Learned.  Enhanced Application & Sharing of Lessons Learned communicates critical knowledge in a focused manner that satisfies the thirst for learning. Papers on this topic will highlight best practices in rapidly sharing lessons to drive improvement in company standards and practices.

Potential Topics:

• —  Knowledge transfer
• —  Maintaining sense of vulnerability
• —  Legal aspect of lesson sharing
• —  How to make thoughtfully share lessons (without overwhelming recipients/diluting the message)

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Enhanced Stakeholder Knowledge 

This session will be focused on the Vision 20/20 Societal Theme of Enhanced Stakeholder Knowledge. Enhanced Stakeholder Knowledge promotes understanding of risk among all stakeholders, including the public, government, and industry leaders. Papers on this topic will highlight best practices in engaging in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education for the community, starting in high school and university.

Potential Topics:

• —  SACHE
• —  University Programs (MKOPSC and Purdue)
• —  Meaningful internship/Co-Op assignments, motivate students to focus on PS
• —  Risk Communication focused on various Stakeholders
• —  Engagement with the community
• —  Interacting with LEPCs

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Responsible Collaboration and Harmonization of Standards 

This session will be focused on the Vision 20/20 Societal Themes of Responsible Collaboration and Harmonization of Standards. Responsible Collaboration is a cooperative relationship among regulatory and investigative authorities, labor organizations, communities, research institutions, universities, and industries. Harmonization of Standards for the safe design, operation, and maintenance of equipment streamlines practices, eliminates redundancy, and cooperatively addresses emerging issues.  Papers on this topic will highlight best practices in working together on a common goal of excellent process safety performance, seeking to understand each other’s point of view, respecting each other’s perspective, and removing barriers to sharing and learning from incidents, promoting consistent understanding of risks, and maintaining effective process safety.

Potential Topics:

• —  GHS
• —  Joint Industry Projects
• —  Industry-driven regulations
• —  EPA/OSHA Status on Executive Order and Harmonization activities
• —  Removing barriers to sharing for neighboring facilities
• —  Lessons Learned in Harmonization from Industrial Gas Facilities (ex: CGA, EIGA, etc)

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Human Factors 

The topic of Human Factors is becoming increasingly discussed as industry tries to better understand and manage the interactions among humans and other elements of a system. Papers on this topic will highlight current work or best practices on human factors (or error) associated with job/task factors, individual behavior, and the organization.

Potential Topics:

• —  Human Factors Research
• —  Human Reliability Analysis
• —  Critical Task Analysis
• —  Latest thinking from the ASM Consortium
• —  Fatigue management for trucking (Sleep Apnea Screening, in-cab electronics)
• —  Colorblindness and the design of user-interfaces
• —  ADA: Impact for facility design

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Featured CCPS Projects 

This session will highlight current CCPS projects. Papers will provide a summary of the updated or novel aspects of the project and serve as a communications tool for the associated activities or publications.  Additionally, papers from individuals which support proposed or recently initiated projects could be accepted. 

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Case Histories and Lessons Learned 

This is always an important session that reviews significant incidents.  This session invites papers to help understand the causes and lessons learned from significant incidents

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