(57ab) Addressing Challenges of Controlling Change By Implementing Best MOC Practices

Effectively controlling change in a plant environment results in a cumbersome process with an inefficient paper-based Management of Change process or use of a traditional and complex electronic Management of Change (MOC) system. Recent research indicates that the majority of chemical incidents are the outcome of poor implementation of Process Safety Management (PSM) and the lack of efficient MOC processes. As a result, MOC workflow steps are often skipped or prolonged resulting in an ineffective process that does not capture the change fully or safely; approvals are delayed, Process Safety Information (PSI) is not being updated, Pre-Startup Safety Review (PSSR’s) are not being performed, and MOCs are not being closed in a timely manner.

The goal of this paper is to address industry challenges with controlling change, and how Siemens implements best practices for an effective MOC process.