(53y) Evergreening – Bringing Management Awareness to Process Safety Risks in the Face of Constant Change

Change is constant in processing facilities such as refineries and petrochemical plants. The drivers for change may vary from investment decisions, operational productivity initiatives, regulatory and compliance requirements, inspection and maintenance activities amongst other drivers. Every time a change is introduced to an operating facility, there is likelihood that risk is introduced to the facility if a strong management of change process is not in place or diligently adhered to. Over several changes, these risks compound which imperils the facility, its personnel and its management. Facilities owners and management are constantly relying on process safety professionals to manage process safety risks, however without a strong management of change process and proper safety communication tools the new risks introduced by changes could be overlooked or ignored.

Evergreening is a structured program to manage a facility’s process risk exposure in the face of incessant change. The program involves distinct steps defining, assessing, aligning, developing and executing change in a structured approach, leveraging well defined processes, facilitated by proper tools and executed by appropriate resources. Evergreening looks to frontload expert engagement in the change management process to ensure better outcomes while also giving the owner’s opportunities for cost savings. This paper will review the practice of Evergreening with relevant examples and cases studies that validate the program. This paper will show how an Evergreening process will also support management to properly evaluate risks having an up to date PSI documentation, complying with PSM Standards and bringing awareness of concurrent changes impacting the facility.