Minimum Requirements for Relief System Design Documentation for OSHA Compliance

The Process Safety Management (PSM) Standard requires that written process safety information be compiled prior to conducting a process hazard analysis. Process safety information includes the relief system design and design basis. Historically, some facilities had relied solely on relief device specification sheets from the construction companies to satisfy the requirements of relief system design documentation in the PSM Standard. However, based on citations issued by the Occupation Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to facilities, these specification sheets are inadequate documentation. Due to changes within a facility, the specification sheets may also be obsolete. OSHA Documents, other Regulatory Standards, and Industry Standards and Practices have provided Recognized And Generally Accepted Good Engineering Practice (RAGAGEP) definitions to the minimum requirements for relief system design documentation. Additionally, some corporate and facility standards require more documentation than the minimum. This paper will present the authors’ interpretation of the minimum requirements as established by the references above as well as describe the benefits of meeting and exceeding the requirements.