Necessary and Sufficient Elements of Process Safety and Risk Management

NECESSARY AND SUFFICIENT ELEMENTS OF PROCESS SAFETY AND RISK MANAGEMENT

Elements of Process Safety and Risk Management have been defined differently by various organizations across the globe through decades of experience. These serve as essential blocks for ensuring that process plant safety conforms to the required standards. However, complying with these Process Safety Management elements can be a daunting task since perceptions may vary among the different levels of management in any enterprise. Thus, organizations in different geographical locations and time periods may arrive at a different set of Process Safety Management elements thereby making it difficult to develop a universal metric for measuring Process Safety and Risk. Hence, it is suggested that the system of adopting only five basic elements of Process Safety Management and grouping other possible elements within this common framework will ensure a uniform standard across all countries and organizations. It is necessary and sufficient to consider all possible elements of Process Safety Management under the following categories:- (1) Facility Siting and Layout, (2) Human Performance and Error, (3) Instrumentation and Process Control, (4) Operating Procedures and (5) Supervision and Management. Plant and Site layout will determine the relative locations of each equipment and operation, which will influence the movement of material objects and human resources both during normal and emergency situations. Many near-miss incidents and major catastrophes result from the relative positioning of hazardous substances, equipment, operations and manpower. Therefore, this is first of the most critical elements of Process Safety Management. Human behavior is the second major element which affects the performance and safe functioning of any establishment. This is the combined effect of physiological (different knowledge acquiring and working senses in the human body), psychological (emotional and mental status), intellectual and consciousness traits of both individuals and collective groups. The third major role in ensuring Process Safety Management is played by instruments and process control systems whose reliability, availability and maintainability is fundamental to the normal operation and management of emergency situations that can impact property and life. Standard Operating Procedures, Safe Work Practices, established Codes and Standards ensure that errors are minimized during man machine interfaces. Supervision and Management is the ultimate element in Process Safety Management since human observation, direction and control is paramount to all the other four elements which are dependent on this fifth element. Grouping of all other possible elements of Process Safety Management within the above five categories is necessary and sufficient to avoid duplication of process safety information and effective implementation of Process Safety and Risk Management across a wide variety of situations.