Proposal for the Development of a Process Safety Management System Based on Proactive Metrics

In a process safety management system, key performance indicators must be defined to evaluate and diagnose the monitoring of incidents of varying severity. For process safety management (PSM), the proactive approach, i.e., monitoring small deviations (risk exposure) and mitigating them, is the most appropriate. This approach involves a forward-looking view that focuses on the performance of elements that affect work processes, discipline and operational readiness, the integrity of critical elements and other safety precautions, the degree of completion of change management (GM or MOC), small losses of containment (that do not involve a shutdown, partial shutdown, or bypass of the plant) and the integrity and reliability of equipment. This minimizes the likelihood of more serious industrial accidents occurring. The risk-based pillars and elements of process safety form the basis for defining the indicators. The PDCA method is used as a tool for analyzing the process safety indicators of a petroleum derivatives terminal in order to propose a PSM model for monitoring and improving the operational safety of the facility.