Let the leader in Process Safety Management (PSM) consulting assess your PSM/RMP programs or help you develop and implement PSM/RMP programs. The intent of OSHA’s PSM or EPA’s Risk Management Plan (RMP) program is to prevent an unexpected release of highly hazardous chemicals with toxic, reactive, or flammable properties which could cause significant harm to employees, the public, or the environment. There are 14 elements to the PSM program, including:

Process Safety Management Wordcloud•Hot work permit/safe work

•Training

•Contractors

•Process hazard analysis

•Management of change

•Operating Procedures

•Mechanical integrity

•Pre-startup safety review

•Emergency planning and response

•Incident investigation

•Compliance auditing

PII staff are expert at effective implementation of all parts of PSM (and RMP). We have helped develop some of the best management of change (MOC), Incident Investigation, pre-startup safety review (PSSR), operating procedures, mechanical integrity, employee participation, and other programs in the industry. And, we can help you develop and implement key performance indicators (most importantly, leading indicators) so that you can track the progress of PSM at your site/affiliate on a week-by week and month-by-month basis. These efforts will help your plant get the most out of implementing PSM and will help ensure that you have minimal issues at audit time.

In addition, PII staff will address elements of PSM/RMP that are typically missing from PSM systems including: Facility Siting, Project Risk Management, Senior Leadership & Accountability, and most notably Human Factors.

Human Factors

One thing that makes PII unique is the ability to conduct an in-depth evaluation of human factors issues which is missing from 90% of the implemented PSM programs in the world (and missing from the text of the US OSHA PSM regulation). PII understands the significance of this oversight…ALL accidental losses (other than from natural phenomena) begin with a human error. This is because humans govern and accomplish all of the activities necessary to control the risk of accidents. Humans not only cause accidents (unintentionally) by making errors directly related to the process itself, but also by creating deficiencies in the design and implementation of management systems (i.e., we make errors in authorities, accountabilities, procedures, feedback, proof documents, continual improvement provisions, etc). Ultimately these management systems govern the human error rate directly contacting or directly influencing the process.

PII offers various levels of consultation related to the PSM/RMP program, including:

  1. Evaluation and/or development of one or more (or all) PSM/RMP element(s) for new process(es). PII will help incorporate each element into existing site/corporate programs where applicable AND develop written programs for elements as needed.
  2. Evaluation and/or development of one or more (or all) PSM/RMP element(s) for an existing process(es). PII will help incorporate each element into existing site/corporate programs where applicable AND develop written programs for elements as needed.

PII also offers courses related to PSM (see courses 1 and 2 under the “Training” tab or click on the links below):

•Process Safety Management Overview (1-Day)

•Process Safety Management (3-Day)

In addition, feel free to download papers written by PII staff related to PSM and it’s various elements under the “Free Resources” tab (or click on the individual links below):

•The Cost and Benefits of Process Safety Management

•Proven Approach to Investigating Near Misses

•Gains From Getting Near Misses Reported

•Human Factors and Their Optimization

•Necessity of PHAs of Non-Normal Operating Modes (Startup, Shutdown, and Online Maintenance)

•Human Factors Missing from PSM

•Optimizing PHAs/HAZOPs While Maximizing Brainstorming

•Writing Effective Operating Procedures

•Addressing Human Factors During PHAs

•Selection of Hazard Evaluation Techniques

Why Choose PII?

Customization to Client’s Needs PII finds the best approaches to risk management, process safety management, and reliability management to fit your specific needs and company culture. We deliver the highest value of service by customizing what we do to each client’s need.

Industrial experience of our providers Each of PII’s experts has many years of implementation experience as they worked in the chemical and related industries before becoming consultants and external trainers. Many other consulting companies will sell you services and training from “experts” who have only ever been consultants. This is of little value to you compared to using consultants and trainers who have learned what works and doesn’t work by actual experience in settings similar to yours.

PII Conducts Meetings with Speed & Efficiency. Because of our vast experience spanning 25+ years of optimizing PHA procedures, and with our hands-on expertise in the best software, we can lead meetings faster than anyone else, while maintaining quality/thoroughness. This saves cost for you and your projects.

PII staff use proven methods for fostering brainstorming of deviations for written steps and have learned how to optimize the application of these methods. We wrote the chapter on these methods in the textbook on PHAs (Guidelines for Hazard Evaluation Procedures, 3rd edition, 2008; CCPS/AIChE)

PII staff understand the root causes of human error and the strategies for systematically finding the scenarios that are caused by human error during all modes of operation. This yields thorough analysis results while providing practical allocation of resources.

PII staff are experts at utilizing widely accepted hazard evaluation techniques (such as those referenced by OSHA and EPA for PHAs, which include what-if analysis and hazard and operability

[HAZOP] analysis). This strategy has proven effective for hundreds of facilities over the past two decades since it was first published (by PII staff). In addition to identifying accident scenarios during non-routine modes, this approach helps to more fully address human factors, which is a specific requirement of OSHA’s PSM regulations and EPA’s RMP rule.

PII Credentials

•PII has significant experience in leading large project PHAs, unit-wide PHAs, and process specific PHAs and revalidations; PII staff have led or managed/supervised more than 8,000 major PHAs and revalidations; every year we lead more than 100 unit-sized PHAs.

• Thousands have used our training services to become proficient in PHA leadership, implementing PSM, leading investigations and root cause analysis, and writing effective procedures

•Extensive industry PSM experience and knowledge; PII staff were co-authors of the AIChE/CCPS-sponsored textbooks on PHA methods (Guidelines for Hazard Evaluation Procedures; 2nd Edition, 1992 and 3rd Edition, 2008)

•Extensive knowledge in failure rates and human error probability that helps us to diplomatically break deadlocks on teams. PII staff were primary authors of the AIChE/CCPS-sponsored textbook on the best semi-quantitative risk assessment method (Layer of Protection Analysis [LOPA], 2001 and Guidelines for Initiating Events and Independent Protection Layers, 2015)

•Strong facilitation skills with experience in leading multi-functional teams as part of PHAs and other process improvement projects

•Experience in incident investigation, root cause analysis, and human factors to help the PHA team identify potential causes and effects of incidents. PII staff were primary authors of the AIChE/CCPS-sponsored textbook on Investigation methods (Guidelines for Investigating Chemical Process Incidents; 2nd Edition, 2003)

•Significant experience in revalidating PHAs. PII staff have written about 20 papers/articles on process safety management, including many papers on how to effectively perform PHAs/HAZOPs. We have revalidated hundreds of PHAs around the world.

•Recognized experts in the field of process safety and process hazard analyses. In fact, the founder of PII led the first PHA that was submitted to US OSHA for compliance assessment (in 1991; as part of a settlement agreement between Phillips and US OSHA)

•Inherent capability for training and mentoring of your internal PHA leaders and scribes

• In 2006 through 2008 alone we performed 65 complete unit-wide PHAs for 15 companies in 5 countries. This included work at petrochemical plants, gas separation units, steel production, ammonia/urea, industrial chemical, and specialty polymers

  • Co-authored 6 related standards for the US Department of Energy, as well as authoring or co-authoring the definitive papers on:
    • How to address human error/factors during PHAs (and HAZOPs)
    • How to analyze procedure steps for hazards/risks of performing steps incorrectly
    • How to make your PHAs comply with US OSHA’s PSM requirements
    • What are the Costs/Benefits of PSM compliance
    • How to get Near Misses Reported and Investigated
    • How to write effective operating and maintenance procedures
    • How to develop trouble-shooting guides from HAZOP tables
    • How to implement an effective LOPA program
    • How to perform incident investigations and root cause analyses