Effectively Manage Compliance Audits Using Process Safety Enterprise®

Process Safety Enterprise^® (PSE), a cloud-based platform, helps manage compliance audits, ensuring compliance with OSHA's PSM standard. This paper details the key features of PSE, including:

• Document Control System: Easily stores and retrieves documents
• Intelligent Form Builder: Creates customizable forms
• Action Tracking System: Manages all tasks related to compliance audits
• Reporting and Dashboard/KPI: Provides real-time insights into activities
• Compliance Audit Workflow: Guides users through internal and regulatory audit initiation, approvals, preparation, execution, quality checks, and recommendation generation and completion.

A case study highlights how PSE and an effective compliance audit process could have helped to prevent this disaster by finding and correcting potential issues before incidents occurred.

Introduction

Compliance audits are essential for effectively executing the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) Process Safety Management (PSM) 29 CFR 1910.119 standard. The standard requires compliance audits in section "o." Compliance audits are also required by 40 CFR 68, chemical Accident Prevention Provisions, often called RMP due to the required Risk Management Plan within this standard.

Businesses often encounter challenges in creating an effective compliance audit process, as it involves the intricacies of forming qualified teams, effectively auditing the entire PSM/RMP program, and ensuring that all recommendations are resolved or implemented in a timely manner. Overlooking these responsibilities could result in continued PSM program gaps that risk the safety of employees, plant assets, the community, and the environment.

An effective compliance audit process should ensure the three-year, formal audit is conducted for the entire PSM/RMP program as required. Preferably before the audit, the audit team should have access to the PSM procedures, the two prior PSM audits, a process overview, an applicability statement, the last Process Hazard Analysis (PHA), and a critical equipment list, if one exists. The site RMP and applicability statement should also be made available if applicable. It should also identify and document qualified people for informal and formal regulatory PSM/RMP audits.

Recommendations should be documented and whether they are resolved or implemented. All approved recommendations should be implemented on time and tracked to completion.

For businesses serious about implementing a comprehensive PSM compliance system, ioMosaic offers the Process Safety Enterprise^® (PSE) (Figure 1). PSE is a cloud-based platform enabling easy ongoing management of process safety data, helping businesses achieve compliance, manage risk, and remain competitive. Unlike any other system available in the market today, PSE is a centralized web-based application that integrates all PSM elements and workflows, making it THE ultimate solution for managing compliance audits effectively. This white paper delves into the key features of the Compliance Audit workflow and how it benefits companies seeking to improve and elevate their systems to monitor and improve their PSM program.

To help you better understand the requirements of the PSM standard, we recommend a PSM Essentials eLearning course like the one offered by Process Safety Learning^®.