Process Safety Management Quality Audits Case Study

The Challenge

A major pulp and paper manufacturing company in Mississippi determined that its process safety management (PSM) program had to do more than merely follow OSHA regulations; they wanted it to also be effective in preventing accidents. Traditional audit programs examine documentation and procedures; however, they do little to evaluate the program quality or effectiveness. Accidents can still happen even if PSM procedures meet OSHA and EPA requirements.

Our Approach

ioMosaic Corporation developed a quality process safety management audit protocol to dig below the surface of their process safety programs and evaluate their quality. A particular focus of quality PSM audits is the Process Hazard Analysis (PHA) and Management of Change (MOC) elements, part of OSHA’s Process Safety Management (PSM) Standard 14 elements. We evaluated the availability of process safety information and implementation of their selected methodology. This was supplemented by What-If and Checklist questions to address facility siting and human factor issues. Analysis and documentation were prepared using Process Safety Office^® PHAGlobal^® software.

The Benefits

Significant deficiencies in these areas were identified. Although prior audits had not identified any program deficiencies related to regulatory PSM requirements, a closer look at the quality of the procedures and training revealed significant issues that compromised the effectiveness of the PHA and MOC programs. Recommendations were made to address these issues and improve the overall quality of these programs.

Learn More

Our mission is to help you protect your people, your plant, your stakeholder value and our planet. To learn more about how we can help you manage risk, call us at 1.844.ioMosaic.