Fundamentally risk is subjective; it is not possible to define what level of risk is acceptable dispassionately and objectively. Any two risk scenarios are inherently different from one another due to people’s inherent understanding and acceptance of different types of risk, their emotions, memories, hopes and fears.

A behavior-based safety (BBS) program aims to make permanent changes in the manner in which people work. Safety becomes a way of life that is baked into everyone's behavior. It is important to recognize, however, that a BBS program does not attempt to chance who a person is, and it most certainly is not a pop-psychology program.

Siting / Layout

The words ‘siting’ and ‘layout’ are often used interchangeably, but, strictly speaking, they have different meanings. Siting is concerned with the location of a facility. For example, if a company is planning on building a new chemical plant its management may consider the relative merits of sites in Texas, Mexico or China.

Human performance is inherently unpredictable. Human beings are, after all, human. However, those working in industrial risk management have developed means of modeling types of human error, and the rates at which they can occur. One such technique is known as THERP (Technique for Human Error Rate Prediction). The method uses Boolean logic to model and predict human error rates.

The contents of this Safety Moment have moved to Blinds and Piping.

For further information on this topic, please refer to our ebook Contractors.

After a piece of equipment or piping that operates under pressure has been opened and then reassembled (buttoned up) it must be pressure tested before being put back into service.

Process lines, piping and valves frequently become plugged. If line pluggage is a recurring problem it is best to try and identify ways in which the problem can be prevented from occurring. If that solution is not possible then valves, drains, tees and connections should be designed so that it is possible to remove the pluggage safely and with minimum time and expense.

September 2022

OSHA has opened the Process Safety standard for comment and revision. One of the items on their list is to do with storage tanks. Item II.1 reads,

Clarifying the exemption for atmospheric storage tanks 

In an earlier Safety Moment we saw that the term ‘Process Safety Management’ (PSM) can become diluted to the point where it loses any meaning. This is unfortunate. The term is not just another way of describing industrial safety — it has a tight and specific significance, as explained in Process Safety Management. The description discusses the three words that make up the term: ‘Process’, ‘Safety’ and ‘Management’, and how they should be applied.