Risk Engineering Position Paper 04 Process Safety Performance Indicators 2015
Risk Engineering Position Paper 04 Process Safety Performance Indicators 2015
CONTENTS
Section Title............................................................................................................................................... Page
1. Background.........................................................................................................................................1
2. Objective.............................................................................................................................................2
3. Scope...................................................................................................................................................2
4. Specific Requirements.........................................................................................................................3
4.1 Policy and procedure..........................................................................................................................3
4.2 Ownership and development.............................................................................................................3
4.3 Identification of PSPIs.........................................................................................................................4
4.4 Use of PSPIs in improving safety management..................................................................................6
7. Appendices..........................................................................................................................................8
7.1 Appendix A – Classification of Process Safety Incidents.....................................................................8
7.2 Appendix B – Classification of Loss of Process Containment (LOPC) for Major and Minor incidents. 10
Marsh • iii
1. BACKGROUND
The process industry has a long history of major incidents the physical systems; instrument testing and calibration
that are well-publicised with many valuable lessons to be systems are designed to ensure the integrity of the logical
learned. It has been recognised that the focus on personal systems; management systems such as procedures,
safety is one side of preventing accidents. However, a competency and performance management, and audits
major incident can cause as much harm to people in an are designed to ensure that all of the other systems work
instant as all the injuries that have been avoided in a effectively.
decade of personal safety programmes. The underlying
causes of major incidents are often related to failures in
As with any aspect of management systems, it is
what is commonly known as ‘process safety management’.
important to have metrics in place to understand how
effectively a system is working to deliver its objective.
The primary aim of process safety management is to The metrics for process safety management systems are
reduce the risk of a major accident by controlling major commonly called ‘process safety performance indicators’
accident hazards. A major accident is typically defined as (PSPIs).
a fire, explosion, or a significant release of
environmentally harmful or toxic material with costly or
PSPIs can be separated into leading and lagging
damaging consequences in terms of fatalities and injuries,
indicators; leading indicators being those that precede a
pollution, loss of revenue, damage to the assets, and/or
failure of the process safety management system and
company reputation.
lagging indicators being those that follow a failure of the
process safety management system. For example, a
Such consequences are generally defined in the measurement of the completion of pressure safety valve
organisation’s risk assessment matrix by class (PSV) testing would be a leading indicator and the
(human, environment, financial, reputation) and by number of times PSVs fail to lift at the set pressure (in use
degree. or during testing) would be a corresponding lagging
indicator.
The range of process safety activities is enormous –
everything from standardising routine operator rounds to PSPIs should be tailored to show how well the relevant
modelling the capacity of the flare system. Such activities barriers are being maintained (a leading indication) and
can prevent incidents if they are done well, or cause how well they are working (a lagging indication).
incidents if they are not done well, or not done at all.
These activities are the barriers that could stop an
The development of an effective PSPI system can provide
incident before it starts or control it if it does. Process
a clear view on how well process safety is being managed
safety management is concerned with putting these
at a site and across the wider organisation. Common PSPI
barriers in place and maintaining them so that they work
systems can allow comparisons to be made and lead to
effectively. These barriers can be physical systems,
more focused knowledge sharing – from proactive
instrumented systems, or management/people systems.
information as well as reactive.
They rely heavily on competence and diligence across all
disciplines and at all levels in the organisation.
2. OBJECTIVE 3. SCOPE
The objective of this position paper is to define the The scope of this position paper includes the
standards rated by Marsh as very good for a set of identification and application of PSPIs in the oil, gas, and
process safety performance indicators in the oil, gas, and petrochemical industry.
petrochemical industry. These standards are
incorporated in the Marsh energy risk ranking criteria.
They can be used to support and define risk
improvement recommendations and also to provide
detailed advice to clients seeking to better understand
and improve their process safety performance.
Marsh • 2
4. SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS
3 • Process Safety Performance Indicators (PSPIs)
4.1 POLICY AND PROCEDURE
PSPIs should be part of the corporate strategy to reduce
exposure to major accident hazards. As such, the site
measures should, where possible, relate to and roll up
into the corporate performance measures. In well-
developed corporate systems there are common
standards and definitions used to set and monitor site
and business sector PSPIs. Where this is the case, they
should be defined in a corporate policy and procedure
(P&P) and reflected in a site P&P as part of the health,
safety, and environment management system (HSE-MS).
• Plant design.
• Staff competence.
• Operational procedures.
• Permit to work.
• Communication.
• Instrumentation and alarms.
• Plant change control.
• Inspection and maintenance.
• Emergency arrangements.
INDUSTRY
LOSSES
The report of the BP US Refineries Independent Safety
Review Panel (The Baker Panel Report) January 2007,
based on the BP Texas City refinery incident 23 March
2005:
Marsh • 6
77 •• Process
Process Safety
Safety Performance
Performance Indicators
Indicators (PSPIs)
(PSPIs)
RISK ENGINEERING POSITION PAPER
7. APPENDICES
APPENDIX A – CLASSIFICATION uncontrolled
OF PROCESS SAFETY INCIDENTS
Personal safety incidents are well recognised from
definitions such as fatality, lost time injury, medical
treatment, first aid, near miss, and hazard. These are
often shown as hierarchy or pyramid where the
frequency of occurrence of the lower order incidents is
said to influence the likely occurrence of the higher
order incidents as they reflect the overall safety culture
in the organisation.
NEAR-MISS INCIDENT
This is an incident with no actual consequences; however,
if the circumstances were slightly different there could be
serious consequences. In many cases the first barrier fails
but subsequent barriers or fortuitous intervention
prevents the full development of the incident. A near-
miss incident is equivalent to API 754 tier 3 process safety
events.
Examples of process safety near-miss incidents:
• ESD valve fails to close automatically but operator
responds to alarm and closes the valve manually from
the local station.
• Minor leak from hydrocarbon line due to incorrect
gasket on pump discharge flange – able to switch to
spare pump, isolate and fix the fault without a plant
shutdown.
• High liquid level in flare knockout drum; level indicator
faulty – but problem identified by operator visual
checks before liquid carried over to flare stack.
• Defective construction weld on hydrocarbon
line discovered by inspection at turnaround.
• Interlock bypass used for start-up but kept on
until noticed by relieving panel operator two
days later.
• Tank filled above safe filling height without activating the
alarm but no spill occurs; picked up by operator on
HEIGHTENED RISK EXPOSURE • Inspection waiver not risk assessed and not
sanctioned according to site policy.
A heightened risk exposure is an action or a lack of action
that increases the likelihood or consequences of a potential • MoC process failed to specify operator training
required before new system started up.
incident. A heightened risk exposure is also a significant
gap in process safety management standards compared • New plant started up with construction blinds used
to world class. for isolation.
• Furnace ESD function tested but ESD valves not tested
There is no actual incident or event in these cases. to verify tight-shutoff (TSO) capability.
Heightened risk exposures are equivalent to unsafe acts • A number of large hydrocarbon inventories are not
or unsafe conditions that are recognised as personal protected by remote operated isolation valves – this
safety hazards. Failure to perform risk control activities would be an example of a gap in risk control standards
compared to world-class practices.
as required by site/company and actions that could lead
to or increase the potential consequences of an incident Gaps versus world-class process safety management
would be regarded as heightened risk exposures. There standards present a continuous exposure. These gaps
would also be a heightened risk exposure if there are are typically identified by:
significant gaps in risk control standards compared to
world-class process safety management standards. A • Site incident investigation.
heightened risk exposure is equivalent to API 754 tier 4 • Process hazard analysis.
process safety events. • External audits.
Examples of heightened risk exposures: • Process safety reviews (internal and external).
• Work permit non-compliance: error on equipment number. • Learning from incidents (external).
• Diesel firewater pump extended outage – total
Once identified, the decision on whether to close these
reliance on electrically driven machines and therefore
exposed to power failure during fire emergency. gaps should reflect company/site policy on risk
management.
Notes:
Marsh •
10
MINOR INCIDENT (EQUIVALENT TO API 54 TIER 2 PROCESS SAFETY EVENT)
Notes:
Marsh •
12
For further information, please
contact your local Marsh office or visit
our web site at: marsh.com