PSM General Awareness Training by Gary Whitmore - HTML preview

Chapter 11 – Management of Change (MOC)

Managing the changes performed on a process is also important to reducing the risks of an incident occurring.

Management of change requires the establishment written procedures to manage changes to:

• Process chemicals
• Process technology
• Equipment
• Procedures
• Facilities that affect a covered process
• Drastic personnel changes to a PSM process

This could be loosing too many experienced personnel at once

The management of change does not apply to replacements in kind. And these are:

• Are replacements that satisfy the design specifications
• Change in flow rate, material type, valve type, etc have not changed.

The management of change also requires that the process safety information and operating procedures be updated accordingly. This is important during revalidations of the Process Hazard Analyses, as it ensures updated information for identifying hazardous scenarios.

Management of change must address the following information prior to the change:

• Date and originator
• Date for change
• Duration of change if temporary
• Description, location and purpose of change
• Technical basis for change
• Safety and health consideration
• Pre-startup inspection
• Authorization and approvals
• Training completed
• PSI updated

This information could be documented on a MOC form.