PSM General Awareness Training by Gary Whitmore - HTML preview

Chapter 5 – Operating Procedures

Another important element for safe operation of a process is the establishment of operating procedures.

OSHA requires that operating procedures provide clear instructions for safely operating the process. Make sense doesn’t it?

Operating procedures must address ten steps for the operating phase of a process. They are:

• Initial startup
• Normal operations
• Temporary operations
• Emergency shutdown
• Emergency operations
• Normal shutdown
• Startup following a turnaround or shutdown
• Operating limits (pressures, flow rates, temperatures)
• Safety and health considerations
• Safety systems and their functions (example: Lightning protection systems, Control interlock, or Systems designed to detect toxic or flammable materials)

Operating procedures must also implement safe work practices:

• Lockout/Tagout (29 CFR 1910.147)
• Confined space entry (29 CFR 1910.146)
• Opening process equipment or piping
• Control over facility entrance for non-essential employees

In order to minimize the risk of operating procedures being the cause of an incident, they must be annually certified that they are current and accurate with the process.

Operating procedures must also be made accessible to employees that work the process.

NOTE: While processing the Space Shuttle for launch, NASA requirements dictated that the operators of the processes have a hard copy of their operating procedures when performing work. This reduced the risk of steps being missed and reduced the likelihood of an incident occurring. There was also a process in place for traceability to identify which operator performed a task that assisted with incident investigations.