PROCESS SAFETY MANAGEMENT

Fundamentals

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 CONTENTS SCOPE

“ Nothing is more important than

the safety and health of the people
who work in the steel industry. ”
worldsteel Board of Directors

Scope3
SIX SAFETY AND HEALTH PRINCIPLES FOR THE STEEL INDUSTRY
Process Safety Management fundamentals 6 • A ll injuries and work-related illness can and must be prevented.
• M
 anagers are responsible and accountable for safety and health
Probability and pyramid 12 performance.
• Employee engagement and training is essential.
Definitions and calculations 14 • Working safely is a condition of employment.
• E xcellence in safety and health drives excellent business results.
• Safety and health must be integrated into all business management
processes.

The World Steel Association (worldsteel) is one of the largest and most dynamic
THREE FOCUS AREAS
industry associations in the world, with members in every major steel-producing
country. worldsteel represents steel producers, national and regional steel
industry associations, and steel research institutes. Members represent around
85% of global steel production.

This publication is printed on Olin paper. Olin is certified by the Forest Occupational Occupational Process
Stewardship Council as environmentally-responsible paper.
Safety Health Safety
Management Management Management
© World Steel Association, 2019

Cover photo: NLMK Group

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 PROCESS SAFETY MANAGEMENT

Process Safety Management (PSM) is a blend of engineering, operations and

management skills focused on preventing catastrophic accidents, particularly
structural collapse, explosions, fires and toxic releases associated with loss
of containment of energy or dangerous substances such as toxic gases,
molten metal, chemicals and petroleum products.

The manufacturing of steel involves processes with intrinsic hazards that

need careful management. The measures needed to control these hazards
are often complex. The focus of process safety management is not limited to
protecting the people within the company but also includes the environment,
assets and surrounding community.

Our PSM fundamentals encourage steelmakers to take a risk-based, rather

than compliance-based strategy to the prevention of PSM incidents and
focus resources on high-risk activities.

SIX PROCESS SAFETY MANAGEMENT FUNDAMENTALS

1. Ensure there is a commitment to Process Safety Management.
2. Establish a hazard evaluation and risk analysis programme.
3. Implement and maintain a risk management and control system.
4. Strive to excellence in learning from experience.
5. Utilise continuous improvement to ensure Process Safety Management
effectiveness.
6. Maintain a sense of vulnerability in Process Safety Management.

4 Ternium 5
 PROCESS SAFETY MANAGEMENT
Fundamentals

1. Ensure there is a commitment to Process Safety

Management.
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Commitment Hazard The commitment to Process Safety Management is the foundation of
evaluation and process safety excellence and requires five elements:
risk analysis
1. Process safety culture in the workplace 4. Workforce competencies
2. Workforce involvement and participation 5. Performance based on
3. Stakeholder involvement standards.

PROCESS
06 03
Sense of
SAFETY Risk
> Is Process Management Safety a core value
vulnerability MANAGEMENT management in your organisation?
and control
FUNDAMENTALS
2. Establish a hazard evaluation and risk analysis
programme.

05 04 The understanding of process safety hazards and risks helps organisations

to allocate resources effectively. This process comprises two elements:
Continuous Learning
improvement from
experience 1. Process and equipment knowledge 2. Hazard identification and
risk analysis (HIRA process).

> Do you understand your hazards and risks?

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 PROCESS SAFETY MANAGEMENT
Fundamentals

3. Implement and maintain a process safety risk

management and control system.
Risk management and control helps organisations to operate and maintain
processes with excellence, ensuring risk mitigation, management of change
and keeping the risk tolerable. It also ensures that the workplace is
prepared in the event of an emergency. This process requires six elements:
1. Good operational practices 4. Training and performance
2. Asset integrity and reliability 5. Management of change
3. Management of contractors 6. Emergency preparedness.

> Do you manage your risks to keep them on a tolerable level?
> Do you have emergency plans in all your units?

4. Strive to excellence in learning from experience.

The learning from experience programme must maintain vigilance,
utilise internal and external sources of information, take action and
ensure effectiveness. This process comprises two elements:
1. Incident investigations 2. Measures and metrics.

> A re you monitoring and acting on internal and external sources

of information?

8 Tata Steel Limited 9

 PROCESS SAFETY MANAGEMENT
Fundamentals

5. Utilise continuous improvement to ensure

Process Safety Management effectiveness.
Routinely reviewing the Process Safety Management system to stimulate
continuous improvement will ensure effectiveness in the fundamentals
of Process Safety Management. This process comprises two elements:

1. Auditing 2. Management review

and governance.

> A re you performing reviews and auditing your Process Safety

Management system?

6. Maintain a sense of vulnerability in Process

Safety Management.
Developing a sense of vulnerability drives organisations to seek and
maintain a clear understanding of risk and the means to control it.

> Are you promoting the sense of vulnerability in your organisation?

10 thyssenkrupp AG 11
 PROBABILITY AND PYRAMID

Tier 1 – Is a loss of primary containment

(LOPC) with the greatest consequences,
Low probability High probability e.g. fires and explosions with multiple
fatalities or significant financial impact
High severity

(greater than organisational tolerance

levels) or serious environmental impact
TIER
Process or harm to the community or substantial
safety 01 reputation impact.

Tier 2 – LOPC with the lesser consequences,

e.g. fires and explosions with one fatality or
TIER a lost time injury or financial impact

02 (within organisational tolerance levels) or

environmental impact or low harm to the
community or reputation impact.

Occupational Tier 3 – Typically represents a challenge

TIER
safety to the barrier system and near misses,
03 e.g. deviations in safety operational limits,
Low severity

potential LOPC.

Tier 4 – Typically represents performance

TIER of individual components of the barrier

04 system and are comprised of operating

discipline and management system
performance (e.g. KPI of PSM).

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 DEFINITIONS AND CALCULATIONS

Clear definitions and calculation

methodologies ensure the industry is
applying a common standard and metric.

Containment, primary Fire Process towers, refrigeration systems, etc.),

storage tanks, ancillary support
A tank, vessel, pipe, truck, rail car, Any combustion resulting from a Production, distribution, storage, areas (e.g. boiler houses and waste
or other equipment designed to LOPC, regardless of the presence utilities, or pilot plant facilities used in water treatment plants), on-site
keep material within it - typically for of flame. This includes smouldering, the manufacture of steel products remediation facilities, and distribution
the purposes of storage, separation, charring, smoking, singeing, and co-products. This includes piping under control of the company.
processing, or transfer of material. scorching, carbonizing, or the process equipment (e.g. reactors,
evidence that any of these have vessels, piping, electric arc
Containment, secondary occurred. furnaces, blast furnaces, coke Note: All definitions are reproduced
ovens, boilers, pumps, from API ANSI RP 754 except for:
An impermeable physical barrier Loss of primary containment compressors, exchangers, cooling Molten metal and Process.
specifically designed to mitigate the (LOPC)
impact of materials that have breached
primary containment. Secondary An unplanned or uncontrolled
containment systems include, but release of any material from primary Process Safety Events Rates (PSER) are calculated as:
are not limited to tank dikes, curbing containment, including non-toxic and
around process equipment, drainage non-flammable materials (e.g. steam, Total TIER 1 PSER * 1,000,000 / hours worked
collection systems, the outer wall of hot water, nitrogen, compressed Total TIER 2 PSER * 1,000,000 / hours worked
open top double walled tanks, etc. CO2, or compressed air).
TIER 3 and 4 are leading indicators. They should be managed and be
Explosion Molten metal compliant with the PSM system.

A release of energy that causes a During the manufacture of steel and

pressure discontinuity or blast wave its co-products, different types of
(e.g. detonations, deflagrations, and molten metals are used, such as
rapid releases of high pressure caused zinc, iron and the steel itself.
by rupture of equipment or piping).

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