Process Safety Management Training

Preventing Chemical Accidents

Introduction to Process Hazard Analysis

First Edition

Process Safety Management Training

from the

NJ Work Environment Council

This material was produced under grant SH-17813-08-60-F-34 from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, U.S. Department of Labor. It does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Department of Labor, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. This curriculum is revised from materials originally developed by the United Steelworker’s Tony Mazzocchi Center for Safety, Health, and Environmental Education and produced by the Steelworkers Charitable and Educational Organization, funded in whole or in part with funds from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, U.S. Department of Labor (grant number SH-16632-07-60-F-42).

Table of Contents

About WEC ii

Preventing Chemical Accidents iii

The Small Group Activity Method iv

The Factsheet Reading Method vi

Activity: Introduction to Process Hazard Analysis 1

Task 1 2

Task 2 13

Evaluation 21

About WEC

The New Jersey Work Environment Council (WEC) is a non-profit collaboration of organizations working for safe, secure jobs, and a healthy, sustainable environment.

Visit WEC’s website at www.njwec.org

For more information about WEC programs and services, contact:

Rick Engler, Director

New Jersey Work Environment Council

142 West State Street - Third Floor, Trenton, NJ 08608-1102

Telephone: (609) 695-7100

Fax: (609) 695-4200

E-mail: info@njwec.org

Preventing Chemical Accidents

Unexpected releases of highly hazardous toxic, reactive, or flammable chemicals create the possibility of a disaster for workers, employers, and communities.

OSHA’s Process Safety Management Standard helps prevent accidental releases of highly hazardous chemicals, thus protecting employees, as well as plant neighbors.

Effective worker training about PSM helps achieve safer, healthier, and more productive workplaces.

In New Jersey, PSM regulates approximately 100 facilities, including certain chemical plants, oil refineries, food processors, electric utilities, warehouses, and public and private sector water and sewage treatment operations. PSM may also cover other types of facilities. PSM has special provisions for contractors working in covered facilities.

WEC’s training curriculum covers key aspects of the PSM standard. Training introduces the concept of systems of safety and accident prevention and why facilities should establish an organizational structure to oversee PSM implementation. WEC addresses OSHA’s performance-based requirements for a plant “mechanical integrity” program. Training also covers accident, incident, and near-miss investigations, focusing on root causes. WEC also can provide training on related subjects, such as the New Jersey Toxic Catastrophe Prevention Act (TCPA), employer and worker/union rights to participate during OSHA and TCPA inspections, and development of effective labor-management safety and health committees.

For more information, contact:

Denise Patel, PSM Outreach Coordinator

WEC, 142 West State St, Third Floor

Trenton, NJ 08608

Call: (609) 695-7100, Extension 305

Fax: (609) 695-4200

E-Mail: dpatel@njwec.org

The Small Group Activity Method

Basic Structure

The Small Group Activity Method* is based on a series of problem-solving activities. An activity can take from 45 minutes to an hour. Each activity has a common basic structure:

• Small Group Tasks

• Report-Back

• Summary

1. Small Group Tasks: The training always begins with groups working together at their tables. Each activity has a task, or set of tasks, for the groups to work on. The task asks that the groups use their experience and the factsheets to solve problems and make judgements on key issues.

2. Report-Back: For each task, the group selects a scribe that takes notes on the small group discussion and reports back to the class as a whole. During the report-back, the scribe informs the entire class as to how his or her group solved the particular problem. The trainer records each scribe’s report-back on large pads of paper in front of the class so that everyone can refer to them.

3. Summary: Before the discussion drifts too far, the trainer needs to bring it all together during the summary. Here, the trainer highlights the key points of the activity and brings up any problems or points that may have been overlooked during the report-back.

*The Small Group Activity Method (SGAM) is based on a training procedure developed by England’s Trades Union Congress (TUC) in the 1970s. The Labor Institute and Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers Union (now part of the United Steelworkers) used a similar method around economic and health and safety issues for workers and further developed the procedure into SGAM. The New Jersey Work Environment Council has used SGAM since 1986.

Three Basic Learning Exchanges

The Small Group Activity Method (SGAM) is based on the idea that every training is a place where learning is shared. With SGAM, learning is not a one-way street that runs from trainer to worker. Rather SGAM is a structured procedure that allows us to share information. It is based on three learning exchanges:

• Worker-to-Worker

• Worker-to-Trainer

• Trainer-to-Worker

Worker-to-Worker: Most of us learn best from each other. SGAM is set up in such a way as to make the worker-to-worker exchange a key element of the training. The worker-to-worker exchange allows participants to learn from each other by solving problems in their small groups.

Worker-to-Trainer: Lecture-style training assumes that the trainer knows all the answers. With SGAM it is understood that the trainers also have a lot to learn and this is the purpose of the worker-to-trainer exchange. It occurs during the report-back and it is designed to give the trainer an opportunity to learn from the participants.

Trainer-to-Worker: This is the trainer’s opportunity to clear up any confusion and make points they think are key. By waiting until the summary section, trainers know better what people need to know.

The Factsheet Reading Method

The process described below focuses everyone on the important information in the factsheets.

The process is as follows:

First, select a scribe for this Task.

Each of you will be assigned a small number of factsheets to read. You will then share the factsheet information with your table.

Your trainer will assign your individual factsheets this way:

Starting with the scribe and moving to the left, count out loud from 1 to 8. Keep going around the table until all numbers (factsheets) are distributed. The assigned numbers correspond to Factsheets 1 through 8 on the following pages.

Once everyone has read their assigned factsheets individually, your scribe will go around the table and ask each of you to explain to the group what you have learned. Factsheets should be explained in the order assigned (1 through 8), since the factsheets build on the previous one. In this way, we all start at the same place and with the same information.

An Introduction to Process Hazard Analysis

Purposes:

To understand how process hazard analysis (PHA) can be used as a tool to prevent accidents.

To learn about the importance of considering worst-case scenarios.

This Activity has two tasks.

Task 1

Scenario:

Recently, the K-l polymerization unit at OilChem Corporation exploded, killing three workers. An investigation showed that a pressure control system on a feed line to the reactor, which was designed to keep the feed under pressure and in a liquid state, failed, allowing the feed to vaporize. The vaporized feed continued to flow into the reactor. The flow control meter on the feed line did not register the vaporized feed as a flow, causing the operator to believe that a high-level alarm on the reactor was false. As a result, the operator by-passed the safety interlock on the feed line, causing the vessel to over-pressurize and explode.

OilChem says that they were in compliance with the PSM Standard and that they were in the process of conducting the required PHAs.

The initial OSHA investigation uncovered the following facts:

• The K-l unit was the oldest processing unit on the site.

• The K-l unit had a history of having the most runaway chemical reactions of any unit on the site.

• The pressure control system on the feedstock line had a history

...