Amplify Your Process Safety

Join us for a recording of another Top 10 Talk event. During this event, Rob Bartlett and John Doan, presented their top ten tips for successful Compliance Audits. A list of the tips that Rob and John elaborate on is presented below.

1. Know the Basics

2. Choose Your Auditor Wisely

3. Understand Compliance Criteria

4. Preparation is Key

5. Prepare Personnel

6. Have an Agenda

7. Documentation is Critical

8. Focus on Improvement

9. Understand the Findings

10. The Final Report is not the Finish Line

If you would prefer to watch the talk instead, view a video recording of the event here.

We want to know what you think - we welcome any feedback that you have about this event, and invite you to share your thoughts, including suggestions for future Top 10 Talk topics, in this short survey.

Mathew Todaro of Verrill Law joins us for a third time in this episode - this time to talk about EPA's General Duty Clause (GDC). In this episode, Mat, an attorney that specializes in enforcement defense, provides an overview of the objectives of EPA's GDC. But with such broad language and no specific list of covered substances, what are the real requirements for facilities when it comes to this GDC? And with so many similarities between the requirements of PSM/RMP and the GDC, are there even advantages for a facility to keep less than the threshold quantity of a hazardous substance that would require a PSM/RMP program? Mat and Rob cover the answers to these important questions and more in this episode. 

Find the GUIDANCE FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF THE GENERAL DUTY CLAUSE CLEAN AIR ACT SECTION 112(r)(1) here: https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/documents/gendutyclause-rpt.pdf 

Be sure to check out Mat's previous appearances on our podcast by listening to episodes 25 and 35. Connect with Mat on LinkedIn here.

In this episode, Molly is joined by guest Michelle Murphy, a chemical engineer who has worked in process safety for 25 years. Earlier in her career, Michelle designed, built, and managed a combustible dust testing laboratory, and now she is the newly appointed president of Sigma-HSE INC., the North American division of Sigma-HSE. Molly and Michelle cover the basics when it comes to combustible dust testing, including defining combustible dusts, discussing why dust testing is needed, and reviewing what types of tests are available. You'll learn how to select a combustible dust test, what commonly used tests tell you about your dust, how testing samples should be prepared and collected, tips for making the most of your testing budget, and how testing relates to your MOC and PHA processes. 

If you have additional questions about combustible dusts or combustible dust testing, Michelle invites you to visit Sigma-HSE.com, send an email to her at [email protected], or reach her by phone at 603-303-7863. 

In this episode, Rob and John talk about remote facilities - how a remote facility is defined, how risk is managed differently versus at a large, regularly populated plant, how operator response times differ, precautions taken for operators performing lone work, how incidents might be handled, security, and more. 

You may remember our guest David Hatch, from Episode 39, when he spoke to our listeners about using bow ties to manage risk. Today, David, a process safety expert and entrepreneur, is back to talk with Rob about the Integrity Cards that he has developed. In his process safety career, David had not seen a reduction in accidents and wondered to himself if maybe those in hazardous industries weren't focusing on the right things. He saw an opportunity to condense process safety knowledge into an accessible and familiar version - a pack of cards, where each card represented a different loss of containment, and thus the Integrity Cards were born. These Integrity Cards are meant to be used in a structured way to inform those on the front line of legitimate hazards that they face, and can be used in PHAs, toolbox talks, management meetings, and more. In this episode, David covers his inspiration for creating the cards, shares suggestions for using the cards, talks about how QR codes are expanding the knowledge each card can convey, shares how his cards can be used electronically, and touches on other opportunities outside the world of process safety in which customized decks can be utilized. 

To learn more, visit https://integrity.cards/ or find David Hatch on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/dh04tch/. 

In our first episode to kick off 2022, Rob and Molly talk Management of Organizational Change (MOOC). Management of Organizational Change is a systematic way to ensure that adherence to process safety policies doesn't suffer when any sort of organizational change takes place that could potentially affect process safety, including but not limited to pandemic effects on staffing and remote work, other personnel changes due to resignations, new hires, or promotions, work stoppage due to union strikes, and more. In this episode you'll learn what MOOCs are, when they should be used, differences and similarities between MOOCs and other Management of Change (MOC) used for process safety compliance, and how organizational changes can act as enabling events for PSM incidents. 

To learn more, check out the CCPS book mentioned in this episode, Guidelines for Managing Process Safety Risks During Organizational Change.

In the final installment of their three-part series, the A-Team shares advice for mature process safety programs. When your program reaches this phase, likely around the 10-year mark, it's important to continue maintenance of ongoing compliance and strive for continuous improvement. In this episode, Rob, Molly, John, and Jo cover best-in class practices for a mature PSM program, and touch on the unique challenges that you'll face in this phase of your journey.

Don't forget to listen to the first two parts of this series, Part 1 - The Foothills and Part 2 - Climbing the Mountain to learn more about our tips for newer PSM programs. 

In the second part of our three-episode series covering facilities' process safety journeys, the team is back to share information pertinent to programs that are still "climbing the process safety mountain" - more specifically, those who are about 3-10 years into the development and deployment of their PSM program. In this episode, Rob, Molly, John, and Jo cover the main goals during this phase, including improving compliance and refining your existing programs, and then go on to discuss process safety culture, PSI, operator participation, policy updates, electronic systems, pressure relief audits, emergency response plans, MOC expansion, facility siting, mechanical integrity programs, and much, much more. Don't forget to join us for the last episode in the series, in which we touch on continuous improvement for mature PSM programs. 

To listen to the previously released Mechanical Integrity (MI) episodes that Rob references, visit here and here.

Join us for a recording of Amplify's first Top 10 Talk. During this event, Rob Bartlett and Molly Myers, P.E., presented their top ten tips for successful Process Hazard Analyses (PHAs). A list of the tips that Rob and Molly elaborate on is presented below. 

1. Choose your facilitator wisely

2. Documentation in key

3. The method matters

4. Create nodes like Goldilocks

5. Valuable members make a valuable team

6. What risk are you willing to accept?

7. Ask, "what's the worst that could happen?"

8. Approach operator response realistically

9. The final report is not the finish line

10.Don't procrastinate

A Q&A session follows the presentation. 

If you would prefer to watch the talk instead, view a video recording of the event here.

We want to know what you think - we welcome any feedback that you have about this event, and invite you to share your thoughts, including suggestions for future Top 10 Talk topics, in this short survey.

In this very special episode, the first of a three-part series, the whole A-Team comes together to share their expert advice for facilities that are just beginning their process safety journey. In this episode, Rob, Molly, John, and Jo cover the main goals that you'll want to keep in mind when you begin establishing your process safety program, including the unique challenges that you may face during this part of your journey. 

Be sure to join us again in the next two parts when we cover our tips for PSM programs in the 3-10 year range, and then our final episode in the series covering continuous improvement for mature PSM programs.