Benchmarking of process safety management elements in the South African process industry

Abstract

This study is a benchmarking exercise aimed at identifying the variation in the practice - within the South African process industry - of three process safety management (PSM) elements, namely: Management of Change (MOC), Emergency Preparedness Program (EPP), and Process Safety Incident Investigation (PSII) programs. Structured questionnaires were developed for each of the three PSM elements, and sent to over 180 process plants. Typically, the study experienced a low response rate. However, data were gathered from a total of 39 process facilities which include chemical, pharmaceutical, gas, petrochemical, metal extraction, and processing plants. Observed, is a wide variance in the practice of the PSM elements among the industry. Juxtaposed against international standards, the industry practice is some degrees lower than international benchmarks. Nonetheless, there is a positive attitude to PSM among the sampled facilities. Recommendations were made for the industry stakeholders.