How to Conduct a Process Safety Audit: A Step-by-Step Guide

This informal CPD article ‘How to Conduct a Process Safety Audit: A Step-by-Step Guide’ was provided by Synergen Oil and Gas UK, an independent engineering consultancy specialising in Process Safety, Technical Risk Management and Operational Safety services.

How to Conduct a Process Safety Audit: A Step-by-Step Guide

Any industry involving hazardous processes must prioritise process safety as a fundamental aspect. Ensuring the safety of workers and the environment requires identifying and controlling risks. Conducting regular safety audits is a key component of process safety. 

Let's discuss how to conduct a process safety audit with a step-by-step guide.

Step 1: Establish Audit Objectives

To conduct a process safety audit, the first step is to establish the objectives of the audit. This includes identifying:

• The areas to be audited (scope of the audit)
• The extent to which you want to examine your processes (purpose of the audit)
• Whether or not you have set realistic and achievable goals for yourself

Aligning these objectives with your company's safety management system and industry best practices for process safety audits can help.

Step 2: Review Documentation

The next step is to review relevant documentation such as safety manuals, procedures, and records. This will provide an understanding of the safety management system and identify potential gaps or areas of improvement. This includes reviewing:

• Safety manuals and procedures
• Records of incidents, near misses, and corrective actions are taken (if available)
• Identify any deviations or gaps in your current safety management system.

Assess its effectiveness by asking questions such as:

• What are the key elements of your site's PSM program?
• Are they being implemented correctly?
• If not, why not?
• How well-trained are operators on these elements?
• What training does each operator need before being allowed to operate equipment or perform other tasks that affect plant safety?

Step 3: Conduct Site Visits

In a process safety audit, observing processes and activities, interviewing workers, and identifying potential hazards during site visits constitute crucial aspects. It is important to ensure that safety protocols are followed and to identify any deviations.

During the site visit, the auditor should observe the processes and activities to identify potential hazards or risks. The auditor must also identify any deviations from the documented procedures and protocols, including physical deviations or deviations in behaviour. The auditor must document all observations and deviations for future reference.

Step 4: Analyse the Findings

After reviewing your findings, you will want to identify any non-compliances and safety gaps. You can do this by comparing your data with the requirements of industry standards or regulatory agencies. If there are any areas where you have found a difference between what is required and what is happening in practice, these are considered "non-compliances". 

Safety Gaps: These are areas where risks may lead to an accident if not addressed. For example, if the emergency shutdown system at a facility isn't working properly but hasn't been inspected recently enough for anyone on staff (or even management) to know about it yet--that's a safety gap!

Opportunities for Improvement: Once you've identified these problems and risks, it's time for improvement! Now comes the fun part: prioritising recommendations based on severity level and cost-effectiveness so that you can focus first on improving those things which present the highest risk before moving on to other areas later down the road if necessary.

Step 5: Develop an Action Plan

Once you've completed the audit, it's time to develop an action plan. This step is where you'll prioritise your recommendations based on risk and impact, identify responsible parties and timelines for completion, and ensure that all actions are aligned with company goals.

Conclusion

Organisations must regularly conduct a process safety audit to ensure the safety of workers and the environment. The audit should involve qualified and experienced personnel working collaboratively to identify potential hazards, address non-compliances, and continuously improve their safety management systems.

We hope this article was helpful. For more information from Synergen Oil and Gas UK, please visit their CPD Member Directory page. Alternatively, please go to the CPD Industry Hubs for more articles, courses and events relevant to your Continuing Professional Development requirements.