ALARP is needed

Dr. Rafael Moure-Eraso said, “In contrast to the safety case, the current regulatory system for process safety is largely reactive, at both the state and federal level; companies have a default right to operate, and are subject to penalties when accidents occur or their activities otherwise draw negative attention from regulators. In the case of the Chevron refinery fire, the reactive system of regulation simply did not work to prevent what was ultimately a preventable accident.”

Don Holmstrom, Director of the CSB’s Western Regional Office, which is conducting the Chevron investigation, said, “OSHA’s Process Safety Management [PSM] standard, the EPA’s Risk Management Program, and California’s system do not work consistently to prevent industrial process accidents. What is lacking, and what the safety case regime requires, is an adaptable, rigorously inspected, goal-setting approach, aimed at continuously reducing risks to ‘as low as reasonably practicable’ – known in the industry as ALARP.”

Weaknesses of PSM

The OSHA PSM standard is a set of requirements for facilities to identify, prevent or mitigate major chemical releases and catastrophic accidents. The current PSM standard requires companies to implement 14 elements to control the hazards from processing chemicals – such as hazard analysis, management of change, and worker training programs.

Only two of these 14 elements contain goal-based requirements – Process Hazard Analysis and Mechanical Integrity. Companies are able to comply with the other twelve elements by simply conducting highly specified activities, such as a “management of change” review. The current PSM standard does not require refineries to reduce their risks to a specific level, and companies are not required to submit their safety programs to regulators for review.

Lack of resources

A 2007 CSB report on an explosion at a BP refinery in Texas found that only a handful of comprehensive process safety compliance inspections were occurring a thousands of refineries and chemical plants covered by the PSM standard across the U.S. Federal OSHA instituted an expanded refinery inspection National Emphasis Program following the explosion in Texas City, but that program was subsequently dropped due to lack of resources.

Chevron disregarded employee recommendations

The CSB report contains an extensive analysis comparing actions required by Chevron under the OSHA PSM standard over the years and actions that would have been required had Chevron operated under a safety case regulatory regime. For example, Chevron employees recommended implementing the inherently safer approach of upgrading piping materials to prevent sulfidation corrosion through PSM activities. However, the CSB draft report found that the California process safety regulations do not require that these preventative measures be implemented. Prior to the fire, Chevron had repeatedly failed to implement the proposed recommendations; using inherently safer approaches, on the other hand, is required under the safety case. The CSB found that had Chevron implemented these recommendations, the incident could have been prevented.

Other examples in the report detail how a safety case would have required Chevron to conduct root-cause investigations, including an evaluation and incorporation of inherent safety and implementation of safety recommendations that more broadly address safety system performance. Effective implementation of the safety case requires strong workforce involvement, proactive inspections and enforcement by a well-resourced regulator, as well as incorporation of best practice performance standard requirements.

Few changes to PSM in 20 years

The draft report notes that promulgation of new standards by OSHA requires about seven years, and that process has made few – if any – changes to its process safety rules in more than two decades. The report contrasts this ineffectual system for updating federal safety regulations through rulemaking with the greater adaptability of the safety case regime. Under a safety case system, changing safety standards, new technologies, and findings from accident investigations are required to be incorporated by facilities. “In the last decade,” the draft report states, “the CSB has made a number of process-safety related recommendations to OSHA and the EPA in its investigation reports and studies (e.g. Motiva, BP Texas City, and Reactive Hazards). However, none of these important regulatory recommendations have been implemented, and there have been no substantive changes made to the PSM or RMP regulations to improve the prevention of major accidents.”

In contrast, regulators in countries such as the UK and Norway are able to more quickly implement appropriate safety improvements. Available studies summarized in the report illustrate that the safety case continues to be effective. For example, data from Norway and the UK show a reduction in hydrocarbon releases offshore under the safety case regime. The draft report concludes that “Independent studies of the safety case in the UK have identified improvements to safety performance from the safety case regulatory regime and support of the safety case by major oil companies.”

U.S. has fallen behind

Chairperson Moure-Eraso said, “The safety case is being increasingly adopted around the world, and the U.S. safety system has fallen behind. Workers, the public and the industry itself would benefit greatly from the enhanced advantages of this more adaptable and effective approach to regulation. Other regimes have long since recognized the need for increased participation by workers and their representatives, transparency of information and the use of key process safety indicators to ensure the system works to prevent major accidents.”

The report recommends that California “Develop and implement a step-by-step plan to establish a more rigorous safety management regulatory framework for petroleum refineries in the state of California based on the principles of the ‘safety case’ framework in use in regulatory regimes such as those in the UK, Australia, and Norway.”

The recommendation urges specific steps to accomplish this, including ensuring that workers are formally involved in the development of a safety case approach. The report also urges California to work with industry in gathering refinery safety indicator data to be shared with the public.