Is your Process Safety Analysis fit for purpose?
The fundamentals for the PSA have been drawn up by one of the founders of process safety – Trevor Kletz – in the 80’s of the past century. A PSA is a structured method meant to identify one of the aspects of inherent safe design i.e. the inherent chemical process hazards. With the PSA the possibility of eliminating these hazards and controlling possible effects of remaining hazards can be evaluated aiming to prevent, reduce, and protect to reach a safe environment. Eliminating inherent chemical hazards leads to an inherent safe design. In other words: Safe-by-Design. The result of a PSA is a fundamental document in managing your process safety. It is the documented chemical hazard knowledge to be used in design, operations and Management of Change. For a lot of companies the details of the PSA used, evolved in a way that was dictated by the nature of the type of production processes, used raw materials and final products.
Brightsite is aware that for the transition of the chemical industry to climate neutrality new processes with other raw materials, energy sources and operation modes need to be developed. This means that the PSA methods we normally use may not be fit for purpose anymore. So we decided to go back to the basic principles of the PSA and check their applicability to anticipated future requirements. Next we apply these (possibly adjusted) basic principles on future new developments.
We start with PSA in the earliest stages of our developments. And we will update the PSA in the course of the development. In our PSA we make a hazard inventory based on chemical hazards, chemical interactions and the intended chemical process. Via the key words: minimize, substitute, attenuate and simplify we challenge how we can eliminate or minimize hazards. Our perfect team to do this is a multidisciplinary group and an independent chair.

Do you use a PSA methodology to identify the hazards of the processes you need for the transition? Brightsite is curious to hear your experiences. Please get in touch with Esta de Goede, manager of this program line. We are looking forward to meeting you!