Guidelines for Risk Based Process Safety

The purpose of the Risk Based Process Safety (RBPS) guideline is to provide a paradigm shift for industries that manufacture, consume, or handle chemicals focusing on new ways to (1) design, (2) correct, or (3) improve process safety management practices. This new framework for thinking about process safety builds upon the original process safety management ideas published in the early '90's, integrates industry lessons learned over the intervening years, utilizes applicable "total quality" principles (i.e., plan, do, check, act), and organizes it in a way that will be useful to all organizations - even those with relatively lower hazard activities - throughout the life-cycle of a company. The book addresses four essential activities or principles with associated elements or activities: Commit to Process Safety - This includes elements that require management commitment. Without these fundamental building blocks, the rest of the elements will not be able to be done well. Understand Risk - Once there is genuine demonstrated commitment to process safety, the next step is to understand the risk involved in specific process. This too is critical. Understanding risk is an obvious prerequisite to managing risk. Manage Risk - Once the risk is well understood, the systems to manage risk can be effective. Learn from Experience - Finally, when the risk is well understood and managed, there is a need to learn from the empirical observations from operating the process.

Since 1985, the Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) has been the world leader in developing and disseminating information on process safety management and technology.  CCPS, an industry technology alliance of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), has published over 80 books in its process safety guidelines and process safety concepts series.