Process Safety Management

Unexpected releases of toxic, reactive, or flammable liquids and
gases in processes involving highly hazardous chemicals have been
reported for many years. Incidents continue to occur in various
industries that use highly hazardous chemicals which may be toxic,
reactive, flammable, or explosive, or may exhibit a combination of
these properties. Regardless of the industry that uses these highly
hazardous chemicals, there is a potential for an accidental release any
time they are not properly controlled. This, in turn, creates the
possibility of disaster.

This booklet summarizes the OSHA final process safety management
(PSM) standard. Employers and employees may prefer to read
this booklet and a companion one entitled, “Process Safety Management
- Guidelines for Compliance” (OSHA 3133), before studying
the rule itself.

Process means any activity involving a highly hazardous chemical
including using, storing, manufacturing, handling, or moving such
chemicals at the site, or any combination of these activities. For
purposes of this definition, any group of vessels that are interconnected,
and separate vessels located in a way that could involve a
highly hazardous chemical in a potential release, are considered a
single process.