Risk Management Plans and Process Safety Management

The Risk Management Plan, RMP, was designed by the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, to be used by facilities that deal with hazardous chemicals in order to prevent chemical accidents from occurring.   According to the EPA, there are three main areas that an RMP must cover.  The first area is that of an assessment of the potential hazards that could occur due to an accidental release of the hazardous chemicals.  Along with that, they must include a history of the accidents in the past 5 years.  Next, they must include safety measures that are in place along with training procedures, and maintenance.  Lastly, the RMP must have an emergency response program in place if an emergency were to occur.  The emergency response program must include emergency protocols involving health care, training procedures, and emergency response.  The RMP must be resubmitted each year to ensure it is up to date.  There are about 250 chemicals that have threshold levels to which a company is responsible for the regulations.  27 of those chemicals are not listed in OSHA’s Process Safety Management. 

            Process Safety Management, PSM, was designed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, OSHA, to ensure a safe workplace where hazardous chemicals are used.  As stated in the name, this tool is used to define a ‘process’ that needs to occur in the event of a spill or leak of hazardous chemicals.  This standard has a key focus on the safety of the worker when in the workplace while the RMP has a focus on the environment and the impact of the chemicals on the environment.  According to OSHA, the PSM required written safety information that recognizes the hazards or possible hazards within a workplace to ensure that the workers are aware of their environment.  Each PSM must be updated every 5 years to ensure the most current information.  Similar to the RMP, this standard must also outline emergency procedures in the case of a spill or leak.  The hazards must also be identified in order to determine the best possible way to prevent an emergency from occurring. The details for the PSM are outlined on OSHA’s website and are much more strict that those of the EPA’s RMP.  There are also about 79 chemicals that are listed on the PSM but not on the RMP.  In general, the PSM threshold levels are lower than the RMP threshold levels for responsibility.  

Facilities that store or use highly hazardous chemicals must comply with both the Risk Management Plan and the Process Safety Management.  It is important for facilities to follow both sets of regulations in order to keep the workplace safer for the employees and the environment safer for everyone.  A chemical leak or spill of any sort is dangerous, that it why it is important to have these plans and protocols in place before an emergency was to occur.  In the event of an emergency, the staff and public responders are well informed and have coordinated the appropriate responses for the chemicals involved. Essentially, the RMP deals with spills and leaks that affect outside the workplace, while the PSM handles spills and leaks within the workplace.