Those of us living within the realm of Process Safety Management know all too well the difficulty of controlling contractor work activities to a level that we are confident they are not increasing our process risks beyond our acceptable levels. Many contractors are offended by the fact that many PSM programs have multiple layers of protection regarding their presence and work practices in, on, or even adjacent to a process that contains a Highly Hazardous Chemical (or, as EPA refers to them… Extremely Hazardous Substances).
First, let’s examine why these multiple layers of protection for contractor work are necessary and not a “personal” reflection on any one individual or contractor company. First and foremost, our contractors are at a MAJOR disadvantage when remembering all the safe work practices, emergency procedures, etc. If we step back and think about this, imagine the contractor we trained in January, and now it is August.