The folks “up north” are miles ahead of OSHA and EPA process safety standards in one simple but HUGE difference… Process Safety Leadership for Senior Management. This standard, not fully embraced by all provinces within Canada, is something that OSHA and EPA should consider adopting in their efforts to revise their compliance standards. This 2022 revision of CSA Z767:17 R2022 even addresses the continuous improvement model (Plan-Do-Check-Act) and Inherent Safety. But it is section 5 – Process Safety Leadership that sets this standard apart from just the basic compliance standards. The “Process Safety Leadership” section is broken down into four (4) subsections:
- Senior Management Accountability
- Regulations, standards, and codes
- Process Safety Culture
- Conduct of Operations — Senior Management Responsibility
Let’s take a look at how they managed to make “senior management” ownership of process safety a cornerstone in their standard.
NOTE: This was so impressive, I have incorporated much of the language in our PS management system documentation.