Effective Pre-Startup Safety Review: Tips and Tools for Ensuring Operational Readiness

The keys to effectiveness of Pre-Startup Safety Review (PSSR) and Operational Readiness involve establishing well-defined workable practices, providing effective tools, dedicating resources to complete the work, ensuring management support, and continuously improving the process through user and client feedback. Many of these concepts are described in general terms in various guidelines and reference materials. However, effectiveness of the implementation cannot be achieved through generalities. The devil is in the detail and the quality of the implementation.

This paper describes a number of specific practices and tools that have been proven effective in the field to drive better PSSR and project turnover. These practices may be scaled to apply to projects and modifications of any size as well as to procedure changes and turnaround restart applications. A number of specific experiences are shared that demonstrate the importance of selecting the correct tools and resources to support the work. The proof of success came by having more satisfied clients and users. Quality control (QC) personnel began applying the tools developed more widely than originally intended. Construction personnel were pleased to have clear deliverables and to be assessed by clearly defined standards. Operators who received the project turnover were engaged in the process and were satisfied with the improvements implemented.

Implementing successful PSSR is a combination of having strong work processes, tools, resources, commitment, and follow-through. Failure of any of these components may cripple the overall PSSR process and potentially compromise the success and safety of an otherwise well-implemented project.