(12c) Maturity Model Approach for Building Effective Process Safety Management Systems

An effective Process Safety Management (PSM) program requires an ongoing review of the current program based on a transparent and objective assessment methodology. When building a PSM system for a new enterprise or facility, a similar assessment is needed to understand the correct priorities for the specific site and to provide an implementation roadmap.

Usually, a gap analysis is conducted to tackle challenges with building a PSM system from scratch, or for improving an already existing PSM program. The purpose of this paper is to introduce an adaptation of Maturity Models to PSM area. Business maturity models are useful management frameworks used to gauge the maturity of an organization in various disciplines or functions. They help pinpoint the specific areas of improvement in order to reach the next level of maturity. Most maturity models qualitatively assess people/culture, processes/structures, and implementation/technology. The proposed PSM Maturity Model is an extension of the Maturity Model approach to Process Safety Management.

This paper will introduce the concept of Maturity Model in general with references to various business applications including project maturity model. Extension of the Maturity Model to PSM is an assessment tool to conduct a gap analysis. Whereas a gap analysis often focuses on weaknesses (gaps), the PSM Maturity Model also identifies strengths in already existing systems that might not be related with PSM, but could be easily extended for a successful implementation of an effective PSM program.

PSM Maturity Model has a four level rating system divided into increasing levels of complexity to gauge the organization's maturity, both in terms of strengths and weaknesses, in process safety management. Level 1 is identified as "Reactive/Initial" where the organization is considered immature and reactive overall. Level 2 is labeled as "Dependent/Defined" where the organization meets most (up to 80%) of the regulatory compliance requirements. Organizations that are at Level 3 "Independent/Managed" show improvement in process safety over time using a wide range of tools and organizational behaviors. Finally, Level 4 Organizations labeled "Optimized/Interdependent" focus on continuous improvement where all employees are ambassadors of the program.

PSM Maturity Model Assessment is PSM framework agnostic so it can be applied using PSM elements from regulatory requirements existing in different countries. It can also be applied using other PSM frameworks such as Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) Risk Based Process Safety (RBPS), or American Petroleum Institute (API) Recommended Practice (RP) 1173 Pipeline Safety Management Systems, to name a few.

An assessment of multiple sites for an enterprise based on a transparent and objective PSM Maturity Model allows comparison of multiple sites against each other, and eventually to move the site as well as the organization to a higher level of PSM maturity. Based on the strengths and weaknesses identified during the assessment, an implementation roadmap can be prepared targeting the next level of maturity. The implementation program can be tied to leading and lagging indicators for an easy assessment of program progression. Finally, the PSM Maturity Model defines a best-in-class safety management system for the whole organization.

In this paper, the implementation of PSM Maturity Model for various size organizations will be discussed as well as lessons learned while using this assessment method. One last benefit of this method is that it is sustainable in the organization by providing a continuous measurement tool indicating what needs to be achieved to reach the next level of maturity and keep it at that level.