(46k) Using Metrics to Improve Emergency Management

10^Th Global Conference on Process Safety

Using Metrics to Improve Emergency Management

Rixio E. Medina

AcuTech Consulting Group

September 25, 2013

As part of the process industry’s efforts to manage process risk, facilities’ emergency planning and response plans are essential. These plans have traditionally being developed by experienced fire chiefs or other emergency response personnel using professional and trade organizations' guidelines, local requirements and equipment manufacturers' recommendations.  The OSHA Process Safety Management standard and EPA Risk Management Program regulation established minimum requirements for emergency planning and response for process safety.  Unfortunately, the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) continue to identify emergency planning and response gaps in some of the accidents they investigate. Industry’s ultimate goal is to have emergency planning and response systems that address all credible accident scenarios they can potentially encounter and that the system is capable of delivering the intended results every time it is activated to minimize the consequences of events. To that end, quality assurance have been attempted by conducting period reviews of systems, equipment and resources using audits, checklists,  emergency drills and exercises to identify the level of readiness.

The Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) Risk-Based Process safety (RBPS) Guidelines (2007) provide additional insight on how to achieve an effective emergency management performance for PSM. 

The author will examine the RBPS approach for measurement and metrics of emergency management and will offer advice to improve emergency management practices via metrics.