Human Factors Elements Missing from Most Process Safety Management Systems

Process safety is about controlling risk of failures and errors; controlling risk is primarily about reducing the risk of human error. All elements of Risk-Based Process Safety (RBPS) and alternative standards for process safety (such as US OSHA’s standard for Process Safety Management [PSM] or ACC’s Process Safety Code™ [PSC]) have many elements, and each of these in turn helps to reduce the chance of human error or else helps to limit the impact of human error. But each process safety standard has some weakness in the control of human error.

This paper presents an overview of human factor fundamentals, discusses why many PSM systems are weak on human factors and outlines a comprehensive process safety element on Human Factors. It describes what belongs in each category within the Human Factors element and explains the intent, content, and the benefit of each category. The paper also presents examples of Human Factors’ deficiencies and selected examples of industry practices for human factors control are provided.