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OSHA's National Emphasis Program (NEP) for Refineries

July 09, 2007

On June 7, 2007, the U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) launched a National Emphasis Program (NEP) for petroleum refineries. The NEP will include inspections of all refineries (SIC 2911/NAICS 324110) for compliance with the process safety management (PSM) regulation (29 CFR 1910.119). The complete OSHA Directive is contained in CPL 03-00-004.

According to OSHA, the NEP is needed because:

• The large number of fatal or catastrophic incidents in the petroleum refining industry indicates the need for a national emphasis program.
• Since the PSM standard was promulgated by OSHA in 1992, no other industry sector has had as many fatal or catastrophic incidents related to the release of highly hazardous chemicals as the petroleum refining industry.

The NEP specifically cites the BP Texas City explosion and fire that occurred on March 23, 2005.

Schedule

Inspections conducted under this NEP will be scheduled over a two-year period. Regions are to schedule 40 percent of the inspections conducted under this NEP in the first year and 60 percent in the second year. The lower number in the first year is to allow for training of inspectors during the first year.

Exemptions

Any refinery establishment that is an approved participant in OSHA's Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP) or in OSHA Consultation's Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP) will not be inspected as part of this program.

Focus

The inspections will focus on implementation, not documentation. According to the OSHA Directive, "OSHA has typically found that these employers have extensive written documentation related to process safety management, but the implementation of the written documentation has been inadequate. Therefore, CSHOs (Compliance Safety and Health Officers [OSHA Inspectors]) should focus on the implementation of the various PSM elements and ensure that employers do what they have committed to do in their PSM documentation."

Identification of Selected Units

OSHA will identify a covered process, called a selected unit in the Directive, to evaluate compliance with the PSM standard. The selected unit will be chosen based on guidance in the Directive. Typically, the selected unit will be an operating unit, not a storage unit.

Documents that OSHA May Request

The list of documents and information OSHA may request accounts for about seven pages of the 104-page Directive. It includes a wide range of process safety information, including inventories of chemicals for the units, flow diagrams, a list of personnel (including contractors) involved in operating the selected unit, a list of the selected unit's relief devices, and a list of work orders for the last three years for the selected unit.

Two-step NEP Inspection Process

Step 1 - Static List-based Evaluation

Step 1 is based on a static list of inspection priority items (IPIs) in the PSM-covered process that was chosen as the selected unit to be evaluated (this list is provided in Appendix A of the Directive). The list includes 98 questions related to 18 topics.

An example of one of the IPIs from Appendix A is as follows:

3. Does the employer's process safety information (PSI) include the codes and standards they used in the design of relief systems?

Yes No N/A

If no, possible violations include: 119(d)(3)(i)(F) - the employer did not include in its PSI, the codes and standards they used in the design of relief systems.

Compliance Guidance: This is a fundamental management system requirement for ALL equipment in a PSM-covered process. The employer must specify the design they employ for their covered equipment.

Step 2 - Dynamic List-based Evaluation

OSHA will develop a dynamic master list (DML) of IPIs. On a periodic basis (every 2 to 4 weeks), OSHA will select a number of IPIs from the DML to develop a dynamic primary list (DPL) and dynamic secondary list (DSL). If the questions on the current DPL do not apply to the unit, then the inspection team will select replacement questions from the DSL. OSHA provides an example that mentions 15 items of the DPL. This may provide an indication of the expected size of the DPL.

None of these lists will be made public.

Citations

Citations for violations of the PSM standard shall be issued in accordance with CPL 02-00-103. Violations of the PSM standard shall not normally be classified as "other-than-serious."

Potential Expansion

If during the compliance evaluation it is determined that a number of deficiencies exist in the employer's PSM compliance, the inspection may be expanded to another selected unit(s).

ABS Consulting Can Help

ABS Consulting can help you prepare for your upcoming audit. We can perform a preaudit to help you identify potential weak areas needing improvement and/or we can assist with improving your PSM program.

2007 PSM Effective Practices Workshop Day 1 - OSHA PSM Refinery National Emphasis Program (NEP) Inspection

2007 PSM Effective Practices Workshop

Contact us:

David Whittle
Director of Process Safety
ABS Consulting
10301 Technology Drive
Knoxville, TN 37932-3392
dwhittle@absconsulting.com
(865) 671-5819