Operational Readiness

CCPS RBPS Element 3.7 OPERATIONAL READINESS

Ensuring the safe startup of processes over the life of a facility is one of nine elements in the Managing Risk Pillar (Foundational Block.)

The readiness element ensures that shut down processes are verified to be in a safe condition for re-start. This element addresses startups from all types of shut down conditions and considers the length of time the process was in the shut down condition. Some processes may be shut down only briefly, while others may have undergone a lengthy maintenance/modification outage, or they may even have been mothballed for an extended period. Other processes may have been shut down for administrative reasons, such as a lack of product demand; for reasons unrelated to production at all; or as a precautionary measure, for example, because of an approaching hurricane. In addition to the shutdown duration, this element considers the type of work that may have been conducted on the process (e.g., possibly involving line-breaking) during the shutdown period to help focus the readiness review prior to startup.

The readiness element in these Guidelines is defined more broadly than the OSHA process safety management pre-startup safety review element in that it specifically addresses startup from all shutdown conditions – not only those resulting from new or changed processes.

EI PSM Element 13 OPERATIONAL READINESS AND PROCESS START -UP

The commissioning and start-up of new, modified or existing plant and equipment is a high risk operation.

Management must ensure that there is a systematic process to verify that plant and equipment is in a safe condition, and that personnel are appropriately prepared, before start-up or return to normal operation.

The following topics relate to this element:

HUMAN FACTORS

Incidents

Information

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