Current Trends in Process Safety and Operational Risk Management
Risk and safety: Process safety management (PSM) and operational risk management (ORM) center around these two concepts. In dangerous industries, PSM and ORM enable companies to keep people safe and to minimize the risk of damage to company assets, communities and the environment.
To be truly effective, PSM and ORM require a multidimensional approach that blends digital technology with strategy, policy and frontline performance, as the findings from our Process Safety Report 2023 demonstrate.
Now in its eighth year, the Sphera Process Safety Report annually provides a snapshot of the state of PSM and ORM. We gather insights and opinions from process safety professionals in some of the most dangerous industries, including petrochemical operations, metals, mining and power utilities. Our survey investigates the most pressing process safety challenges and promising trends across the globe.
This year’s report includes the finding that one-third of scheduled safety-critical maintenance is not achieved—a figure that has remained constant year after year. Additionally, roughly two-thirds of respondents say there are gaps between their organizations’ safety goals and process safety as they experience it. We investigate some of the reasons for the shortcomings.
We observe that technology is increasingly valued by companies to help them reduce vulnerability to high-potential near-misses and major hazard events. At the same time, professionals in process safety management are keenly aware of the pivotal role of people—from corporate leadership to frontline workers—in implementing safety policy and technology.