Welcome to our blog series on technology’s place in raising process safety management (PSM) awareness. In this series, we explore advances in digital technology that enhance PSM.
For starters, this blog illuminates the critical role and the benefits of real-time barrier health management. Read on to learn how innovative methodologies such as Sphera’s digital solutions are advancing PSM.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Since publication of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) process safety management (PSM) standard in 1992, awareness around process safety has grown exponentially. Other countries have taken a different approach, but all have aimed at the same outcome “to reduce, and ultimately eliminate, fatal and high severity process safety events.”
Particularly in industries with a high hazard potential, organizations want to know how activities, both direct and indirect, affect their process safety management status. Companies in less risky industries are also interested in the lessons learned from facilities that have implemented robust safety management systems encompassing PSM elements.
At the Hazards 34 process safety conference this past November in Manchester, U.K., one critical topic of discussion was the use of PSM-enabling digital tools such as digital twins. By providing a virtual representation of a system, a digital twin delivers an enterprise-wide understanding of how planned work activities impact process safety barrier and equipment health.
The virtual system makes risk exposure visible in real time, reducing vulnerability to high-potential near-misses and major hazard events. Such digital tools serve to provide unmatched clarity into how operational activities influence the overall safety landscape.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Managing barrier health means continuously monitoring the performance and status of safeguards designed to prevent or mitigate process safety incidents. Real-time barrier health management integrates advanced systems to visualize these safeguards and provide actionable insights. This visibility helps operators reduce major accident hazards by empowering users to:
WHO THIS AFFECTS
Real-time barrier health management affects the entire workforce, from frontline employees to engineering and planning teams. Workers, supervisors, engineering and maintenance of the facility benefit from knowing what barriers are in place to prevent a process safety incident.
Across the enterprise, operators and crews achieve visibility in real time, so they are able to respond when an individual barrier is breached. Both the Swiss cheese model and the bow tie model offer their own unique visualization of “live risk.”
HOW SPHERA CAN HELP
Sphera stands at the forefront of process safety management and offers two ways to visualize barrier health. With a better understanding of process safety conditions and facility health status, you gain actionable insights into risk reduction. Sphera provides a mature software solution that offers:
Our real-time barrier solution enables you to improve operational decision-making and take a proactive approach to your evolving risk levels.
FOR MORE CONTEXT
Historically, some organizations have been slow to adopt digital process safety technologies. However, findings from Sphera’s 2024 Process Safety Report reveal a significant shift. Indeed, this year may be the digital tipping point for PSM. An overwhelming 95% affirm that digital tools are a key ingredient in enhancing process safety.
Additionally, the report shows that 52% of organizations have invested in solutions to visualize and proactively manage the health of individual safety barriers and safeguards. To continue moving forward, PSM practitioners will need a partner that deeply understands the needs and nuances of process safety digitization. https://sphera.com/resources/report/sphera-insights-2024-process-safety-report/
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
Just as medical practitioners use real-time health monitoring tools to track patient vitals, real-time barrier health management provides organizations with dynamic insights into operational risks.
By providing a unified and standardized platform for real-time visibility and communication across all levels, digital systems help reduce and eliminate severe process safety events. Sphera enables this shift from digital resistance to digital resilience.
Contact Sphera’s experts to learn more about ways to advance your PSM strategy.
