A Study on the Relationship between Safety Culture and Process Safety Management

• Main Authors: TSAI CHIN YI, 蔡進益
• Other Authors: Yu Shu-Wei
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2015
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/96728466088906284365

碩士 === 國立中央大學 === 環境工程研究所在職專班 === 103 === Safety culture, which focuses on the perception and behavior of the individuals of an organization, has been actively studied by academics and research institutions and adopted by many organizations in the pass decades. A significant number of research results have been published. Safety culture cannot be stimulated by regulations or strict rules of an organization. It is an intrinsic nature of an organization, which takes a lot of efforts to nurture and maintain. On the other hand, Process Safety Management, PSM, designed to prevent the disastrous consequences of accidental releases of hazardous chemicals, is mandatory to most of the refining and petrochemical industries worldwide. PSM has become the chemical industry’s safety management focus since its promulgation by US OSHA in 1992. However, the terrible accident occurred at British Petroleum’s Texas City refinery in 2005 forced government authorities and private companies to reexamine the weaknesses and pitfalls of PSM. Because of the promulgation of Article 15 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act by the Ministry of Labor in 2014, companies covered by Article 26 of the Labor Inspection Act are now required to implement all elements of the US OSHA PSM regulations. To illustrate the importance of safety culture in the design and implementation of PSM, this study first reviews the development history of safety culture. A multinational chemical company with world renowned safety records is taken as a role model in this study. The company’s principles and practices in nurturing safety culture are thoroughly studied in order to obtain an understanding of the practical aspects of safety culture. The relationship between safety culture and the design and implementation of a selected number of process safety management elements is then illustrated to identify the key success factors of PSM. It is hoped that this study will help the domestic refining and chemical industries to achieve effective management of process safety.