Process safety management is the way an organisation manages and mitigates the risk of a catastrophic incident. Such incidents have the potential to harm, injure or kill large numbers of people, including members of the public, cause significant damage to business assets, the environment and to business reputation. There are multiple reasons why major accidents occur. Although the immediate causes might lie in equipment malfunctions or errors made by frontline staff, investigations into recent incidents have shown that the underlying causes are usually rooted in poor policy, leading to gaps in essential knowledge and the practices and procedures that underpin safety. Company board members must ensure adequate internal controls are in place to manage all risks and maximise the return for shareholders, responding to changing market conditions as they arise.

Effective process safety audits form an essential part of good corporate governance for the high hazard process industries. They are designed to ensure compliance with regulations and conformance to industry and company standards and guidelines. The process safety audits examine the whole of an integrated occupational management system with a particular focus on the key aspects of managing process safety in the workplace and offer a structured path for continual improvement towards best practice status.

The goal of this course is to provide a detailed understanding of the process safety management (PSM) auditing process. The course will focus on establishing an audit team, developing a site audit manual and implementing an auditing program at a site. Participants will collaborate in small groups to analyze scenarios using incident videos and case studies. Throughout the course real-time incidents will be added, such as responding to critical audit findings, requiring participants to react as they would in a reallife scenario.