Process Safety Management and its Impact on the Professional Engineering Community

Process safety management (PSM) is a disciplined approach to avoiding loss of containment incidents in the process industries. Such incidents are often accompanied by fire, explosion and toxic effects which in turn can seriously harm large numbers of people. Unlike traditional safety, process safety is a collective initiative involving all disciplines within an organization. In particular, the engineering community is responsible for the design, construction, commissioning and maintenance of a facility through its life cycle.

Process safety management did not just happen. It was adopted by hazardous process industries in response to the Bhopal India accident that resulted in 3000 deaths in 2006. Although Canada does not have a formal PSM regulation, Bill C-45 places responsibility on all of us to adopt proven methods and technologies for the prevention of industrial accidents. The common elements of PSM will be explained with particular emphasis on those which affect the engineering profession.

Pre-Registration and advance payments are required. Seating is limited and registrations will be dealt with on a first-come, first-serve basis. Please call the Calgary APEGGA office at 262-7714 or register online at www.apega.ca under Fast Find; Branch Events Registration, noting any dietary restrictions. Online registration forms will be available the 3rd week of August. The Calgary Branch accepts Visa, MasterCard, or American Express.