E.08 - Safety Recognition Before Safety—Process Safety

A facility in the USA had several regulated processes. While auditing the Asset Integrity element, an auditor discovered the internal inspections and wall thickness measurements for 5 pressure vessels out of two dozen were overdue, in some cases by a few years. The same recurring maintenance tasks for 3 of 12 low-pressure storage tanks were also overdue, again by a few years.
The Maintenance Manager explained to the auditor the plant was considered a safety model regionally, it was never cited for overdue vessel and tank inspections. He also stated the site has been an OSHA VPP Star site for nearly 10 years, and the relationship with the local OSHA field office was excellent.
The time and effort to quickly perform the overdue vessel and tank inspections would be substantial and would result in some unscheduled down time and late product shipments. The Maintenance Manager and Plant Manager were firmly opposed to incurring these production outages on what they believed to already be a “best in class” operation.
How relevant is special recognition such as VPP Star, OHSA 18001 certification, etc. to the extent to which a facility is managing its risks adequately? How can you segregate recognition that can boost a company’s image to the public from KPIs that more accurately define the process safety performance of the facility? Is there any recognition that can serve as a “free-pass” for operational discipline?