First, a consultant will likely be more objective.  You know what you "want" your program to say or believe all the documentation is in place, but a person not familiar with the PSM / RMP Prevention Program will be able to objectively tell you whether or not it actually says what you want it to say or that the documentation you have actually meets the intent of the regulation.

Consider when you wrote a paper for school.  After working with it for awhile and then reading it 10 times, didn't it say what you wanted it to say?  It was perfect, right?  And, then, you asked your mom or your room mate to read it and they had all kinds of comments and questions.

Appendix C to the PSM Standard states that the "audit should be conducted or lead by a person knowledgeable in audit techniques and who is impartial towards the facility or area being audited."  It's difficult to check yourself and your own work at times, and having another opinion will only make your program stronger.

In addition, an outside party might be familiar with ways of ahndling a situation or presenting required information in a way you haven't thought of.  People whose job it is to conduct PSM & RMP Compliance Audits see a wide variety of documents that they likely will be able to share with you.

If you don't want to hire a consultant, if your facility is part of a larger organization that has other plants also covered by PSM / RMP, consider creating a "Round Robin" auditing schedule where the PSM /RMP Coordinator from one plant audits the PSM / RMP Program at another plant.  This way Best Management Practices (BMPs) can be shared across the organization so that improvement is made across the board.  And, remember, you can audit your own program.  It might not be the optimal method, but it isn't against the rules. ​

This story is brought you by Schneider Risk Management. 
​If you have any questions, please call us at (231) 288-1076.

After a myriad of meetings with stakeholders, the USEPA published Amendments to the RMP Rule in the Federal Register on January 13, 2017.   Subsequently, delays were issued by the current administration.  But on August 17, 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals decided to vacate the decision to delay and in September the court issued a mandate making the rule effective.  And on December 3, 2018, the USEPA published in the Federal Register that the effective date for the amendments was December 3, 2018.  See, it’s complicated.
 
What you really need to know is that some of the amendments require you to make changes to your RMP Program now, some changes won’t be required until March 15, 2021, and still other changes apply either now or in the future, but will only come into play under certain conditions.  Lastly, all RMP submittals must be updated to the new requirements by March 14, 2022. 
 
I told you it’s complicated.  But, let’s look at some of the high points.
 
New Requirements that Must be Implemented Now:

• Emergency response coordination activities with local emergency planning and response organizations.
• PHAs must now include information from incident investigation findings.
• Incident investigations must be conducted for “near miss” incidents (e.g., those that could reasonably have resulted in a catastrophic release).
• Incident Investigation Reports have new content requirements.
• Although not really new, the amendments specifically state that all PSI must be kept up-to-date. 

 
Future Obligations - March 15, 2021:

• Third-party audit provisions. (see also Implement Under Certain Conditions).
• Incident investigation root cause analysis.
• Safer technology and alternatives analysis.
• Emergency response table top exercises must be completed.
• Providing chemical hazard information or community preparedness information to the public and conducting a public meeting 90 days after an RMP accident.  

 
Obligations to be Implemented under Certain Conditions
 
The best examples here are the Third-Party Audit, Root Cause Analysis and conducting a Public Meeting.  Each of these provisions have qualifiers.    
 
The regulation states that a third-party audit is only required when:

1. Your facility experiences a reportable accidental release of a regulated substance; or
2. An implementing agency requires a third-party audit due to conditions at the stationary source that could lead to an accidental release of a regulated substance.

Similarly, if a reportable release occurs, a root-cause analysis must be done during the incident investigation and the facility must hold a public meeting.  These requirements go into effect on March 15, 2021, but are only required if the conditions warrant them.
 
Yes, it is complicated, but manageable.  But, be careful, read the regulations carefully so you only implement the things you really need to.  If you aren’t sure, give us a call.  We are happy to answer questions about these or other RMP or PSM requirements.  

Here are links to some helpful RMP Rule amendments information.

• December 3, 2018 Federal Register
• ​RMP Compliance Information from USEPA
• RMP Final Rule from January 13, 2017.
• USEPA RMP Amendments History Webpage

About the Author:  Vicki Schneider is one of SRM’s Principal Consultants.  She works alongside EHS professionals providing assistance with applying and implementing RMP and PSM regulations.
​

​Chemical Accident Prevention is high on everyone’s priority list.  The EPA even has a rule for it.  The Risk Management Plan (RMP) Rule (40 CFR Part 68) governs accident prevention under Section 112(r) of the Clean Air Act Amendments.  The “RMP Rule” established regulations that facilitate accident prevention at facilities that use certain highly hazardous chemicals listed in the regulation.  For example, many facilities that use anhydrous ammonia are required to prepare and implement an RMP at their location, and must submit the RMP to the EPA every 5 years.  Whoa, you say.  What’s in an RMP? 

An RMP is a set of documents and procedures that govern the following actions at a facility when that facility has the highly hazardous chemicals in a process in quantities above a Threshold Quantity.  For ammonia refrigeration the threshold is 10,000 pounds.

• How the facility manages chemicals to keep them inside their containers and inside the process.
• How the facility plans to respond to a release of the chemical, including its emergency response procedures, should a release occur.
• Establishing the potential radius of impact that a chemical, once released, might have on the facility and the surrounding neighborhoods.

Why would a facility want to prepare an RMP?  First of all, because these plans provide your local police, fire and emergency response personnel with information needed so that they can respond to an incident at your facility in the most effective way possible.  And, Secondly, because these plans must be submitted to EPA.  They must also be resubmitted every five years.
​
FUN FACT
Did you know that the Environmental Protection Agency implements the Risk Management Plan (RMP) Rule in Michigan – not the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality?
 

​Did you think that once you “complete” your Risk Management   Planning   (RMP) and Process Safety Management (PSM) programs   there is no more   work to be done?  Often, regulatory requirements   are thought of as one and   done.  You prepare the document and its   done, you don’t have to look at it   again for five years.  Not in this   case.
 
These programs require vigilance, especially if the processes at your facility often change.  For starters, both PSM and RMP include periodic actions that must be completed regularly.  Here’s an abbreviated listing:

• Both programs require documentation reviews, some documentation must be reviewed on an annual basis and others on a less frequent basis.  For example, operating procedures must be reviewed annually.  They must also be certified as having been reviewed. 
• Frequency of inspections and tests of process equipment must be done regularly in accordance with manufacturer’s RAGAGEPs. …. Raga-what?  Recognized and Generally Accepted Good Engineering Practices.  RAGAGEPs are based on established industry codes, standards, recommended practices, technical reports, or similar documents.   
• Compliance audits must be conducted every 3 years, and a process hazard analysis (PHA) must be conducted or revalidated at least every 5 years.  A PHA may need to be conducted more often if there are changes to the process. 
• Process safety information must be updated whenever changes to the process occurs.  This includes a range of information including P&IDs, materials safety data sheets, block flow diagrams, operating limits, material and energy balances, to name a few.
• Emergency response information must also be updated regularly and training must be conducted annually for hazmat personnel and when job duties or procedures change for all other personnel. 
• RMP Submittals (or RMP eSubmit) may need to be updated more often than every five years if there are certain significant changes to your processes or regulated substances.   For example adding a hazardous substances to an existing process above threshold quantities.  Changes that trigger revisions to your PHA or off-site consequence analysis also require an update to your RMP eSubmit. 

 
So, as you can see with this truncated list of periodic requirements, there is a lot to do after the main part of the program is established.  I will say this, it gets a little easier as personnel understand what is expected of them and adopt a PSM/RMP safety culture. 
 
One final thought.  Remember to document all of your reviews and date all of your changes.  The old saying still holds true.  If it wasn’t documented and you can’t prove a review took place, it didn’t happen.