Ebook: The OSHA Process Safety Standard: The 30-Year Update
Purchasing Information
This ebook is priced at $14.99 (U.S.). There are no hidden fees, and no subscription.
The .pdf file can be downloaded here.
Here is the Kindle link.
Overview
Published by Sutton Technical Books, The OSHA Process Safety Standard: The 30-Year Update provides a timely and expert overview of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) proposed updates to its Process Safety Management (PSM) regulation (29 CFR 1910.119), more than three decades after its original publication in 1992.
The book begins by explaining the historical context of the PSM standard, developed in the wake of catastrophic industrial incidents like Bhopal and Piper Alpha. Since its inception, the PSM regulation has remained largely unchanged, despite dramatic shifts in industrial technology, global supply chains, and climate risks. The book outlines why OSHA, guided by executive orders and stakeholder input, is now reopening and modernizing the standard to reflect 21st-century realities.
The ebook reviews OSHA’s 2022 stakeholder agenda and systematically examines all 24 proposed changes. These are divided into two categories: (1) expanding and clarifying the scope of coverage (e.g., oil and gas production, atmospheric storage tanks, retail facilities, and reactive chemicals), and (2) strengthening the existing management elements, such as Mechanical Integrity, Management of Change, and Incident Investigation.
Key updates include:
Clarifying exemptions for atmospheric storage tanks.
Applying PSM to oil and gas well drilling and production.
Expanding the list of highly hazardous chemicals.
Including natural disasters and climate resilience in hazard assessments.
Requiring root cause analysis, third-party audits, and written procedures for all elements.
Emphasizing employee participation, including Stop Work Authority.
Encouraging analysis of safer technologies and inherently safer design.
The ebook provides concise chapters for each proposed update. Each includes the current regulatory language, OSHA’s proposed change, and a thoughtful discussion of the practical and legal implications. Sutton integrates insights from real-world incidents investigated by the Chemical Safety Board (CSB), whose findings have influenced OSHA’s rulemaking. The ebook draws parallels to the EPA’s Risk Management Program and offshore regulations under BSEE’s SEMS rule.
Importantly, the book emphasizes the performance-based and non-prescriptive nature of PSM, arguing that risk management, not rigid compliance, is the true aim of process safety. The discussion on the boundaries of a 'covered process', especially in cases like flammable storage or oil and gas operations, shows how complex and contested the regulation’s scope has become.
This first edition was written after the close of the public comment period but before OSHA’s final rule is issued. A second edition will follow once the final regulation is published.
The OSHA Process Safety Standard: The 30-Year Update is essential reading for process safety professionals, regulatory specialists, and anyone responsible for managing industrial risk under OSHA’s evolving framework.
