the process of safety management requirements with ohsas 18001 and hse-ms systems and feasibility study of its establishment in a petrochemical company

background: in process industries, production, storage, transportation, usage and disposal of chemicals are inherently dangerous and the risk of catastrophic accident occurrence is potentially high. to improve safety level in these industries, establishment of process safety management (psm) system is considered as the most effective measures. this study was conducted to determine the degree of requirements compliance of occupational health and safety assessment series (ohsas 18001 [oh&s;]) and health safety and environment management system (hse-ms) with psm as well as to evaluate implementation of psm requirements in a petrochemical complex and feasibility of its establishment. methods: in the first stage of this study, through a library review, requirements of psm, oh&s; and hse-ms systems were extracted. then, the requirements of these three systems were compared and the level of their agreements was determined. in the next stage, the degree of psm system implementation was assessed in a petrochemical complex and its complete establishment was studied according to osha “psm audit guide”. the required data were collected by reviewing the documents, interviewing with employees and surveying field evidence. findings: the results showed that psm system was in full agreements in 8 and 9 requirements of oh&s; and hse-ms systems, respectively. 5 requirements including process safety information, pre-startup safety review, mechanical integrity, hot work permit and trade secret were specific for psm system. percentage of common requirements of psm and oh&s; systems as well as psm and hse-ms systems were found to be 57.14% and 64.28%, respectively. additionally, the results revealed that 67.4% of psm requirements have been already established in the studied industry. conclusion: with revising some requirements of oh&s; and hse-ms systems and including psm requirements in them and providing the remained specific documents of psm system, establishment of psm system in the studied industry is feasible. regarding the similarity of conditions in petrochemical complexes throughout the country, the results of this study can be generilized to these petrochemical complexes.