Process Safety in Net Zero Programs

At the 19th Congress on Process Safety, I will be presenting a paper with the above title. The meeting will be held in Houston, Texas; the date of the presentation is March 14th, 2022. The Abstract for the paper is as follows,

Many companies, including those in the energy and process industries, are implementing ‘Net
Zero’ programs. The goal of these programs is to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide and
other greenhouse gases (GHGs) to ‘Net Zero’ — often by the year 2050.

The process safety profession is taking an increased interest in climate-related initiatives. In
addition to technical research, climate change is also being gradually integrated into management systems and process safety regulations. For example, in August 2022 the United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) opened their process safety standard for comment and suggested changes. One of the areas in which they expressed an interest was,

Clarifying paragraph (e) to require consideration of natural disasters and extreme temperatures in their PSM programs . . .

This paper discusses the contribution that process safety professionals can make to addressing the climate crisis.

Paragraph (e) of the regulation is to do with Process Hazards Analysis.