Process Safety Examination Topics
Certification Examination Topics Covered
Click below for lists of examination topics for the certification of interest.
Certified Process Safety Practitioner (CPSP®)
Examinees should ensure they are thoroughly familiar with the following topics:
- Process safety
- Purpose
- Meaning of catastrophic release
- Causes of process safety incidents
- Types of equipment failures
- Types of human failures
- Types of external events
- Meaning of safeguards
- Types of safeguards
- Categories of safeguards
- Passive safeguards
- Active safeguards
- Taking credit for safeguards
- Hierarchy of controls
- Meaning of inherent safety
- Inherent safety approaches
- Process safety in the life cycle
- Process safety management programs
- Purpose
- Federal regulations
- Content of OSHA PSM standard
- Content of EPA RMP rule
- CCPS Risk Based Process Safety (RBPS)
- Management systems
- Definition
- Need for process safety management system
- Management system elements
- Personnel competency and training
- Role of competency in incidents
- Meaning of competency
- Elements of individual competency
- Group competency
- Competency management
- Elements of a competency management system
- Meaning of training
- Objectives of training
- Importance of training
- Process information and knowledge
- Process information and knowledge management
- Meaning of process information
- Meaning of process knowledge
- Importance of process information and knowledge management
- Basic process safety elements
- Compliance with standards
- Importance of standards
- Standards management system
- Personnel involvement
- Importance of personnel involvement
- Stakeholder outreach
- Importance of stakeholder outreach
- Performance indicators
- Meaning
- Goals for using performance indicators
- Lagging indicators
- Leading indicators
- Near misses
- Swiss cheese model
- Guidelines for performance indicators
- Characteristics of good performance indicators
- Process safety culture
- Meaning
- Importance
- Addressing safety culture
- Safety culture assessment (SCA)
- Benefits, scope and frequency of SCA
- Human factors
- Meaning
- Human factors engineering
- Human factors categories
- Human factors standards
- Evaluation of human factors
- Recommendations to address human factors issues
- Facility and stationary source siting
- Classical facility siting
- Other facility siting issues
- Regulatory requirements - OSHA
- Regulatory requirements - EPA
- Spacing standards
- Evaluation of facility and stationary source siting
- Industry guidance
- Hazard identification and risk analysis (HIRA)
- Meaning of hazard
- Meaning of HIRA
- Importance of HIRA
- Procedures
- Meaning
- Importance
- Safe work practices
- Meaning
- Importance
- Items to address
- Operational readiness
- Meaning
- Importance
- Conduct of operations
- Meaning
- Importance
- Goals
- Important aspects
- Normalization of deviance
- Management of change (MOC)
- Meaning
- Importance
- Meaning of replacement-in-kind
- Asset integrity
- Meaning
- Importance
- Key items covered
- Equipment to include
- Contractor Management
- Meaning
- Importance
- Emergency management
- Meaning
- Importance
- Goals
- Important aspects
- Exclusions
- Incident investigation
- Meaning
- Importance
- Goals
- Auditing
- Meaning
- Importance
- Objectives
- Audit terms
- Management review
- Meaning
- Importance
- Types of management review items
- Means of information collection by managers
Certified Process Safety Specialist (CPSS®)
Various topics from the CPSP® examination are addressed along with the examinee’s choice of two of the following additional topics:
Management of Change
Examinees should ensure they are thoroughly familiar with the following topics:
- Management of Change
- Meaning
- Goals / Objectives
- Purpose
- Benefits
- Typical process changes
- Terms used
- Management systems
- Need for change management systems
- Goals of change management systems
- Metrics
- Guidelines for change management systems
- Reasons change management systems fail
- MOC challenges
- Designing and developing a MOC program
- Design criteria
- Key issues
- Types of changes
- Defining covered changes
- Replacements in kind
- Major and minor changes
- Critical changes
- Temporary changes
- Defeats of safeguards
- Guidelines for temporary changes
- Emergency changes
- Guidelines for handling emergency changes
- Changes due to aging
- Personnel roles and responsibilities
- Change originators
- Initial reviewers
- Process change request (PCR) reviewers
- PCR authorizers
- Required qualifications for MOC personnel
- Interface with other facility programs
- Maintenance work orders
- Spare parts control, warehousing and distribution
- Purchase requisitions and suppliers
- Relationship to PSM elements
- MOC program
- Guidelines for identifying changes
- Process change request (PCR)
- Typical content of PCR
- Guidelines for PCR
- Technical basis for changes
- Types of change
- Hazard / risk level of change
- Significance of change
- Initial review
- Screening changes
- Hazard review
- Review actions
- Approvals and authorization
- Informing and training personnel in changes
- Updating process safety information and procedures
- Close-out
- Post-implementation actions
- Performance monitoring
- Training personnel in the MOC program
- Designating review, approval and authorization personnel
- Need for documentation of change requests
- Implementation guidelines
- Implementation goals
- New / modified MOC Programs
- Issues with MOC programs
Mechanical Integrity
Examinees should ensure they are thoroughly familiar with the following topics:
- Mechanical Integrity (MI)
- Meaning
- Benefits
- MI in the process lifecycle
- Causes of equipment failures
- Personnel involved
- MI terms
- Key elements of an MI program
- Relationship of MI to other process safety elements
- Relationship of MI to other initiatives
- MI codes and standards
- Application
- Covered equipment
- Scope of equipment
- Approach to determining covered equipment
- Process boundaries
- Types of equipment to be included
- Equipment selection criteria
- Identification of equipment present in the process
- Documenting equipment selected
- Equipment categories
- MI activities for covered equipment
- Maintenance
- Meaning
- Corrective maintenance / repair
- Opportunity maintenance
- Preventive and predictive maintenance
- Condition monitoring
- Routine and non-routine maintenance
- Breakdown maintenance
- Troubleshooting maintenance
- Operating maintenance
- Shutdown maintenance
- Overhaul
- Storage
- Maintenance plan
- MI Procedures
- Types
- Importance
- Significance
- Benefits
- Procedures management system
- Goals of procedures management system
- Determining what procedures are needed
- Assembling needed information
- Desirable characteristics of procedures
- Guidelines for writing procedures
- Human factors in writing procedures
- Checks on procedural steps
- Format of procedures
- Typical content
- Validation of procedures
- Review and approval
- Temporary procedures
- Issues in implementing procedures
- Procedures and training
- Changing and updating procedures
- Typical problems encountered with procedures
- Managing maintenance hazards
- Hazards of the process
- Hazards of maintenance tasks
- Common causes of maintenance accidents
- Actions prior to maintenance
- Safe work practices and permit-to-work systems
- Meaning
- Purpose
- Objectives
- Types of permits
- Design principles for permit-to-work systems
- Typical contents of permits
- Use of permit-to-work systems
- Permit suspension
- Responsibilities
- Communications
- Training
- Monitoring, auditing and review
- Issues in implementing permit-to-work systems
- Training and qualification
- Role of training
- Recommended MI training topics
- Training programs
- Implementing a training program
- Preventive maintenance
- Meaning
- Preventive maintenance tasks
- Reference sources for frequencies
- Criticality of equipment
- Equipment deficiencies
- Meaning
- Addressing equipment deficiencies
- Key elements for managing equipment deficiencies
- Acceptance criteria - definition, development and selection
- Identification of deficient equipment
- Response to deficiencies
- Operating with deficient equipment
- Return to service
- Resolving deficiencies
- Quality assurance (QA)
- MI quality assurance program
- Meaning of QA
- QA for design / engineering
- QA for procurement
- QA for fabrication
- QA for receiving
- QA for storage and retrieval
- QA for construction and installation
- QA for in-service repairs, alterations and re-rating
- QA for temporary installations and temporary repairs
- QA for de-commissioning / re-use
- QA for used equipment
Process Hazard Analysis
Examinees should ensure they are thoroughly familiar with the following topics:
- Process hazards
- Meaning
- Types
- Impacts
- Major hazards
- Inherent safety
- Meaning
- Approaches
- Use
- Process hazard analysis
- Purpose
- Meaning of a hazard scenario
- Success factors and limitations
- Methods available including HAZID and HAZOP
- Selection of PHA methods
- PHA in the process lifecycle
- Team leader
- Role
- Responsibilities
- Qualifications
- Team members
- Roles
- Responsibilities
- Qualifications
- Team composition
- Team size
- Preparation and organization of studies
- Purpose, scope and objectives statement
- Purpose
- Content
- Use
- Reference data and information
- Types
- Collection
- Use
- Scheduling study sessions
- Opening session activities
- Design intent, parameters, guide words, and deviations for HAZOP studies
- Design representations
- Meaning
- Types
- Use
- Process subdivision and assignment of nodes
- Purpose
- Meaning
- Steps involved
- Global sections / nodes
- PHA worksheet entries
- Initiating events / causes
- Multiple failures
- Dependent and common cause failures
- Cascade and sequential failures
- Active failures and latent conditions
- Random and systematic failures
- Intermediate events
- Consequences
- Safeguards
- Enablers
- Risk ranking
- Risk matrices
- Severity and likelihood
- Recommendations
- Overall guidelines
- Human failures and human factors in PHA
- Facility siting in PHA
- Addressing previous incidents in PHA
- Treatment of utilities and support systems in PHA
- Consideration of modes of operation in PHA
- Addressing process changes with PHA
- Quality control in PHA
- PHA revalidation
- Purpose
- Preparation
- Conduct
- Recording and reporting on PHA studies
- Requirements
- Uses of worksheets and reports
- Follow-up for PHA studies
Process Safety Auditing
Examinees should ensure they are thoroughly familiar with the following topics:
- Compliance auditing
- Purpose
- Validity of results
- Scope
- Benefits
- Key terms
- Types of audits
- Key aspects
- Selecting facilities and processes
- Audit frequency
- Audit criteria
- Audit protocol
- Quality control in auditing
- Competency of auditors
- Importance
- Competency management
- Selection criteria for auditors
- Personal attributes for auditors
- Audit team competency
- Maintenance and improvement of competency
- Certification of auditors
- Preparation for an audit
- Steps in audit preparation
- Purpose, scope and objectives
- Audit fact sheet
- Audit staffing
- Team size and composition
- Responsibilities of lead auditor
- Desired attributes of lead auditor
- Desired attributes of audit team members
- Responsibilities of auditors
- Guidelines for staffing audits
- Background information needed
- Guidelines for collecting background information
- Allocation of resources
- Typical contents of audit plan
- Conducting an audit - steps
- Opening meeting
- Understanding process safety program
- Appraisal of process safety program
- Collecting information
- Sources of information
- Evaluation of audit information
- Develop findings, conclusions and recommendations
- Draft report
- Closing meeting
- Conducting an audit - collecting information
- Records review
- Interviewing
- Informal meetings
- Observation
- Inspection
- Demonstrations / drills
- Veracity of information
- Sampling information
- Recording audits
- Form of records
- Documenting findings and recommendations
- Guidelines for documentation
- Reporting on audits
- Need for audit report
- Guidelines for reporting
- Categorizing findings and recommendations
- Prioritizing findings and recommendations
- Report distribution
- Report retention
- Follow-up on audit findings
- Developing a compliance action plan
- Implementing a compliance action plan
Certified Process Safety Expert (CPSE®)
Examinees should ensure they are thoroughly familiar with the examination topics. Various topics from the CPSP® and all four subject areas listed for CPSS® examinations are addressed along with the following additional topics:
Process Safety Culture
- Safety culture
- Meaning
- Components
- Importance
- Hallmarks of a sound safety culture
- Ways to influence safety culture
- Requirements for effecting cultural change
- Safety culture ladder
- Steps to address safety culture
- Safety culture assessment
- Meaning
- Methods
- Goals
- Guidelines
Human Factors for Process Safety
- Human factors in process plants
- Meaning
- Importance
- Models
- Types
- Issues
- Ways of addressing
- Human failures in process plants
- Meaning
- Importance
- Types
- Mechanisms
- Ways of addressing
Process Safety Metrics
- Performance indicators
- Meaning
- Goals
- Types
- Swiss cheese model
- Relationship between leading and lagging indicators
- Choice of process safety metrics
- Industry practices
- Determining process safety performance indicators
- Process safety indicator pyramid
- Procedure for establishing lagging, leading, and near miss metrics
- Characteristics of good performance indicators
- Steps for choosing metrics
- Implementing a Metrics Program
- Organizational arrangements
- Strategy development
- Logistics
- Establishing a data collection / reporting system
- Rollout
- Communicating and Using Results
- Communicating results
- Reporting process safety metrics
- Target audiences
- Communication tools
- Using results
- Review and Update the Metrics Program
- Management involvement and review
- Auditing the program
- Incorporating lessons learned
Certified Process Safety Manager (CPSM®)
Examinees should ensure they are thoroughly familiar with the examination topics:
Process Safety
- General requirements
- Employee participation
- Process safety information
- Process hazard analysis (PHA)
- Operating procedures
- Training
- Contractors
- Pre-startup safety review
- Mechanical integrity
- Hot work permit
- Management of change (MOC)
- Incident investigation
- Emergency planning and response
- Compliance audits
- Trade secrets
- Management systems