TABLE OF CONTENTS As in other countries, safety legislation in the United States has a long history, with legislation relevant to process safety possibly starting with the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 and the Explosives Transportation Act around the start of the 1900s. There are now numerous agencies, acts, and regulations related to safety, both federal and state administered.
From the viewpoint of process plant risks and process safety generally, the most notable now are the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 under which the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) was established, and the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, under which the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was established. Both of these two organizations are involved in process safety, the EPA starting from pollution prevention and control, and OSHA from workplace safety, but a degree of overlap now exists (which is clearly preferable to leaving a gap).
The following is only an outline to introduce the approach. The full documents should be consulted for a complete and detailed understanding.
The administration of the Occupational Safety and Health Act entails two major parts: development of standards; and enforcement. Process safety management is specifically addressed in OSHA Department of Labor Section 110.119 Process safety management of highly hazardous chemicals (29 CFR 1910.119). This applies to any process that involves more than specified threshold quantities of chemicals listed in an appendix.
It requires the responsible organization to have in place a defined range of the elements of effective process...
