Preliminary Findings from Osha's Petroleum Refinery National Emphasis Program

On June 7, 2007, U.S. DOL - OSHA (OSHA) initiated a Petroleum Refinery Process Safety Management National Emphasis Program (NEP) in response to a large number of fatal or catastrophic incidents in the petroleum refining industry. The NEP describes OSHA's intent to inspect all refineries (SIC 2911, NAICS 32411) in federal jurisdiction within 2 years, and provides a new protocol for conducting these inspections. OSHA state plan states were also encouraged to inspect refineries within their jurisdiction using the same protocol, and many are doing so.

This paper will briefly describe the inspection protocol, update OSHA's progress in completing these inspections, and review findings including the PSM elements and standards most frequently cited.