The main regulatory bodies in the United States with regard to fire and explosion hazard management for onshore facilities are the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
OSHA’s area of concern in relation to onshore fire and explosion hazards is onsite risks to personnel. OSHA issued the Process Safety Management (PSM) of Highly Hazardous Chemical standard (29 CFR 1910.119) which describes the requirements for the management of hazards relating to highly hazardous chemicals. The key provision of PSM is process hazard analysis (PHA) which is a careful review of what could go wrong and what safeguards must be implemented to prevent releases of hazardous chemicals.
EPA develops and enforces regulations relating to environmental risks and risks to the public i.e. offsite consequences. The main legislation is the Clean Air Act (CAA) 112(r) which requires owners and operators of stationary sources to
- Identify hazards that may result from accidental releases,
- Design and maintain a safe facility and
- Minimise consequences of any potential releases.
The Risk Management Program (RMP) Rule was written to implement section 112(r) of the CAA and the provisions are found at 40 CFR Part 68. The RMP Rule requires companies that use flammable and toxic substances to develop a Risk Management Program (RMP) which comprises of 3 elements namely a hazard assessment, a prevention program and an emergency program.
The Risk Management Program is administered by the Office of Emergency Prevention, Preparedness, and Response (OEPPR).