History of process safety at OSHA

Abstract Occupational Safety and Health Agency (OSHA)'s first major process safety regulation, 29 CFR 1910.119, Process Safety Management of Highly Hazardous Chemicals (PSM) was enacted in 1992. However, OSHA's experience with process safety began in the 1980s when a series of catastrophic chemical incidents occurred. Learnings from investigations of these incidents helped to shape PSM. More than 15 years after PSM, lessons from incidents and inspection experience continue to shape the history of process safety at OSHA. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Process Saf Prog, 2009