MANAGEMENT SYSTEM EFFICACY & OPTIMIZATION ASSESSMENTS
Your Management System Is Either Driving Performance or Driving Risk. Do You Know Which?
Process Safety Management Systems are the framework of policies, processes, and procedures used to manage process safety throughout an organization. When these systems are well-designed, risk-based, and integrated with operational management systems, they protect people, assets, communities, and the bottom line. When they are not — when they exist on paper but fail in practice — they create the conditions for catastrophic incidents, regulatory citations, and personal liability for executives and board members.
Kenan Stevick’s Management System Efficacy & Optimization Assessment goes beyond compliance auditing. It evaluates whether your PSMS is actually driving the performance outcomes it was designed to deliver — or whether gaps between your written programs and your operational reality are creating unmanaged risk. The assessment covers the full scope of OSHA PSM, EPA RMP, and CCPS Risk Based Process Safety elements, with specific attention to legal compliance exposure.
What This Assessment Covers
The assessment evaluates your management system against four integrated dimensions, using the CCPS Risk Based Process Safety framework:
Commit to Process Safety
- Leadership accountability and process safety culture
- Compliance with OSHA PSM (29 CFR 1910.119), EPA RMP (40 CFR Part 68), applicable state-level requirements, recognized and generally accepted good engineering practices (RAGAGEP), and industry guidelines
- Process safety competency across the organization
- Workforce involvement and stakeholder outreach
Understand Hazards and Risks
- Process knowledge management and process safety information
- Hazard identification and risk analysis (PHA/LOPA)
- Adequacy of risk classification and risk-informed decision making
- Safer Technologies and Alternatives Analysis (STAA)
Manage Risk
- Operating procedures and safe work practices
- Contractor management
- Management of change
- Operational readiness and pre-startup safety reviews
- Training and performance assurance
- Emergency management and response
Learn from Experience
- Incident investigation rigor and sustainable corrective actions
- Measurements, metrics, and leading indicators
- Audit program effectiveness
- Management review and continuous improvement
Legal Compliance Dimension
Every assessment includes a specific evaluation of legal compliance posture under OSHA PSM, EPA RMP, and applicable state process safety programs (including California, Illinois, New Jersey, and Delaware programs that exceed federal requirements). This is not a checkbox compliance audit — it identifies the gaps between your written programs and your actual operational practices that create regulatory citation exposure and, more critically, standard-of-care liability in the event of an incident.
Relationship to Asset Integrity
Mechanical integrity and asset integrity programs are a critical subset of the overall management system, but their scope, complexity, and importance warrant expanded treatment on a dedicated page. The Management System Efficacy Assessment covers the governance framework for asset integrity; the detailed asset integrity assessment methodology is described separately under Asset Integrity Programs.
What Clients Achieve
- Clear, evidence-based picture of management system strengths and gaps
- Prioritized roadmap for closing gaps and optimizing performance
- Reduced regulatory citation and enforcement exposure
- Reduced standard-of-care liability in the event of an incident
- Improved incident rates, asset utilization, and bottom-line results
- One client achieved a 50% reduction in Tier 1 & 2 incidents within three years of implementing assessment recommendations
Engagement Model
Assessments are conducted personally by Kenan Stevick, CCPSC. Typical scope: 2–3 day on-site assessment at corporate headquarters followed by 3–5 day on-site assessment at each site. All include pre-visit document review, management interviews, field verification, and a findings presentation to executive leadership. Follow-up advisory available to support implementation.