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Process Safety Services


At Smith & Burgess, we are world-renowned for our engineering expertise in relief and flare systems. Our senior engineers leverage their training to develop and assist facilities in implementing and maintaining a Process Safety Management (PSM) program. Our expertise elevates the assessment, management, and mitigation of risks. Smith & Burgess offers tailored solutions to identify potential hazards, comply with regulations, and work within an organization’s existing practices to achieve specific PSM-related goals.

Process Safety Management Services with Smith & Burgess


At Smith & Burgess, our engineers bring decades of experience across various facility types worldwide, including pharmaceuticals, oil and gas, and renewable energy. Whether working on a turnkey project or assisting an existing facility, we leverage our expertise in process hazards to help reduce risk and ensure regulatory compliance. From conducting Process Hazard Analyses (PHA) and incident investigations to performing Dust Hazard Analyses (DHA) and Facility Siting, Smith & Burgess delivers effective solutions, including creating an information management system for a world-class PSM program.

Our Offerings


Process Hazard Analysis (PHA):
As required by the PSM standard, we provide certified facilitators to lead the PHA team through the process of identifying potential hazards, assessing their risks through techniques like Layer of Protection Analysis (LOPA), and developing mitigations to ensure safe operations.

Facility Siting:
Evaluates the potential damage that a workplace explosion, fire, or toxic chemical incident could cause to occupied buildings, ensuring no building in the area faces undue risk.

Dust Hazard Analysis:
Evaluates the risks associated with combustible dust in industrial processes to prevent explosions and mitigate hazards.

Action Item Management:
Facilities often have open action items from engineering studies, incident investigations, and audits. Our team can help resolve these items by providing skilled personnel to address concerns. In PSM-covered processes, regulatory agencies are clear that concerns must be addressed. However, having open action items does not mean field changes are required. Our team excels at closing items, focusing on high-risk changes, and meeting regulatory requirements for action item resolution. 

PSM & RMP Audits & Assessments:
From time to time, PSM/RMP-covered facilities require reviews to ensure that processes meet regulatory standards. Our team excels at audits, whether they are compliance audits required by Part O of the PSM standard or internal checks of PSM information.  

Process Safety Information (PSI):
PSI is the foundation upon which an effective PSM program is built. How can a modern, complex facility operate safely without accurate process information? Whether information has been lost over the years and needs to be recreated or simply updated, our team can help facilities meet PSM/RMP PSI requirements.

Low-Pressure Tanks:
Aging facilities face challenges in managing changing environmental and operational standards and regulations. Increased emphasis on reducing emissions means that design information for low-pressure tanks is critical. Many older facilities, built before the emphasis on mitigating emissions, have a design pressure of ATM or atmospheric complicating the specification of conservation vents. Our team can use existing drawings to create fitness-for-service design pressures and vacuums for specifying conservation and emergency vents.

Specialized Studies and Modeling:
Our team of process engineers has decades of experience answering challenging questions for facilities. Whether the questions arise from a PHA, incident investigation, or audit, we leverage our global industry experience. Some of the safety-related studies we have performed include:

  • Acoustical/Flow-Induced Vibration (AIV/FIV) Analysis and Mitigation
  • Water Hammer/Valve Closure Time Analysis
  • Dynamic Tube Rupture Analysis
  • Depressuring Studies
  • Safety Instrumented Function Specification and Reliability Analysis
  • Dynamic Flare System Analysis
  • Steam Collapse/Vacuum Mitigation
  • Maintenance/Emergency Flare Operations

Relief and Flare Systems Evergreening (MOC Services):
Many facilities are understaffed, and updating relief and flare systems documentation is often postponed. Our dedicated engineers provide evergreen PSI by updating relief and flare systems documentation as part of the facilities’ MOC process. Relief and flare system design references a complex set of codes and standards. Given our extensive experience with codes and standards, we are generally more efficient at this task than in-house engineers.

Incident Investigation:
Whether a facility needs an expert leader for an investigation or technical expertise to support the existing team, our staff has the experience to identify the root cause of incidents and minimize future occurrences.

Why Smith & Burgess?


Our unparalleled experience in PSM, centered around process engineering, sets us apart. With a proven track record, decades of experience, and a commitment to customer service, we consistently deliver results that exceed our customers’ expectations.

Our Industries


Smith & Burgess collaborates with a range of industries, spanning the lifecycle of oil and gas from upstream through distribution, refining, and basic chemicals. We have also done extensive work in chemical manufacturing, renewable energy manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and beyond. Our expertise extends across sectors where process safety is crucial. We tailor our services to meet each facility’s unique challenges and requirements to achieve regulatory compliance.

Get in Touch


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