CRE Safety Regulations and Compliance 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Under OSHA's Process Safety Management (PSM) standard (29 CFR 1910.119), what is the primary trigger for coverage?
- A facility employs more than 50 workers
- A process involves a highly hazardous chemical at or above a threshold quantity (Correct answer)
- Annual revenues exceed $10 million
- The facility operates more than 12 hours per day
Correct answer: A process involves a highly hazardous chemical at or above a threshold quantity
PSM coverage is triggered when a process contains a highly hazardous chemical at or above the quantity thresholds listed in Appendix A of the standard.
Question 2: Which document in an OSHA PSM program describes the conditions, limitations, and chemical hazards relevant to safe operation?
- Process Hazard Analysis
- Process Safety Information (Correct answer)
- Management of Change procedure
- Operating procedure manual
Correct answer: Process Safety Information
Process Safety Information (PSI) compiles data on chemical hazards, process technology, and equipment design to support safe operation and hazard analyses.
Question 3: The EPA Risk Management Program (RMP) rule primarily requires facilities to:
- Register all chemicals above 1 lb with state agencies
- Submit an RMP plan including worst-case and alternative release scenarios (Correct answer)
- Hire a certified industrial hygienist on staff
- Conduct daily air quality monitoring at fence lines
Correct answer: Submit an RMP plan including worst-case and alternative release scenarios
The EPA RMP rule (40 CFR Part 68) requires covered facilities to develop and submit a Risk Management Plan that includes hazard assessments with worst-case and alternative release scenarios.
Question 4: In reliability engineering, a 'safety integrity level' (SIL) is defined by which standard?
- ISO 9001
- IEC 61508 (Correct answer)
- ANSI/ISA-18.2
- MIL-STD-882E
Correct answer: IEC 61508
IEC 61508 defines Safety Integrity Levels (SIL 1–4) as discrete levels for specifying the safety integrity requirements of safety functions.
Question 5: A reliability engineer discovers that a safety instrumented function has a probability of failure on demand (PFD) of 0.08. Which SIL does this correspond to?
- SIL 1 (Correct answer)
- SIL 2
- SIL 3
- SIL 4
Correct answer: SIL 1
SIL 1 corresponds to a PFD range of 0.01 to 0.1, so a PFD of 0.08 falls within SIL 1 requirements per IEC 61508/61511.
Question 6: Which OSHA standard specifically addresses electrical safety in the workplace for general industry?
- 29 CFR 1910.147
- 29 CFR 1910.303 (Correct answer)
- 29 CFR 1910.119
- 29 CFR 1926.502
Correct answer: 29 CFR 1910.303
29 CFR 1910.303 (Subpart S) covers electrical safety requirements for general industry, including wiring design, protection, and equipment standards.
Question 7: The 'bow-tie' model in safety and reliability analysis represents:
- A fault tree on the left and an event tree on the right, joined at the top event (Correct answer)
- A FMEA matrix combined with a criticality ranking table
- A Weibull plot overlaid with a hazard function curve
- A reliability block diagram with redundant and series paths
Correct answer: A fault tree on the left and an event tree on the right, joined at the top event
The bow-tie diagram combines a fault tree (showing causes/threats) on the left with an event tree (showing consequences) on the right, centered on the top event or hazard.
CRE Safety Regulations and Compliance 2
Under OSHA's Process Safety Management (PSM) standard (29 CFR 1910.119), what is the primary trigger for coverage?