Safety Management Hazard Categories

This directive establishes the three hazard categories for safety management plans, pursuant to section 2 of the Alternative Safety Approaches (ASA) regulation.

This directive is being issued by a provincial safety manager pursuant to section 30 of the Safety Standards Act.

Scope Overview

Safety management plans are to be categorized into Category 1, Category 2, or Category 3. The category is determined by the potential endangerment to persons or property by a potential failure of a regulated product or of regulated work.

Categories of Safety Management Plans

The hazard category to be used for the safety management plan is the higher category determined from the table below. In assessing the potential endangerment to persons and the potential endangerment to property, the nature of the potential hazards and the potential consequences listed below the table must be considered.

Nature of Potential Hazards

The following potential hazards must be considered when determining the hazard category:

• fire, explosion, leak or other unwanted events related to a regulated product;
• fire, explosion, leak or other unwanted events related to regulated work;
• impact on, or striking of, regulated products by other objects, such as vehicles or other items that may or may not be related to a regulated product or to regulated work;
• improper operation of a regulated product;
• additional effects resulting from cascaded or domino failures imposed on other products, whether the product is regulated or not, such as the failure of a chemical containment vessel that results from the explosion of a regulated product.

Nature of Potential Consequences

The following potential consequences must be considered when determining the hazard category:

• injury or death to any persons;
• exposure of persons to harmful substances, such as exposure to toxic smoke or other airborne contaminants from fires or exposure to harmful contaminants within the drinking water supply;
• loss of services, where those services could impact the safety of persons, such as the loss of heating output from a district heating plant or the loss of electrical generation from a power plant, where those services are necessary to protect the safety of persons;
• damage to the environment;
• injury or death to any livestock;
• damage to other property.

Stephen Hinde,

P. Eng. Provincial Safety Manager

References:

Bill 19 – 2003
Safety Standards Act

B.C. Reg. 49/2011
Alternative Safety Approaches Regulation