“Live” Barrier Health in Process Safety

Traditional process safety programs rely on static documentation and periodic reports to evaluate safeguard integrity—often missing the evolving risks that occur between audits. In reality, process risk changes daily due to bypassed interlocks, overdue proof tests, excessive demands, and undetected failures. This presentation introduces a practical framework for achieving Live Barrier Health—enabling real-time awareness and proactive management of safeguard degradation.

Drawing from real-world case studies and digital implementations, this session will explore:

• Bypass Management: Real-time tracking and visualization of impaired safeguards to inform MOC, temporary protection, and risk acceptance decisions.

• Demand Detection: Automatic capture and logging of events (e.g., alarms, trips, operator actions) to validate IPL performance and initiate forensic reviews.

• Late Testing Identification: Leveraging CMMS integration to flag overdue or incomplete proof tests before risk increases.

• Failure Analytics: Utilizing test result data and diagnostics to adjust failure rate assumptions dynamically and improve IPL reliability.

• Dynamic Risk Gaps: Calculating and visualizing compound risk exposure when multiple protection layers are simultaneously degraded using bowtie or barrier dashboards.

Attendees will walk away with a data-centric, standards-aligned approach to monitoring safeguard health—bridging the gap between design intent and daily operations while advancing process safety performance and continuous improvement.