[ This is one of three in a "Now What?" blog series by Chris Foster, a Macha PSM Consultant]
A Dive into Some Practical and Often Overlooked Uses of PMS Reports
Here at Macha PSM, we specialize in assisting clients with completing various reports and calculations required for their PSM covered refrigeration process. While we engage in personal interviews and work in tandem with many facility personnel in completing these projects, we do much of the heavy lifting behind the scenes in order to deliver the final compliance report. While we often feel a big sigh of relief after delivering a completed project to a facility, we know their responsibility in the project is just beginning. Recommendations have to be considered, and an action plan has to be established to close out these findings. However, a strange phenomenon also occurs at this juncture that we see time and time again and so chose to make the focus of our newest blog series. We’ll call it the “Now What?” feeling. This is the feeling often experienced by a facility after receiving a completed PSM report or by operation, maintenance, or production personnel who may not have had a front-seat role in the project but are nevertheless tasked with reviewing or otherwise interacting with the report in some meaningful way. If you’ve ever found yourself in this position, this is the blog for you- let’s jump in.
In order to simplify things, we’re going to outline three potential roles within a refrigeration facility, their potential struggles and a few practical tips for them to get more out of their PSM report than previously imagined. If none of these perfectly describe you, then hopefully you can at least sympathize with your coworkers and see things from their perspective a bit better, and depending on the size of your facility, you may play more than one of these roles. For brevity, we’ll split these three roles into separate blogs of a three-part series. We’ll use a Five-Year Mechanical Integrity Audit as our test case. First up, the fearless leader.
Fearless Leader
The fearless leader is the head honcho, the big cheese, el capitàn, the one tasked with creating or leading the report process and then actually doing something with the findings, possibly the Safety Manager, Facilities Manager, or even the Plant Manager depending on the size of the facility. Whether you’ve dreamed of this position your entire life, or you missed a meeting and got volunteered for the role doesn’t very much matter at this point. We’re here and we now have a massive report to do something with. The temptation in this position is to view PSM reports merely as a regulatory obligation, a way to cover your back, and say you at least have one in case of emergency (even if it’s been functioning as more of a glorified dust receptacle than a useful tool in the past). But this view is missing out on what a properly completed PSM report has to offer. In fact, they are often a goldmine of information that, when you know how to use them, can take your understanding of your process to the next level. You’re clearly not the slacker who just wants to punch the clock and go home, so what are some overlooked uses of PSM reports that can benefit you?
Here’s two:
1. Narrative Overview of the System- Everyone loves a good story. Whether it’s Uncle Frank’s latest 50lb. bass he caught or Aunt Mildred’s big win at the casino slots, (don’t we love the Thanksgiving Table) when push comes to shove, we all revert to story as a preferred method of giving and receiving important information. Regulators are no different, and a big-picture narrative (in plain English mind you) can go a long way in opening up the investigative process of your facility. That’s why we suggest that if you are completing an internal 5-Year MIA to include a narrative summary of your system, good, bad, and indifferent (our reports come standard with this component). This will help to break the ice and communicate that you know your system like the back of your hand, which you should, in the eyes of a regulator. If you’ve received one of our 5-Year MIAs, we suggest taking a few hours and reading through that narrative section multiple times until the information becomes second nature. We promise this knowledge will pay dividends on your day to day operation as well as your overall regulatory resilience.
2. Pattern Recognition- Data analysis seems to be one of the hot buzz words swirling around our industry at the moment, and probably for good reason. The tried and true principle is that if you can recognize systemic issues in your system and connect the dots ahead of time , you can increase your chances of heading off the next big incident or compliance shortfall before it rises to the national news worthy level, which for a head honcho as yourself, is the type of thing that wakes you up with cold sweats at night. However, any PSM report worth its weight in salt should provide some level of data analysis and pattern recognition to cut through the milieu of missing seal caps, corrosion, and missing bathroom passes from your previous owner in 1937 to give a “so-what” grouping and prioritization of findings. Identifying these patterns or systemic shortcomings in your system helps you to steward your time and money effectively toward addressing root causes and avoid chasing ghosts and missing the forest for the trees.
We’ll continue on in our next installment in considering a different role within the facility and a few practical tips to help that individual squeeze the most juice out of their PSM data orange. Until next time, stay safe, stay compliant!
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