What is the fundamental difference between process safety and occupational safety?

• A. Process safety focuses on preventing major accidents involving releases of chemicals and energy.
• B. Process safety focuses on personal protective equipment in daily work.
• C. Occupational safety focuses on preventing environmental damage.
• D. Occupational safety focuses on global supply chain reliability.

Answer: (A)

Process safety is about preventing major accidents at the process level—things like large releases of chemicals or energy, fires, or explosions that could affect many people and the surrounding environment. It focuses on how the whole process is designed, operated, and maintained to stop a small fault from becoming a catastrophe. That includes design choices, management of change, equipment integrity, safe operating procedures, and multiple layers of protection.

Occupational safety, on the other hand, aims to protect individual workers from injuries and exposures in their daily tasks, through safe work practices, training, and personal protective equipment.

So the statement that process safety centers on preventing major accidents involving releases of chemicals and energy best captures the fundamental difference. The other options describe aspects more aligned with everyday worker protection, environmental considerations, or broader supply-chain concerns, which are not the primary focus of process safety.