A Maintenance Professional’s Guide to Pre-Startup Safety Reviews (PSSRs)

When you restart a compressor that's been offline for months or commission a new conveyor system, equipment failures and safety incidents become more likely. Maybe a safety interlock wasn’t tested, or documentation doesn’t reflect recent modifications. Perhaps a team member was out sick during a critical training session. 

These risks are inherent to operations, but you can significantly reduce the likelihood of incidents through a systematic pre-startup safety review (PSSR).

A PSSR requires your team to verify that all safety systems function properly, confirm that operating procedures match current equipment configurations, and ensure operators understand any changes before energizing equipment. This systematic approach protects your people, prevents costly equipment damage, and minimizes downtime.

In this guide, we'll explain what a PSSR entails, identify when regulations and good practice require one, and provide a framework for conducting effective reviews.

Key takeaways      

• A pre-startup safety review (PSSR) ensures new or modified facilities meet safety and design specifications before they go live.
• A PSSR is a regulatory requirement for hazardous processes and a smart safety step in any facility.
• A well-run PSSR process helps prevent accidents, protect workers, and reduce costly delays or shutdowns.
• Clear documentation, team collaboration, and reliable tools are the difference between check-the-box compliance and truly effective process safety.

What is a pre-startup safety review?

A PSSR is your last line of defense before putting new or modified manufacturing equipment into production. It's a structured check to make sure everything is ready to run safely, efficiently, and in full compliance with your internal standards and external regulations.

Think of it as your go/no-go checklist. PSSR protocols confirm that:

• Safety systems and interlocks are installed, tested, and working as intended.
• All process safety information (PSI) is documented, current, and complete.
• Emergency procedures and shutdown systems are in place.
• Operators and technicians have been trained and signed off.
• Maintenance plans are in place and clearly understood.
• Any open items from a previous process hazard analysis (PHA) or hazard and operability study (HAZOP) have been resolved.

Why PSSR matters

Small oversights like missed training or untested interlocks can trigger serious consequences. But when several slip through at once, the risks can multiply. That’s how you end up with emergency shutdowns, equipment failures, or worse.

A PSSR provides a final check to confirm systems are operational, team members are trained, and risks are controlled while ensuring compliance with OSHA's Process Safety Management standard and other regulations.

When is a PSSR required?

PSSRs are required by OSHA anytime you're introducing processes that involve hazardous chemicals. Beyond regulatory requirements, they should be conducted whenever you're making significant changes to your process. That could be after you've modified a piece of equipment, updated operating procedures, or switched out materials.

If something about your process is new or different in any meaningful way, conducting a PSSR now can prevent far bigger problems later.

Key components of an effective PSSR

Several foundational elements must be in place before starting a PSSR.

1. Complete process safety information

Before the PSSR process begins, your team needs accurate, up-to-date process safety information, such as:

• Equipment specs
• Safety systems and interlocks
• Operating limits
• Any hazardous chemicals involved

2. Clear operating procedures

Next, your operating procedures should be easy to follow and reflect any recent changes. Whether it's a totally new process or a small update to existing equipment, your procedures need to walk through safe startup, shutdown, and emergency response procedures step by step.

If the change triggered a management of change (MOC) process or a HAZOP, those updates should already be worked into your procedures. If not, now’s the time to make sure your documentation reflects the latest changes.

3. Employee training

Before proceeding, verify that everyone has completed relevant training and that the records show it.

This extends beyond equipment operators; it also includes your maintenance personnel, safety leads, and anyone else with responsibilities tied to the modified process.

4. Emergency preparedness

Your emergency procedures and emergency shutdown systems need to be clearly documented, understood by the team, and fully operational. In the unfortunate case of fire, chemical spills, gas releases, and equipment failures, your team should know exactly how to respond.

Step-by-step guide to conducting a PSSR

While PSSR specifics may vary by industry, these four steps apply across the board:

1. Build your PSSR team

Start by bringing together anyone involved in the design, construction, or startup of the system. Typically, this means a cross-functional team that includes:

• Process and mechanical engineers
• Safety professionals
• Maintenance personnel
• Operators and frontline supervisors

This makes it more likely you’ll catch issues early and ensures the operators and maintenance personnel who weren’t involved in the design process understand what’s changed and what those changes mean for how they do their jobs.

2. Review documents and procedures

Before you set foot on the floor, sit down with the team and review the documentation: process safety information, updated SOPs, emergency procedures, maintenance plans, and training records. You’ll also want to revisit the findings from your last PHA or HAZOP to make sure those action items have been addressed.

3. Perform the site inspection

Next comes the walk-through. This is where you put eyes on the actual equipment, controls, safety systems, and physical layout. The team should confirm that:

• Safety interlocks are installed and tested.
• Signage and chemical labels are visible.
• Emergency exits are clear.
• All the tools needed for a quick response are in place, such as eyewash stations or spill kits.

4. Resolve issues and finalize approvals

If something's missing like documentation, untrained staff, or faulty equipment, address it before closing the PSSR. Once all outstanding issues are resolved, the team signs off to confirm that training is complete, systems are functional, and everything is ready.

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What tools and resources help with PSSR?

A PSSR has a lot of moving parts, and even the most experienced teams can struggle to keep everything in order. Having the right tools to help you juggle all of these factors is just as essential as having the right protocols.

Spreadsheets and handwritten checklists aren't up to the task. A computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) like MaintainX helps you:

• Standardize your PSSR checklist across teams and facilities.
• Assign and track action items in real time.
• Centralize PSSR documentation like training records, maintenance procedures, and process safety information.
• Ensure the entire PSSR team stays aligned from start to finish.
• Make audits, inspections, and regulatory compliance easier to manage with automatically tracked actions and digital sign-offs.

Make PSSR part of your safety culture

For a PSSR to work effectively, it must become standard practice whenever your team encounters new or modified processes.

Having the right tools can make a big difference here. With MaintainX, you can embed PSSR into your daily workflows without extra spreadsheets or scrambling for documentation.

• Build checklists directly into the platform.
• Link process safety information.
• Assign tasks to the right team members.
• Track every sign-off from a central dashboard.

See how it all comes together in our pre-startup safety review verification form.