Personal safety is the focus of preventing injury to personnel. Typically, personal safety affects an individual(s) or small group and are the result of occupational hazards – for example, slips, trips, and falls, vehicle accidents, etc.

Process safety is the safe design and operation of process units and equipment so they do not fail and cause a catastrophic event. Where a personal safety incident may affect only one individual or a small group, process safety incidents can result in multiple injuries/fatalities, and substantial economic, property, and environmental damage both in the refinery and the neighboring community.