12th GCPS Short Courses | AIChE

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12th GCPS Short Courses

The 12th GCPS will offer 7 short courses ranging from relief system design to critical thinking in process safety. Short courses will take place on Sunday, April 10, 2016 from 9:00AM - 5:00PM

  • Sunday, April 10 - CDT

    Hilton Americas - Houston
    • 12th GCPS Short Course Titles: 

    To Register for a short course please select the course title on the 12th GCPS online registration or the registration form or contact customer service for assistance at CustomerService@aiche.org or call 1800-242-4363

    Short Courses Schedule: 9:00AM -5:00PM*

    S2: Investigating Chemical Process Incidents & Near Misses  

    Location: Hilton Americas - Houston, 337A

    Price: $600

    Instructor: Trey Morrison and Brenton Cox 

    Book: Guidelines for Investigating Chemical Process Incidents (CCPS Publication)

    Overview:

    A principal goal of process safety professionals everywhere is to prevent chemical process incidents from occurring. However, even the most risk adverse organizations experience learning opportunities. Through the scientific investigation of incidents and near misses, a company can take advantage of these opportunities and acquire the knowledge necessary to avoid repeating past mistakes. Effectively sharing lessons learned may also reduce the frequency of similar incidents across the Chemical Process Industry.

    This course will follow the incident investigation techniques set forth in CCPS’ Guidelines for Investigating Chemical Process Incidents, while incorporating information from other industry guidance documents. Each aspect of incident investigation will be illustrated with case studies pulled from real incidents and near misses. The course will incorporate brief team-based workshops to provide attendees with hands-on experience in applying investigation principles.

    The curriculum will proceed chronologically through an investigation, first discussing the initial response to an incident or near miss. Then the course will cover the assembly of an investigation team, which can span from two engineers to a multidisciplinary team of experts. The team picks up where the initial response left off, preserving and collecting forensic evidence, witness statements, and process information. Then the data is analyzed in an attempt to determine the direct and root causes of the incident or near miss. Last but not least, the findings of the investigation are documented and shared.

    Agenda:

    • Introduction
    • Initial Response
    • Assembling a Team
    • Basic Investigation Techniques
    • Collecting and Preserving Forensic Evidence
    • Direct and Root Cause Determination
    • Documentation and Sharing of the Lessons Learned

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    S4: Best Practices in PHA Facilitation

    Location: Hilton Americas - Houston, 339A

    Price: $500 

    Instructor: Robert J. Weber 

    Overview and Agenda 
    The objective of this course is to provide a better understanding of the importance of certain aspects of PHA facilitation and the best practices that should be used during a PHA study. Using these best practices will reduce time, confusion and quality of the PHA. This course will also highlight the “dos and don’ts” in a PHA study. The participants will learn to organize and lead process hazard analysis studies using the
    HAZOP and “What-If” techniques. Participants will discover the tactics and success factors that help ensure a successful study. They will also learn about and use software available for documenting PHA studies.
    This course teaches process hazard analysis (PHA) techniques and prepares each participant to lead teams and effectively perform and document HAZOP and other hazard/risk management studies. In this course, each participant will:
    • Learn to organize and effectively and efficiently lead and document PHA studies in accordance with local regulatory and industry “best practices” using the HAZOP, What-If, Checklist and other methodologies.
    • Learn the techniques and mechanics that help ensure a successful study.
    • Learn about and use software available for documenting PHA studies.
    • Obtain useful tools, checklists, and other aids for reference in future PHA studies.
    In addition to classroom training, participants will form study teams and take turns leading the team in performing a PHA study using practical exercises based on actual real-life examples. These exercises are overseen by an expert Instructor who will givefeedback on performance.
    Target Audience: Engineers, PSM coordinators/managers, plant management, O&M personnel, and others responsible for leading PHA studies.
    Course Content:
    • Overview of PHAs for Engineers and Managers (Definitions, Uses, Benefits, and Limitations)
    • PHA Regulatory Requirements
    • Choosing the Appropriate PHA Methodology
      • “What-If” Studies
      • “What-If”/Checklist Studies
      • Hazard & Operability Studies (HAZOP)
      • Fault Tree Analysis (FTA)
      • Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA)
      • Other Methods
    • Understanding the Importance of Intent, Parameters and Deviations
    • Understanding the Importance of Type of Process (Batch, Continuous, Procedural, Control Systems), Modes of Operation (start-up, shutdown, maintenance, normal), Life-cycle of process (conceptual, design, commissioning, operation or decommissioning)
    • Understanding the Importance of PHA Study, Purpose and Objectives
    • Understanding the Importance of Team Members, Roles and Responsibilities, Management of PHA studies/Quality Control in PHA studies
    • Understanding the Importance of Node Selection
    • Understanding the importance of proper PHA documentation and reporting
    • Understanding the Importance of Global issues, Facility Siting and Human Factors
    • Understanding the importance of proper Risk Ranking
    • Managing the follow-up of PHA results
    • Software demonstration and mock facilitation

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    S7: Applying Creative Thinking and Critical Thinking in Process Safety  

    Location: Hilton Americas - Houston, 340B

    Price: $500

    Instructor: Paul Baybutt

    Overview/Description
    Many aspects of process safety require practitioners to think creatively about issues and to critically evaluate their own judgments and those of others. For example, process hazard analysis (PHA) methods rely on the ability of PHA teams to identify scenarios using judgment in a brainstorming process that necessarily is subjective in nature. The ability of team members to think creatively is critical, particularly when trying to imagine rare, consequential events which are of the greatest concern. Also, the ability of team members to constructively critique suggestions by other team members during the brainstorming process is essential to ensuring that the best possible decisions are made. The completeness of scenario identification and the veracity of judgments regarding scenarios are crucial to the validity of PHA study results. Thus,
    creative thinking and critical thinking are essential for PHA study teams. They are also important for other elements of process safety such as incident investigation, managing changes, and auditing. This course teaches the application of these two different but complementary types of thinking.
    People are not required to think creatively for many daily tasks and activities. Routine thought works well for most tasks and activities and becomes habitual for many people. Indeed, the educational system largely encourages such thinking. These habits interfere with the need to think creatively in process safety, for example, when trying to identify hazards scenarios in PHA studies. Furthermore, psychological factors also can impair creativity, for example, the desire to avoid looking foolish when suggesting possible scenarios during PHA studies. These habits and factors can be overcome with the right approaches.
    Similarly, critical thinking often is not practiced. Conventional thinking can be incomplete, unclear, uninformed, distorted, biased, or prejudiced resulting in judgments that are false. Important considerations may be overlooked and conflicting viewpoints ignored. Flawed reasoning often is not recognized. Indeed, it has been found that people who are not naturally good at reasoning are the most likely to overestimate their reasoning ability. Furthermore, when people try to persuade others to their views, they may use emotion or personal attributes such as their reputation, rather than logic. Fortunately, critical thinking can be taught and it helps people to overcome these issues.
    Examples and workshop exercises from both everyday life and process safety are used to teach attendees to use creative and critical thinking.
    Objective
    To improve the ability of process safety practitioners to develop solutions to problems and evaluate their own judgements and those of others, for example, in identifying
    hazard scenarios to improve the completeness and quality of PHA studies.
    Target Audience:Process safety practitioners such as PHA facilitators and participants, incident investigators, and auditors.
    Prerequisites
    An understanding of process safety and experience in its use.
    Course Contents
    • Key decisions in process safety
    • Types of thinking
    • Creative versus critical thinking
    • Characteristics of creative thinkers
    • Characteristics of critical thinkers
    • Productive thought and creativity
    • Overcoming mental blocks
    • Do’s and don’t’s of brainstorming
    • Development of creativity
    • Pro and con arguments
    • Deductive and inductive arguments
    • Evaluating arguments
    • Assessing the credibility of claims
    • Use and abuse of persuasion
    • Recognizing fallacies
    • Impact of emotion, self-interest, and wishful thinking
    • Addressing cognitive biases

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