Process Safety Culture

On February 1, 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere, killing all seven crewmembers aboard. After extensive investigation, the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) concluded that the organizational safety culture gaps contributed significantly to this loss. Upon review of The CAIB report, the CCPS Technical Steering Committee concluded that the same cultural factors that impacted NASA could also impact on the chemical and petroleumn industries. CCPS invites chemical, petroleum, and other companies to use these materials to evaluate their company's process safety culture and to develop improvement strategies.

Developing, sustaining, and enhancing the organization's process safety culture is one of elements in the RBPS pillar of committing to process safety. CCPS members invite you to start the journey by reviewing the Building Process Safety Culture Tool Kit and then explore resources listed below to understand the attributes of a sound culture, and how your organization might begin to enhance its own culture.

Explosions in Transformer and Circuit-Breaker Tanks Due to Arcing Events

Apr 4, 2012
Timothy L. Morse
Industrial transformers and circuit breakers operate with large voltage differences between current-carrying internal components and the grounded tank walls. A breakdown in the dielectric strength of the insulating oil in the tank due to contamination or other causes can lead to the formation of an...

Beware of the Black Swan

Apr 4, 2012
In 16 th century London, a statement that describes impossibility was referred to as a “black swan” because all historical records of swans up to that time had reported that swans only had white feathers. The Greek philosopher Aristotle first used the term “white swan” as an example of necessary...

Flash Fire From a Hot Combustible Liquid

Apr 4, 2012
Russell A. Ogle
A truck driver loading a tanker was fatally injured in a flash fire. The accident occurred at the loading rack of a petroleum refinery. The truck driver was on top of the tank trailer loading a liquid petroleum byproduct material similar to asphalt through an open hatch on the trailer. The material...

Societal Risk Criteria and Pipelines

Apr 4, 2012
Joan M. Schork
The discussion of societal risk criteria for the process industry began in the 1970's, led primarily by the Dutch and British governments. Most of the discussion, however, has centered on fixed facilities. The literature on the societal risk of hazardous goods transportation, particularly by...

More LOPA Misapplied: Common Errors and How to Avoid Them

Apr 4, 2012
Karen Study
Layer of Protection Analysis (LOPA) continues to be more and more widely utilized in the Petrochemical and other industries. LOPA is a “simplified” tool, which is true relative to tools such as Quantitative Risk Assessment and Fault Tree Analysis. However, simplified does not mean simple on an...

Inherently Safer Technology Implementation -Risk Reduction and Risk Shifting

Apr 4, 2012
Iclal Atay
On March 25, 2008 the State of New Jersey adopted rules requiring facilities regulated under the Toxic Catastrophe Prevention Act (TCPA) Program to perform Inherently Safer Technology (IST) reviews. By January 2010, 85 facilities performed IST reviews and submitted their findings to the New Jersey...

Impact of Guidelines for Independent Protection Layers and Initiating Events

Apr 4, 2012
J. Wayne Chastain
Layers of Protection Analysis (LOPA) was introduced about 15 years ago as a simplified risk assessment method between HAZOP (Process Hazard Analysis [PHA]) and quantitative risk assessment (QRA). This introduction was timely; LOPA was quickly adopted world-wide. The rules for independent protection...

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