Manage Risks

Interviews were performed with more than ten instructors and professors who are currently incorporating safety into the chemical engineering curriculum. These individuals described their methodology, resources and challenges in this effort. Excellent programs exist with courses dedicated to...

Integration of the process safety in the chemical engineering curriculum is a requirement. Several places exist and with a multitude of approaches. One approach we have used in our unit operations laboratories for over 30 years is an introductory treasure hunt, mandatory during the first meeting of...

The 3 rd edition of Chemical Process Safety, Fundamentals with Applications was published in the early summer of 2011. The third edition has been rewritten to include new process safety technology, new references, and updated data that have appeared since the first edition was published in 1990 and...

The "Process Safety Management" standard of the Occupational Safety and Health Act [OSHA] requires that "The frequency of inspections and tests of process equipment shall be consistent with applicable manufacturers' recommendations and good engineering practices, and more frequently if determined...

The Risk Based Inspection (RBI) process delivers a calculated risk value for each fixed equipment item in a facility. Fixed equipment risk values are the product of the Likelihood-of-Failure (LOF) and the Consequence-of-Failure (COF) factors. The calculated equipment risk values are used to...

The inclusion of oil and gas wells sites and associated production facilities in OSHA's Process Safety Management (PSM) regulations stems from a 1998 accident at an oil and gas separation facility that killed four workers. In December 1999, the accident investigation resulted in OSHA rescinding...

Safety instrumented systems are used to reduce the risk of major accidents in the process industry. To claim a certain risk reduction from such systems, it is necessary to perform reliability analyses, within internationally accepted frameworks, such as the IEC 61511. The main factors that...

The recent process safety performance of the energy industry has led to scrutiny of industry and company-specific process safety standards, guidelines, and best practices. Several elements of process safety focus directly on the knowledge-base and experience of a facility's workforce. Plant...

Process Hazard Analysis (PHA) and Mechanical Integrity (MI) programs are two of the fourteen elements that the Process Safety Management (PSM) Standard uses to prevent or minimize the consequences of catastrophic releases of toxic, reactive, flammable, or explosive chemicals. Experience proves that...