Understand Hazard & Risk

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...

Four recent explosions occurred in a single burner, recirculating solids ring dryer. The dryer was equipped with a recirculating fan, a burner section, a section to introduce the solids, a ring duct, a pre-separator and four cyclones. Seven explosion doors were also used to protect the integrity of...

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...

This investigation by the United States Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) provides unique lessons in process safety. Three incidents occurred over a 33-hour period at the DuPont plant in Belle, WV. The most serious incident occurred on January 23, 2010, when a release of highly...

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...

Increasing the safety and security within the chemical supply chain has been a concern of the US government for several years. Both the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have active efforts to reduce societal risk of a toxic industrial chemical...

The optimum design of LNG tank farm layout

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...

Evaluation of Management of Safety Barries for Major Hazard Accidents The last accidents in the process industries have demonstrated and intensified the importance of the safety barriers to prevent the occurrence of accidents. The safety barriers, that are called preventive, if the barrier could...

During the design phase of a project, vendor packages (e.g., compressors, water desalination) are typically treated as a "black box" with a very specific function, and the typical perspective of the buyer/owner/operator is that safety issues have been thoroughly vetted, based on the package vendor...