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Understand Hazard & Risk

The foundation of a risk-based approach which will allow an organization to use this information to allocate limited resources in the most effective manner.

Improving the Performance of Established PSM Programs

Apr 2, 2012
James A. Klein
Many facilities have now implemented and maintained PSM programs for 20 years or more, but these facilities continue to have sometimes serious incidents and injuries suggesting a continuing need to improve their PSM performance. Of course, new requirements are often added to upgrade PSM programs,...

Avoiding Common PHA Mistakes

Apr 2, 2012
Glenn Young
OSHA's National Emphasis Program (NEP) on refineries has concluded. The two most cited elements of the Process Safety Management standard (PSM - 1910.119) in the NEP were Mechanical Integrity and Process Hazard Analysis (PHA). [1] This session will focus on common problems in PHA and how to avoid...

Process Safety for Process Engineers

Virtual Local Section Webinar
Jan 26, 2012
Louisa Nara

Process safety is the most important facet of our jobs as process engineers. Learn how CCPS can support process engineers in their quest to make their processing facilities both more productive and safer.

Recognizing Catastrophic Incident Warning Signs in the Process Industries

November, 2011
This book provides guidance on characterizing, recognizing, and responding to warning signs to help avoid process incidents and injuries before they occur. The guidance can be used by both process safety management (PSM) professionals in evaluating their processes and PSM systems as well as for...

A Treasure Hunt towards Process Safety In the Unit Operations Laboratory

Oct 17, 2011
Ronald J. Willey
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...

Exposing the Blurry Lines Between Personal Safety and Process Safety Education

Oct 17, 2011
Delmar R. Morrison
Chemical engineering curricula have long been focused on instilling the fundamentals of chemical engineering science in undergraduates and advancing the state of the art through postgraduate study. Unfortunately, a comprehensive focus on safety has never been in the core of the chemical engineering...

What to Do When Nothing Has Happened?

Mar 15, 2011
Raymond "Randy" Freeman
Often during a Layer of Protection Analysis (LOPA) or a Quantitative Risk Analysis (QRA) study, historical information indicates no occurrences of a particular undesired event in the plant or system. The analyst must decide on an appropriate measure of the frequency of the undesired event. The...

Risk Assessment of a Propane Storage Sphere: Maintain or Decommission?

Mar 15, 2011
Russell A. Ogle
Ten years ago, the authors were asked to assist a utility with a risk management decision. Specifically, the utility was considering whether they should maintain or decommission an 800,000 gallon propane storage sphere. The 30-year old sphere was the fuel storage vessel for a peak-shaving power...

A Frequency Based Approach to Hole Size Selection for Consequence Analysis

Mar 15, 2011
Mike W. Stahl
When performing a consequence based facility siting study, it is often necessary to choose a criteria for the maximum credible hole size that is the source for a hazardous release. Many companies choose a variable hole size using a fraction of the pipe size to determine the source hole. Other...

QRA Method for Land-Use Planning around on-Shore Oil and Gas Facilities

Mar 15, 2011
Eelke S. Kooi
In the Dutch legislative context, facilities that handle or store large amounts of hazardous substances must carry out a quantitative risk analysis (QRA) for land-use planning purposes. The outcomes of the QRA determine the kinds of activities that are tolerable in the surroundings of the facility...

Guidelines for Identifying and Mitigating Thermal Hazards of Sustainable Materials

Mar 14, 2011
Delmar R. Morrison
Sustainable materials and technologies (a.k.a. ?Green?) are those that are ?delivered with progressively less negative impact upon the Earth.? Thermal hazards such as self-heating, thermal runaway, fires, and explosions may be associated with a particular sustainable material or process technology...

The Buncefield Explosion: Were the Resulting Overpressures Really Unforeseeable?

Mar 14, 2011
Jérôme R. Taveau
On Sunday 11 December 2005, a severe unconfined vapour cloud explosion followed by several tank fires occurred at the Buncefield oil storage depot in England, causing widespread damage to homes and businesses surrounding the site, hopefully without any victim. The damage caused by the resulting...

The Obvious-to-Obscure Process Safety Checklist for Plant Engineers

Mar 14, 2011
John T. Perez, Simon R. Layton
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...

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