Elements of Process Safety

On July 27, 2009, OSHA issued a National Emphasis Program for the chemical industry (“the Chemical NEP”). Pursuant to the Chemical NEP, OSHA will conduct PSM inspections of numerous chemical facilities. This presentation will review lessons learned from OSHA's Refining NEP, particularly the OSHA...

Process safety is about controlling risk of failures and errors; controlling risk is primarily about reducing the risk of human error. All elements of Risk-Based Process Safety (RBPS) and alternative standards for process safety (such as US OSHA's standard for Process Safety Management [PSM] or ACC...

The OSHA Refinery National Emphasis Program (NEP) and OSHA Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) PSM Supplement ask specific questions relative to many recognized and generally accepted good engineering practices (RAGAGEP). Many of the same RAGAGEP can be expected in the planned OSHA Chemicals NEP as...

This paper describes an integrated toolset, called the Human Factors Workbench, which addresses the proactive and reactive control of human error in process operations. It is a practical application of the tools described in the CCPS publication: ‘Guidelines for Preventing Human Error in Process...

On May 24, 2007 an explosion and subsequent fire destroyed a tank farm located at a gasoline purification plant in Sløvåg, Norway. In addition to the tank farm, an office building and some neighboring tank trucks were destroyed. There were no casualties in the accident, but at least two people...

Human factors play an important role in the escape, evacuation and rescue process. Human factors analysis is rooted in the concept that the frequency and consequences of human errors are related to work environment, work culture and procedures. This can be accounted for in the design of equipment,...

A procedural operation consists of a set of tasks that are conducted in a set way time-after-time to achieve a certain goal such as starting or shutting down a unit or making a product. As demonstrated by Paul McKenzie (Bristol Myers Squibb) at the WBF NA Conference 2007 in Baltimore, it could even...

This paper discusses the investigation of an accident caused by the mixing of incompatible chemicals, a strong oxidizing agent with a reducing agent. The exact mixture and sequence of mixing was unknown, but the materials included an aqueous solution of 40% sodium permanganate (NaMnO4) and possibly...

In developing systems for Process Safety Management, compliance audits are integral with verification that practices and procedures are developed and are effective for compliance. Data collected during compliance audits is often subjective and findings are descriptive in nature. It is therefore...

Accident root cause investigations often may identify unplanned power outages as the cause of a catastrophic accident. Unplanned power outages can be an initiating event that leads to an emergency shutdown of a process unit. If the emergency shutdown is managed incorrectly, it can result in an...