Elements of Process Safety

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...

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...

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...

The author was a member of a team which traveled to Bhopal in March of 1985 and produced a report for the Indian and international trade union federations. He was subsequently involved in the legislative and regulatory efforts which led to the OSHA Process Safety Management Standard. That standard...

Storage tanks are most common material containing units in process industries. There have been many accidents associated within storage tank (material deficiency, structure design failures, operation error etc.) or among storage areas throughout the history. For example, overfilling has already...

This paper will share the UK's experience of risk control for major hazards and will emphasise the key role corporate governance and leadership plays in the management of major hazard risks. The paper will outline the joint work undertaken between industry and the Health and Safety Executive in...

With the increase in requirements for monitoring and improving process safety indicators on a thermoelectric unit linked to a Braskem Basic Petrochemical Site in Brazil, a large range of knowledge among engineers and operators were found. The theme Process Safety was commonly confused with...

Process Safety Management is often presented as technically complex, requiring a large staff of engineers and specialists with an array of tools and techniques that appear to grow in intricacy and sophistication year by year. Large companies are generally well positioned to operate in this arena –...

In this session we will review several case studies that will allow you to better understand the importance of process engineering and process safety basics. These examples will show specific pitfalls to avoid but also will open your thinking to properly consider the implications of other...

[An earlier edition of this paper was first presented at the “International Conference and Workshop – Process Safety Incidents,” 2000, organized by the Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS)] The need for effective root cause analysis is finally gaining the spotlight in the chemical process...