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Elements of Process Safety

The four pillars and the twenty elements of risk based process safety can be designed and implemented at varying levels of rigor to optimize process safety management, performance, efficiency, and effectiveness.

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...

The 3rd Edition of Chemical Process Safety, Fundamentals with Applications

Oct 17, 2011
Dr. Daniel A. Crowl
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...

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...

The Importance of Mechanical Integrity Inspection for Successful Capital Projects

Mar 15, 2011
Paul F. Schubert
It has been a common practice in the petrochemical industry to wait until a new process unit has been placed into service before performing the initial mechanical integrity inspection to establish corrosion rates of new piping systems and vessels. One problem with delaying inspection is that use of...

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...

Good Engineering Practices - Inspection and Test Frequencies

Mar 15, 2011
Richard Prugh
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...

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...

The Challenge to Implement and Maintain An Effective PSM Program

Mar 15, 2011
Ken Hanchey
While researching to develop responses to help a client respond to OSHA citations, we discovered a presentation to the same industry segment from 1997; we could change the date and present the same presentation today. OSHA is still finding the same gaps as 14 years ago. Chemical plants generally...

An Update on OSHA's PSM National Emphasis Programs

Mar 15, 2011
Lisa Long
Since 2007, OSHA has initiated two major National Emphasis Programs (NEPs) in process safety. The Petroleum Refinery Process Safety Management NEP (Refinery NEP) was effective on June 7, 2007; the PSM Covered Chemical Facilities NEP (Chemical NEP) was effective on July 27, 2009. This presentation...

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...

Acid Release From Catalyst Tanks

Mar 15, 2011
R. Wayne Garland
This is the story of how the cumulative effects of several seemingly innocent changes to a catalyst system resulted in a near miss Process Safety incident. Several aspects will be discussed including cumulative effects of multiple changes to the system, identification of potential scenarios in...

Fatal Explosion Caused by An Intermittently-Used Fuel Gas Piping System

Mar 15, 2011
Russell A. Ogle
A fatal explosion occurred at a foundry during a routine test of an intermittently used propane standby system. Just prior to the explosion, maintenance personnel were preparing the propane standby system for a startup test. While preparing for the startup test, the group was alerted that employees...

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