Elements of Process Safety

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...

Many accidents involve two-phase releases of hazardous chemicals into the atmosphere. Rainout results in reduced concentrations in the remaining cloud, but can also lead to extended cloud duration because of re-evaporation of the rained-out liquid. For accurate hazard assessment one must accurately...

Dust explosions represent a considerable safety risk in process industry. Statistical records of dust explosions show that 32.7 % of these explosions are initiated by mechanical sparks or hot surfaces due to mechanical friction [1]. Laboratory investigations however show that direct ignition of...

The Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) is an independent, nonregulatory federal organization in the United States dedicated to investigating serious accidents in the chemical industry. Accidents are investigated by a team of CSB employees and from the evidence collected a list of...

The significance of Safety Culture is becoming increasingly recognized as a key factor to achieve the safe operation of hazardous processes. This paper describes the four stages that manufacturing companies go through in their journey to a world class safety culture and applies this concept to...

Most oil and gas refining and petrochemical organizations have a Process Safety Management (PSM) program that stems from the requirements outlined under OSHA's 29 CFR 1910.119. Some have a very extensive program that covers most of the 14 elements of PSM and is managed via an integrated platform...

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...

Principles of incident investigation may be used in daily process troubleshooting and near miss events to identify root cause. Identifying and correcting daily process issues intervenes with the natural escalation to near miss events and incident investigations. Fundamentals of root cause analysis...

Safety training is one of the most important tools for upgrading the safety level and for minimizing the likelihood and the consequences of accidents. However, as the cost involved is high (most of the training cost is usually associated with its participants time), it is highly important that the...

Workforce involvement is an essential element of effective process safety management. This paper will describe proven methods of workforce involvement in process safety. An assessment will then be described to evaluate the use and quality of applying these methods. Critical success factors are...