Elements of Process Safety

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...

Safety instrumented systems are used to reduce the risk of major accidents in the process industry. To claim a certain risk reduction from such systems, it is necessary to perform reliability analyses, within internationally accepted frameworks, such as the IEC 61511. The main factors that...

The introduction of alternate fuel vehicles leads to new safety challenges. This is particularly relevant in the case of hydrogen vehicles, as flammable mixtures of hydrogen and air can be very dangerous. Potential hazard scenarios include gaseous or liquid hydrogen leaks, accumulation and ignition...

Independent protection layers (IPLs) used to mitigate most severe consequences are analyzed for three chemical processes: Olefins, Low-density Polyethylene, and an intermediates chemical plant. The IPLs are categorized by type (i.e., interlocks, PSVs, independent alarms, etc.), by function (...

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...

This paper is an overview of the NFPA 654 layer thickness criteria, including the 2010 TIA, and potential misinterpretations that could result in failure to recognize the hazard. Potential misinterpretations include allowing excessive floor area coverage, failure to account for layers thicker than...

Making process plants inherently safer has obvious advantages and is easiest to do when designing a new plant. Modification of existing plants to make them inherently safer can often be much more difficult and costly, including any costs due to lost production. However, an inherently safer design...

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...