Contents
Mini-Case Histories
Joe Louvar and Durai Dakshinamoorthy (Wayne State University)
This product emphasizes learning from history or being doomed to repeat it. It includes three sections:
- Mini-Case Histories
- Process Safety Beacon
- Safety Concepts
as described below:
Mini-Case Histories: There are eight PowerPoint presentations, with notes, that cover the accidents at Bhopal, Monsanto, Phillips, Flixborough, Morton, Tosco, Hickson, and Sonat. The root causes of each accident are included, such as, poor designs, lack of training, and poor management. The information summarized in these case histories was taken from SACHE products, and reports by the Chemical Safety Board.
Process Safety Beacon: The Center for Chemical Process Safety is publishing monthly, one-page case histories or lessons learned. They are available on the Internet via CCPS Beacon. A few of the Beacons are included in this product to remind readers that these lessons are available.
Safety Concepts: This product includes six PowerPoint presentations: Relief Valves; Prevent Runaway Reactions; Manage Design, Construction, and Operations; BLEVEs; Explosions; and Prevent Explosions. The concepts covered are those that are especially relevant to chemical plant accidents.
The Mini-Case Histories and Safety Concepts were developed in a PowerPoint format to give users the opportunity to add slides or lessons as desired.
Metal Structured Packing Fires
Sponsor: Mark T. Roberts (Texas A&M University)
Metal structured packing fires represent a unique and poorly understood hazard. While a rare occurrence, the potential for capital damage and injury to personnel as a result of such fires is extremely high. Since metal is not often thought of as a combustible material, the risks associated with structured packing fires are magnified by a lack of appreciation and understanding of the risk of packing ignition involved in maintenance activities in an industrial separation tower.
This training module discusses the possible causes of metal structured packing fires and methods for preventing and suppressing metal fires taken from industrial experience. The module contains brief descriptions of actual incidents involving packing fires as well as questions intended for class discussion.
The module contains a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation with notes that would be appropriate for class presentation or independent study and a report on the topic. This training module is appropriate for a separations, process safety, or senior design class.
Conservation of Life: Application of Process Safety Management
Sponsor: J. Klein (DuPont)
This SACHE product introduces “conservation of life” (COL) as a fundamental principle of chemical engineering design and practice, equivalent in importance to conservation of energy and mass. This presentation provides a good introduction to application of process safety and provides an overall structure for consideration of process safety by students.
COL principles that are discussed include:
- Assess material/process hazards
- Evaluate hazardous events
- Manage process risks
- Consider real-world operations
- Ensure product sustainability.
Most of the presentation is spent on the first three principles, which are most important to chemical engineering design and education, but all principles are introduced. Important factors for assessment of toxicity, flammability, reactivity, and dust hazards are provided. Use of PHAs, layers of protection, inherently safer methodologies, and human factors for managing process risk are highlighted. The “Swiss Cheese Model” is also introduced to consider how layers of protection can fail, potentially leading to catastrophic incidents such as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010.
This product can be used in the university (introductory engineering, design, or kinetics courses) or for the introduction of process safety for new industrial employees. COL can be used by universities as a concept and unifying theme for increasing awareness, application, and integration of process and product safety throughout the chemical engineering curriculum and for meeting the revised ABET accreditation criteria.
Solutions to Student Problem Set Volume 1
Sponsors: J. R. Welker and C. Springer (University of Arkansas)
"Safety, Health, and Loss Prevention in Chemical Processes - Problems for Undergraduate Engineering Curricula" Volume 1 was originally published by CCPS in 1990. Copies were given to universities and sold to industry. This was a very popular and valued product that is currently out of print. J. Wagner (Oklahoma State University) recently put this product in electronic format for distribution here. The problems are available via the Links menu on this site and to students logged into the site.
The 90 problems involve issues of safety, health, and loss prevention and provide students and new engineers with important insights to industrial processes. This material can also be used as a reference for industrial courses for new engineering employees. These safety problems and solutions further demonstrate that safety and health issues are handled with basic engineering principles and logic. Finally, through the use of this material, we hope to instill in students and engineers an increased recognition of the importance of chemical process safety and the recognition that they have the professional and ethical responsibility to provide safe chemical plants, processes and products.
The problems were designed to use in existing engineering courses, such as: stoichiometry, material balance, mass transfer, heat transfer, thermodynamics, process control, and design courses. The authors believe that it is important that students work on these problems while attending there undergraduate courses and throughout their education. This process should develop a safety culture within engineers that will help them throughout their careers.
Solutions to Student Problem Set Volume 2
Sponsors:
R. Willey (Northeastern University)
D. Crowl (Michigan Tech University)
R. Welker (University of Arkansas)
R. Darby (Texas A&M University)
"Safety, Health, and Loss Prevention in Chemical Processes - Volume 2" was originally published by CCPS in 2002 and distributed to SACHE University Members. This was a very popular and valued product that is now out of print. R. Willey recently put this volume in electronic form for distribution here.
Like the Volume 1 problems, the 218 problems teach safety, health, and loss prevention. This solution set represents problems and solutions produced by SACHE in the period 1990 to 2000.
The problems were designed for use in existing engineering courses, such as: Stoichiometry, Thermodynamics, Fluid Mechanics, Kinetics, Heat Transfer, Process Dynamics and Control, Computer Solutions, and Mass Transfer. The authors believe that including these problems in a required undergraduate course helps engineering students develop a safety culture and mind set that will benefit them throughout their careers.