2022 AIChE Spring Meeting & 18th GCPS Short Courses

Location: Hyatt Regency San Antonio Riverwalk, Nueces

Price: $500

Instructor: James Sneddon (Risktec Solutions, Inc.)

Book: No Book 

This course introduces the ‘Hydrogen Hazard’, exploring the differences between hydrogen and hydrocarbons (including natural gas) and how these differences can be, and currently are being, captured in safety and risk management tools and techniques. Existing good practice drawn from other more mature industries is presented with example case studies, including a discussion around existing standards and regulations. Current limitations and ‘known unknowns’ of hydrogen are presented to give attendees a flavor of the necessary steps required before hydrogen can become a significant ‘element’ of the energy transition. 

The objective is to introduce attendees to the challenge that hydrogen presents to those responsible for risk management and safety assurance, highlighting both commonalities and differences between hydrogen and well-understood hydrocarbons. 

Agenda: 

• Introduction & Context
• Risk Assessment for Hydrogen
• Hydrogen Hazard Identification
• HAZOP, LOPA & SIL
• DSEAR
• QRA & Consequence Modelling
• Emergency Response & Crisis Management
• Known Unknowns

After completing the module attendees should be able to:

• Have an understanding of the hydrogen hazard, its specific characteristics, and challenges
• Understand how established risk assessment tools and techniques can be applied to hydrogen schemes
• Appreciate the limitations of hydrogen risk assessment tools and techniques
  
   

Location: Hyatt Regency San Antonio Riverwalk, Llano

Price: $500

Instructor: Arthur M. Dowell (Process Improvement Institute (PII))

Book: No Book 

​​​​Are proposed or existing combinations of safeguards enough to prevent an accident or mitigate the consequences? Do you perceive that doing a fully quantitative risk assessment (QRA) would be over-working the problem? Then Layer of Protection Analysis (LOPA) is the new tool you need to learn.  LOPA combines both qualitative and quantitative elements of hazard evaluation and risk assessment to analyze and judge the adequacy of existing or proposed safeguards against process deviations and accident scenarios.  A key to the success of LOPA is its rules for judging if protection layers are truly independent.  Because of these rules, LOPA helps the analysts make consistent judgments of if the risk of scenarios are “as low as reasonably practical (ALARP)”. This “How To” course is taught by one of the principal authors of the AIChE/CCPS book, Layer of Protection Analysis (2001). The course will also bring you up to-date on changes from the newly released Guidelines for Initiating Events and Independent Protection Layers, CCPS/AIChE (Mr. Bridges, the instructor, was the primary author of this textbook). Workshops are used as the primary mode of teaching each aspect of LOPA. You will perform several complete LOPA before leaving class.

Take-Home: 

• Comprehensive course notebook containing: Examples of risk acceptance and judgment protocols & Industry examples and solutions to all LOPA workshops 
• Certificate of Completion and 0.7 CEUs & 0.7 COCs

Agenda: 

Introduction to LOPA

• Learning objectives and goals of using the LOPA technique
• What is LOPA? How is LOPA applied? Definitions? When is LOPA used?

Developing LOPA Scenarios

• Selecting candidate scenarios from brainstorming hazard evaluations
• Scenarios from design questions and from incidents

Estimating the Consequence of the Scenario

• Using a look-up table of consequences; Developing a consequence look-up table for your company; Alternative methods for estimating consequences
• Workshop 1: Estimating the consequence of a scenario (part of a continuing example)

Estimating the Likelihood of the Selected Initiating Event

• Using a look-up table of initiating event categories and frequencies
• How to develop an initiating event look-up table for your company
• Addressing enabling conditions and time-dependent initiating events
• Workshop 1: Estimating the frequency of an initiating event of a scenario (part of a continuing example)

Estimating the Probability of Failure of Independent Protection Layers

• Definitions, rules, and exceptions for giving credit for an independent protection layer (IPL); Using a look-up table of IPL categories and probability of failure on demand (PFOD); How to develop an IPL look-up table
• Workshop 1: Deciding which safeguards are valid IPLs and estimating the PFOD of the valid IPLs (part of a continuing example)

Calculating the Risk

• Using a standardized LOPA worksheet; Rules for calculating risk for an individual scenario (LOPA); Rules for summing risk of related scenarios
• Workshop 1: Calculating the risk of a LOPA scenario (part of a continuing example)

Judging the Risk

• Examples of risk tolerance criteria from the industry
• Development and implementation of a company risk tolerance criteria
• Workshop 1: Judging the risk of a LOPA scenario (cont. example)

Special Applications of LOPA

• Using LOPA for facility siting questions; Selecting the SIL for an interlock

Location: Hyatt Regency San Antonio Riverwalk, Blanco

Price: $500

Instructor: Brenton Cox and Trey Morrison (Exponent Inc.) 

Book: No Book 

A principal goal of process safety professionals everywhere is to prevent chemical process incidents from occurring. However, even the most risk-averse organizations experience learning opportunities. Through the scientific investigation of incidents and near misses, a company can take advantage of these opportunities and acquire the knowledge necessary to avoid repeating past mistakes. Effectively sharing lessons learned may also reduce the frequency of similar incidents across the Chemical Process Industry.

This course will follow the incident investigation techniques set forth in CCPS’ most recent edition of Guidelines for investigating Process Safety Incidents while incorporating information from other relevant guidance documents. Each aspect of the incident investigation will be illustrated with case studies pulled from real incidents and near misses. The course will incorporate brief exercises to provide attendees with hands-on experience in applying investigation principles.

After an introductory discussion, the curriculum will proceed chronologically through an investigation, first discussing the initial response to an incident or near-miss. Then the course will cover the assembly of an investigation team which can span from two engineers to a multidisciplinary team of experts. The team picks up where the initial response left off, preserving and collecting forensic evidence, witness statements, and process information. Then the data is analyzed in an attempt to determine the direct and root causes of the incident or near-miss. Last but not least, the findings of the investigation are documented and shared.  

Agenda

• Introduction 
• Learning from Engineering Disasters 
  
  • Documentation and Sharing of the Lessons Learned
  • Effective Communication of Findings 
  • Developing Effective Recommendations 
• Incident Investigation 
  
  • Initial Response 
  • Assembling a Team 
  • Basic Investigation Techniques 
  • Collecting and Preserving Forensic Evidence 
• Direct and Root Cause Determination 
  
  • Structured Techniques for Cause Determination
  • Causal Factors & Root Causes 
  • Human Factors 
• Case Studies in Applying Structured Techniques