“the Book of Beacons, an Improved Resource of Process Safety Lessons”

Presenter : John W. Herber CCPSC, Chair of the Book of Beacons Project Committee

For over 20 years, the Process Safety Beacon has been published to a focus audience of frontline employees (operations & maintenance personnel). The one-page documents use incidents to highlight a process safety topic, then present key facts in the “Did You Know” section and possible action in the “What Can You Do” section. The “Book of Beacons Project” broadens the utility beyond the original Beacons to other adjacent topics, then provides more in-depth information about the incident as well as the technical and cultural causes.

The intended audience is also broadener and includes academia, technical and managerial people. The potential uses of these documents also increased due to the higher technical content. While called a ‘book’, it is a relational database presented in the “flip book” format. That allows the entire library to be searched by any word the user chooses. Such a search could take the user to several potential Beacons that they can use to develop and enhance their messages to audiences from undergraduates to executives.

This paper would present the function of the Book of Beacons. Some of the potential include improving designs, providing lesson learned, and guidance for operations and managerial personnel for oversight of hazardous materials and processes.