Guidelines for determining the probability of ignition of a released flammable mass

Abstract

It is not difficult to find situations in which the probability of ignition for a given set of conditions varies widely from source to source. There are also some variables that are known to be important to the probability of ignition that have not yet been rigorously quantified. This results in uncertainty in risk‐based studies, limiting the ability of the risk manager to justify spending for appropriate projects that would reduce the probability of ignition as a way of managing risk. For this reason, CCPS commissioned a new book for release in 2013 that consolidates the available information on this subject and proposes ignition probability algorithms that advance the state of the art. Purchasing the book also allows access to software that codifies (and automates some of) the methods discussed in the book. The intended audiences for the book are Process Safety Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) involved in risk assessments and hazard evaluations. The timing of the new book's release is after the release of the revision to the CCPS book, “Guidelines for Evaluating Process Plant Buildings for External Fires, Explosions, and Toxic Releases,” and near the release time of another CCPS book, “Guidelines for Enabling Conditions and Conditional Modifiers for Layer of Protection Analysis” in order to support the risk‐based analyses described in those publications. © 2013 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Process Saf Prog 33: 19–25, 2014

Risks and limitations of steam curtains protection in case of flammable gases leakage

“…From the above, it can be deduced that the operation of steam curtains is associated with the generation of the electric charge and therefore the possibility of its discharge and the theoretical potential risk of electrostatic sparks. 26,27 It is evident that accidents involving fires and explosions caused by static electricity occur in industry. A detailed statistical analysis of fires and explosions attributed to static electricity in Japan was analyzed, for example, by Ohsawa.…”