Incidents That Define Process Safety

Abstract

Process safety incidents and loss events can be prevented if we identify and adequately take measures on process safety incident precursors in a timely manner. If we look into and take action against the process safety hazard factors causing the incident in the refinery and petrochemical plant, major process safety incidents can be prevented through eliminating or decreasing hazardous factors. We conducted a survey for the major process safety incident precursor to look specifically into the potential process safety hazardous factors of refineries and petrochemical plants in the Yeosu chemical complex. A self-assessment checklist, which was published by Center for Chemical Process Safety "Recognizing catastrophic incident warning signs in the process industry" on major incidents warning sign, was used for the survey. Through this survey, the major process safety incident leading indicators in the process industry were found by process safety management elements, and each site and/or facility can use these leading indicators for activities for process safety incident prevention. In addition, we proposed action items required to eliminate the root cause of those process safety incident leading indicators.

The 5C model: A new approach to asset integrity management

“…A long-term maintenance policy should be established for this purpose. Many major incidents resulted from maintenance and inspection not being carried out correctly or not at all [1]. The focus should be on preventive maintenance, based on measuring the condition of the equipment and of relevant systems [12].…”

“…Such programmes are often viewed by management as an expense since they are mainly focused on prevention. Maintenance and inspection are, for most part, costly, invasive and detract from production if not specified and planned correctly [1]. A proper maintenance strategy of plant equipment can significantly reduce the overall operating cost and increase the efficiency and productivity of the plant.…”

“…Hazard identification and risk assessment are invariably linked to a safe operating envelope [1]. The events with high probability and low consequences are best managed through existing maintenance management processes and systems.…”

Process operational safety using model predictive control based on a process Safeness Index

“…The first step in this procedure is to determine which states to incorporate in S(x). Initially, an extensive literature review of accidents and their causes (e.g., Kletz (2009); Atherton and Gil (2008); Crowl and Louvar (2011); Khan and Abbasi (1999); Reniers and Cozzani (2013); Tatiya (2011) view and the safety analyses should be selected for inclusion in S(x). A first-principles model may also reveal that other states should be considered that were perhaps neglected in the qualitative analyses in the early steps due to complexities in the system that are revealed through analyzing the dynamics.…”

Two centuries of process safety at DuPont

“…The incident in Bhopal, India in 1984, involving the release of acutely toxic methyl isocyanate (MIC), resulted in about 2,000 deaths and thousands of injuries, significantly raising the awareness of both industry and regulators about the potential for off-site catastrophic incidents [29]. The response in DuPont was immediate.…”