An entropy-based TOPSIS approach for analyzing and assessing crisis management systems in petrochemical industries

Crisis management systems should be assessed and updated in petrochemical industries due to hazards, such as fire and explosion. Successful crisis management systems can protect both personnel and property in the petrochemical industries. The present study aimed to assess crisis management systems of five petrochemical plants in terms of three aspects, including organizational aspects, human aspects, and technical aspects. A questionnaire was designed, encompassing 34 items to cover all three aspects at both management and staff levels. A multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) approach, including the entropy method and Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS), was used to analyze the collected data. The outcomes of the entropy method indicated that organizational and human aspects had the greatest influence on crisis management systems of the plants with 58% and 49% importance at management and staff levels, respectively. The crisis management systems of the investigated plants were ranked and analyzed using the TOPSIS approach. The findings of this study could assist managers and other decision-makers to address the issues of crisis management systems in petrochemical industries.     

Building an Executive Information System for Maintenance Efficiency in Petrochemical Plants—An Evaluation

This study used the manufacturing process in the petrochemical industries as an example and developed a dedicated maintenance programme and executive information system (EIS) for this industry. The software for EIS was established on a CMMS platform, with logical and extractive analysis used to store the information in a KPI databank. The system developed can provide plant managers and engineers with a complete summary of information and keep them updated regarding the present status of their maintenance efforts. The objective of this study was to establish a management system for maintaining knowledge in the petrochemical industries, such as the management of standard operating procedures (SOPs), historical records and the analysis of data for the facility. To design the software, a review of petrochemical facility was purposed to enhance the maintenance efforts and facilitate the decision-making process. The main functions of the system include asset reliability analysis, failure analysis and maintenance benefit cost analysis. For the petrochemical industry, the impact of safety and environment caused by equipment malfunction is more substantial than that of other industries. If executives can manage essential points effectively and make decisions according to a key performance index, risks to safety and environment, which result from equipment malfunction, can be decreased and safety can be enhanced for petrochemical refineries.     

石化企业安全链模型研究及应用

为增强石化企业安全管理能力,针对石化行业的特点、管理现状和国内外安全链理论的发展状况,运用系统思想并结合石化企业特征构建起融合安全要素和流程体系的安全链模型。安全要素由人、环境、信息、操作设备、运营设备、技术和管理等构成,流程体系由反映全生命周期的"提前行动、预防、准备、响应、恢复"等5个流程构成,2个维度的有机结合形成了安全链模型。运用该模型可以对影响石化企业安全生产的各要素和阶段予以准确定位。最后以宁夏石化公司为例,分析该模型在石化企业安全管理中的应用,实践表明其可以促进安全管理水平的提高。     

Safety leadership and safety performance in petrochemical industries: The mediating role of safety climate

This study examines the relationship among three latent variables: safety leadership, safety climate, and safety performance. Employees from 23 plants in seven departments of a petrochemical company in central Taiwan completed a questionnaire survey. From this, a sample of 521 responses was randomly selected. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis using the AMOS 5.0 was employed to test the hypothesized model relating the above-mentioned variables. The results indicate that the model was supported, and that safety climate mediated the relationship between safety leadership and performance. Practical implications of these results for process safety management in the petrochemical industries are discussed.     

基于模糊数学的石化企业安全状况评估系统

针对石化企业安全信息存在模糊性和随机性的特点,提出了一个多因素多指标石化企业安全状况模糊综合评价算法,基于这种算法,设计了一个石化企业安全状况评估系统,以安全管理、工艺运行管理、设备运行管理、清洁生产、安全教育和人员素质等因素为系统的输入,运用模糊逻辑理论,结合专家评分,定量计算出石化企业的安全等级情况。系统充分考虑了多个安全因素对安全状况的影响,融合了主观判断和客观计算,解决了石化企业安全评价中多因素多指标带来的烦琐评价过程和复杂运算的问题,为石油化工企业的安全管理提供相关理论依据和实践支持。实际应用表明,其结果与实际情况较为符合,该方法可以较好的提高石化企业安全现状综合评价的客观性和准确性。     

Process safety data management program based on HAZOP analysis and its application to an ethylene oxide/ethylene glycol plant

HAZOP analysis is a process hazard analysis method that has been widely applied both within and outside the chemical processing industries. This paper presents a design method for a process safety data management program for petrochemical plants based on HAZOP analysis and demonstrates the steps of application involved in building a process safety data management system for an ethylene oxide/ethylene glycol production plant. Firstly, the production data files and relevant documents of the plants should be classified and stored in the program database as reference documents and treatment schemes for coping with abnormal situations should be collected and summarized as guidance documents. Secondly, the HAZOP analysis method is employed to identify all the dangerous deviations possibly existing in the production process of the ethylene oxide/ethylene glycol plant. Then, the relationships among the deviations, the reference documents and the guidance documents should be considered and evaluated. Finally, each dangerous deviation will be given a corresponding reference document and guidance document. The reference documents and guidance documents stored in the expert system can be utilized to help operators solve the corresponding technical problems and cope with abnormal situations. The process safety data management program will contribute to the identification, analysis and resolution of operation problems. When an abnormal situation occurs, according to the deviations exhibited in the system, the necessary reference documents and guidance documents will be quickly consulted by the operators, and an appropriate decision will be made to address the abnormal situation. Therefore, by using the process safety data management program, plant security and human safety in the petrochemical industries will be improved.     

Fault propagation behavior study and root cause reasoning with dynamic Bayesian network based framework

The Bhopal disaster was a gas leak incident in India, considered the world's worst industrial disaster happened around process facilities. Nowadays the process facilities in petrochemical industries have becoming increasingly large and automatic. There are many risk factors with complex relationships among them. Unfortunately, some operators have poor access to abnormal situation management experience due to the lack of knowledge. However these interdependencies are seldom accounted for in current risk and safety analyses, which also belonged to the main factor causing Bhopal tragedy. Fault propagation behavior of process system is studied in this paper, and a dynamic Bayesian network based framework for root cause reasoning is proposed to deal with abnormal situation. It will help operators to fully understand the relationships among all the risk factors, identify the causes that lead to the abnormal situations, and consider all available safety measures to cope with the situation. Examples from a case study for process facilities are included to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. It also provides a method to help us do things better in the future and to make sure that another such terrible accident never happens again.     

石化企业安全投资状况评价研究

首先分析影响石化企业安全投资状况的不确定因素,在此基础上建立石化企业安全投资状况评价指标体系。运用集对分析理论的方法对某石化企业的安全投资状况进行评价。结果表明,集对分析理论适用于石化企业安全投资状况的评价,差异度i的取值可以反映出该石化企业的安全投资状况及其安全经济管理水平。影响石化企业安全投入状况的重要因素是石化企业安全设计投入、安全技术装备投入、安全科技研发投入、治理环境的投入、应急救援投入、事故导致企业停产损失投入等。     

Loss prevention in turnaround maintenance projects by selecting contractors based on safety criteria using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP)

Turnaround maintenance (TAM) is a usual plant shutdown that is done by process industries to perform asset inspections, repairs, and overhauls. TAM engineering projects are needed on a periodic basis to optimize a plant's performance. Process industrial plants usually don't have enough in-house manpower to carry out needed TAM jobs; it is not uncommon for a process industrial plant to outsource its TAM manpower supply to external contractors. This will create a peculiar management challenge regarding how to assure orientation of safety practices for the newly hired labor. Although accidents during process plant shutdowns may have severe consequences, the safety management systems in place for many companies only cover normal operations and few explicitly address TAM projects. Usually, contractors are evaluated from a safety perspective after handling the project by monitoring safety indicators such as number of injuries, incidents, etc. This paper emphasizes safety attributes to be included in selecting contractors at the bidding stage to assure loss prevention and better safety orientation during TAM implementation. The paper starts with reviewing TAM literature and defining main needed safety attributes to prequalify contractors. It develops an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) model that is applied to rank TAM contractors' selection. A case study is presented for a petrochemical plant in Saudi Arabia to demonstrate the AHP model.     

石油化工企业过程安全管理评估系统的设计与应用研究

为了提升国内石油化工企业过程安全管理水平,借鉴国内外过程安全管理经验和优秀实践,提出了一种应用于石油化工企业过程安全管理的评估思路和方法。根据石油化工行业特点,构建了由16个要素组成的过程安全管理评估体系框架。同时,介绍了该评估体系的评估准则设计、评估方法设计,以及评估系统的应用。实践表明,此石油化工企业过程安全管理评估系统,既能评估石油化工企业过程安全管理绩效,又能指导企业设计和运行一套过程安全管理系统。     

基于组合赋权-VIKOR法的化工企业应急管理能力评估研究

科学地衡量化工企业应急管理水平,一直是各级安全生产监管部门和各化工企业管理者当前高度重视与关注的热点。在借鉴相关研究成果的基础上,结合石化行业的特点,从事前预防、应急准备、应急响应,应急恢复四个方面建立了化工企业应急管理能力的评估指标体系,考虑到以往指标权重确定的不足之处,建立了基于组合赋权-VIKOR法的化工企业应急管理能力评估模型,并运用该模型对多个化工企业的应急管理能力进行了综合评价。结果表明,该模型可得出化工企业应急管理能力的强弱排名,评价结果与企业实际情况相符     

Identification of managerial shaping factors in a petrochemical plant by resilience engineering and data envelopment analysis

Resilience engineering (RE) is a novel approach that is capable of controlling and limiting incidents and accidents. This study identifies managerial shaping factors in a petrochemical plant by RE and data envelopment analysis (DEA). To do this, a standard questionnaire containing resilient factors is completed by managers of a petrochemical plant. Then, the best DEA model is selected based on average efficiency and statistical test. In addition, sensitivity analysis are performed to identify the most important shaping factors. Reporting culture, management commitment, and preparedness are identified as the most important factors in this paper, respectively. Finally, the proposed model is validated and verified through statistical experiment. The proposed approach would help managers to have a comprehensive understanding of the plant with respect to the RE. To the best of our knowledge this is the first paper that examines resilient shaping factors in a petrochemical plant with respect to management and organization by DEA.     

Development of a database for accidents and incidents in the Greek petrochemical industry

The present paper describes the development of a database that comprises all incidents from the Greek petrochemical industry for the period 1997–2003. This database includes industrial incidents, accidents, operational accidents and near misses from all petrochemical sites in Greece and Cyprus. The design of the database has been conceived in a user-friendly way with additional possibilities for its further use, such as: statistical analysis of the data, calculation of safety indicators, accident reports and human factors analysis. The database allows the various participating industries to compare the analysis of indicators in their own installations with the national average, as the database comprises data from the entire Greek petrochemical industry. Special care has been given to include data from near misses too.     

安全氛围三“心”模型的构建与检验

把安全氛围定义为一种知觉特性;在勒温的场理论基础上,通过对影响员工安全绩效的环境因素中的行为进行分析,构建安全氛围的通用模型,其包括3个因素:安全管理承诺、员工安全卷入和组织安全沟通;通过问卷调查的方法收集某石油化工公司两个生产厂一线职工的353份有效数据,探索性因素分析和验证性因素分析以及相关分析的结果分别说明,"三因素"模型具有较好的结构效度和预测效度。通过对3个因素的进一步分析,结合实践,提出安全氛围的三"心"模型:领导关心、员工上心、上下一心。要获得安全水平的持续提高,需要3个方面的共同努力。     

石化行业应用PDCA与6S结合的安全管理模式探讨——以催化裂解工艺为例

随着科学技术的不断进步和新材料、新工艺的不断应用,石化企业危险化学品的种类和数量逐渐增多,危险源和安全隐患日益突出,石化企业的发展迎来了安全生产的全新挑战。论述了PDCA循环管理和6s管理的概念、含义及实施步骤,分析了催化裂解阶段包括原料产品、反应装置等方面的危险性,提出将PDCA循环与6S管理相结合的管理模式应用到石化企业催化裂解阶段的具体内容和注意事项,应用PDCA与6S相结合的管理,有助于进一步创新石化企业安全管理模式,提高企业的安全管理水平。     

石化企业火灾危险性模式识别模型研究

石化企业具有易燃、易爆危险性等特点,一旦发生事故,后果相当严重.考虑到影响石化企业火灾危险性因素较多,从生产过程、储存过程、运输过程、消防设施与安全管理五个方面探讨了石化企业火灾危险性模式,运用层次分析法确定了石化企业火灾危险性模式识别指标的权重.将SPA理论与最优化原理相结合,提出了同异反最优模式识别模型,并将其与现有的最大联系测度方法应用于某石化企业危险性模式识别中.实例应用表明,同异反最优模式识别模型从整体上判断石化企业危险性模式,较最大联系测度方法更为科学、合理.     

IEC61511标准及在石化行业安全管理中的应用

功能安全的定量评定技术已成为确保石化行业安全生产的重要手段。针对石化行业普遍存在的功能安全问题,笔者以国际电工学会(IEC)专门制定的功能安全评定标准IEC61508及IEC61511为指导,介绍其标准制定的背景、目的、体系结构以及如何利用标准开展石化行业安全联锁系统(Safety Instrumented System,SIS)的安全与误跳车定量分析。通过对SIS开展定量安全评估,可发现联锁功能存在的安全不足与误跳车现象,对于提高我国石化行业安全生产水平具有重要的促进作用,标准中有关寿命周期功能安全管理方法及重要的工程经验也对提高我国石化安全生产水平具有借鉴作用。     

Current risk management status of the Korean petrochemical industry

In Korea, it was during the early 1970s that the petrochemical industry begun its full-fledged operation. During this period, the petrochemical industry along with the steel, automobile, shipbuilding, machinery industries, etc. started to consolidate its position as one of the key industries, encouraged by the governmental policies that sought to promote the heavy chemical industries. However, large-scale accidents that can greatly affect the management activities occur frequently. To respond effectively to these accidents, chemical plants execute risk management measures, fit for each business establishment’s characteristics. This study focuses on the current status of risk management activities conducted by the petrochemical plants in Korea, and on the trends in the global market.     

Safety analysis approach based on thermodynamic and chemical reactions modelling

Safety analysis of nuclear and chemical/petrochemical facilities is the systematic process that is carried out throughout the design process to ensure that all the relevant safety requirements are met by the proposed design of the plant. Safety analysis should incorporate both deterministic and probabilistic approaches. These approaches have been shown to complement each other and both should be used in the decision making process on the safety and ability of the plant to be licensed.This paper deals with the deterministic safety approach in order to distill the experience of nuclear and chemical/petrochemical protection engineering through a safety analysis approach aiming at analysis of chemically reacting processes including thermodynamic and chemical reactions modelling that are present in both industries. For instance, there are some similarities between the Bhopal disaster and Three Mile Island-Fukushima-like H₂ deflagration-detonation scenarios in nuclear containments. The phenomenology is similar in that the temperature and the pressure caused by exothermic reactions had increased dramatically leading to a loss of containment.The study aims to translate and adapt to general chemically reacting modelling, major features of the equivalent analysis inside the nuclear containments. Compartment containment for H₂ deflagrations has been translated and adapted, with fixed tools, to the methyl-isocyanate storage tank 610 of the Bhopal plant.     

Worker-centered investigation of issues with procedural systems: Findings from interviews with a representative sample of workers in high-risk process industries

Issues related to procedural systems have been found to contribute to incidents in many high-risk industries such as petrochemical, oil and gas, etc. While previous research has focused on understanding issues with procedural systems from the perspective of the workers (who are the end-users of procedures), most of this research suffers from samples that only include companies with programs focused on improving safety by improving procedures. These companies may have inherent differences in their safety practices and thus the experiences of these workers may not completely represent all workers’ experiences in this domain. The purpose of this study is to gain insights into the thoughts and perceptions from a representative and broad sample of workers concerning procedure use and purpose. To improve the generalizability of previous findings, interviews were conducted with workers from a broad range of high-risk process industries to investigate issues related to procedure adherence that may be present in companies not currently implementing. Findings from a qualitative data analysis provide support for the generalizability of issues previously discovered, such as: more experience workers being more likely to deviate; procedure quality being inconsistent; and the procedure revision process being problematic. However additional prominent issues were found as well. Most importantly, this study found that adherence to procedures is often motivated by potential liability issues instead of genuine concerns for safety in organizations and many deviations from procedures were due to pressure from immediate supervisors. These findings suggest a relationship between the effectiveness/quality of procedural systems and the safety climate of the organization or work unit.