Enhancing regional process safety management

As industrial operations expand, major incidents continue to affect people, damage facilities, and impact the environment. In the last 20 years, about 50% of these incidents occurred in facilities that had implemented some form of Process Safety Management (PSM) and 50% came about in smaller facilities that did not include such planning (Demichela et al., 2004). The objective of this article is to use PSM principles to create practical recommendations at the regional level, to complement those previously developed for singular facilities. This article compares Strathcona County Emergency Service (SCES) in Alberta with Technical Standards & Safety Authority (TSSA) in Ontario, with respect to safety, facility licensing, permit requirements, risk assessment procedures and land use planning aspects to determine PSM enhancements for SCES. Furthermore, for a better overview, two supplemental provincial organisations in Alberta, namely Alberta Boiler Safety Association (ABSA) and Safety Codes Council (SCC), were also considered. We proposed that SCES could develop more detailed facility-specific licensing procedures, auditing, and inspection. SCES could also provide details of accredited organisations that carry out inspections and audits on their behalf. When reviewing the quantitative risk assessment processes for SCES and TSSA, we recommend that SCES should update their probability data sources used in their cumulative risk assessment study. Based on the authors’ experience and gathered data, the use of additional facility practices such as safety management system, internal audits, and checklists can enhance incident prevention.     

The effective control of major industrial accidents by the Major Industrial Accident Prevention Centers (MAPC) through the Process Safety Management (PSM) grading system in Korea

This paper examines effectiveness of a regulatory enforcement organization (Major industrial Accident Prevention Center, MAPC), and a grading system for implementation of the Process Safety Management (PSM) regulation in Korea. A lot of chemical installations have been built in Korea since the 1960s. The frequent occurrence of major industrial accidents had made people's concerns grow. The Korean government enacted PSM regulations in 1996 in order to curb these accidents.However, a key question is how to make sure companies comply with the PSM regulations. In order to improve company’ compliance with PSM regulations the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) responsible for the regulation introduced a grading management system in 2001 and then established special supervisory centers for enforcement of PSM regulations in 2005. This paper reviews the role and effectiveness of the system in term of PSM enforcement. The author found that the grade-based approach has encouraged employers to implement the requirements of the PSM regulations. MAPCs play an effective role in enhancing enforcement performance. Although the more chemical plants have been established in Korea, the fewer major industrial accidents have occurred since the introduction of the system. The results may be useful for the policy maker to build an effective and efficient enforcement system.     

Managing process chemicals,technology and equipment information for pilot plant based on Process Safety Management standard

Injuries, accidents or even fatalities while working in pilot plant are reported worldwide. The OSHA Laboratory Standard and Hazard Communication Standard have been used as a guideline to manage safety of laboratories and pilot plant. In spite of the implementation of these standards, incidents which result in injuries and property loss are continuously occurring. The implementation of OSHA Process Safety Management (PSM) Standard in pilot plant is expected to further reduce the risks of accidents. This paper presents a new system for managing process chemicals, technology and equipment information in pilot plant and the concept is developed based on Process Safety Information (PSI) element of PSM 29 CFR 1910.119(d). It provides organized strategies to manage documentations, communicate information, and written program for maintaining, revising and updating related information. Process and Instrumentation Diagram (P&ID) is used as a foundation for data management. Implementation of this system at the CO₂ Hydrocarbon Absorption System pilot plant as a case study is examined and discussed.     

Korean experience of process safety management (PSM) regulation for chemical industry

From the 1960s, Korean industries have been encouraged by the government to nurture heavy and chemical industry and to modernize the economics and industrial structures. The development of chemical industry particularly became the turning point in industrial development, and played a major role in the construction of a new industrialized country. However, the process systems in the chemical industry have become more complex and larger, and the inventories of dangerous chemicals that are produced or consumed have continuously increased. Therefore, the hazards from potential accidents such as fire and explosion or release of toxic chemicals have also increased. In fact, from the end of 1980s to the beginning of 1990s in Korea, a number of major industrial accidents such as ABS extruder explosion, TDI release and dryer explosion, etc. Occurred and caused many fatalities. As the chemical companies recognized the importance of preventing major hazards, PSM system, the prevention of major industrial accidents, was introduced in January 1995 by amending Industrial Safety and Health Act, and it has been enforced from January 1, 1996. According to the law, the business owner of a workplace with hazardous or dangerous equipment shall submit a process safety report to the Government to prevent any accidents, which could inflict an immediate damage on workers or on areas in the vicinity of the workplaces. As a result of PSM implementation for 19 years, chemical accident prevention system has been stabilized and various kinds of effectiveness and desirable customer satisfaction have been made.     

Process Safety Management (PSM) for managing contractors in process plant

Accidents involving contractors continue to occur with regular frequency. By using the standard set within the PSM 29 CFR 1910.119(h) regulations, it has been identified that certain aspects of the way contractors do work are not up to the stipulated regulatory requirements especially regarding matters like not providing mandatory personal protective equipment (PPE) to the workers, not discussing hazards related to handling procedures with the workforce and improper control of non-routine activities during changes in shifts. The PSM 29 CFR 1910.119(h) regulations promulgated in 1992 provides standards that covered processes to obtain and evaluate data regarding contractors' health and safety programs as well as the contractors' performance evaluation. Many of the accidents involving contractors are direct result of poor training of contractors and/or poor control of the contracted work. Even though most organizations have their own contractor management systems, there are issues in meeting the requirements of PSM. The PSM standard only state “what to do” not “how to do it”. This is known as self-regulatory policy which depends on the industries understanding to interpret the standard that also contribute to this problem. This paper presents a structured and easy technique to plan and implement a practical and comprehensive contractors' management system in process industries that will comply with OSHA CFR 1910.119. A model has been developed based on this technique and its application has been tested in a pilot plant for compliance to PSM regulation. The model is beneficial to the process industries as any deficiencies in the PSM contractors' management program will be highlighted by the model which will then easily correct the identified deficiency so as to minimize and prevent catastrophic accidents.     

Lessons learned for process safety management in China

A number of chemical accidents have occurred in China over the past two decades with significant impact on humans and the environment. It is expected that lessons will have been learned from these accidents that will help industries to reduce the risk that catastrophic chemical accidents occur in future. In fact, to some extent there is evidence that lessons have been learned, to the extent that the Chinese government has substantially strengthened legislation and regulatory standards. Nonetheless, there remains a concern that much more still needs to be done to reduce chemical accidents risks in China. Important progress in this area requires not only government support but a commitment across all hazardous industries to learn from past accidents that may in many cases require establishment or considerable improvement of their safety management systems. To assist small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), in this effort, results of an analysis of common causes of the chemical accidents reported in the Major Accident Information (MAI) website of Chinese State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) are presented in this paper In particular, inadequate process hazard analysis (PHA), training and emergency response planning (ERP) were identified as the top three process safety management (PSM) elements that contribute to most of the SMEs accidents in China. Seven recommendations are proposed in order to improve the effectiveness of lesson learning for government agencies and SMEs.     

A comparative analysis of process safety management (PSM) systems in the process industry

The root cause of most accidents in the process industry has been attributed to process safety issues ranging from poor safety culture, lack of communication, asset integrity issues, lack of management leadership and human factors. These accidents could have been prevented with adequate implementation of a robust process safety management (PSM) system. Therefore, the aim of this research is to develop a comparative framework which could aid in selecting an appropriate and suitable PSM system for specific industry sectors within the process industry. A total of 21 PSM systems are selected for this study and their theoretical frameworks, industry of application and deficiencies are explored. Next, a comparative framework is developed using eleven key factors that are applicable to the process industry such as framework and room for continuous improvement, design specification, industry adaptability and applicability, human factors, scope of application, usability in complex systems, safety culture, primary or secondary mode of application, regulatory enforcement, competency level, as well as inductive or deductive approach. After conducting the comparative analysis using these factors, the Integrated Process Safety Management System (IPSMS) model seems to be the most robust PSM system as it addressed almost every key area regarding process safety. However, inferences drawn from study findings suggest that there is still no one-size-fits-all PSM system for all sectors of the process industry.     

Reducing unknown risk: The safety engineers’ new horizon

A significant gap exists between accident scenarios as foreseen by company safety management systems and actual scenarios observed in major accidents.The mere fact that this gap exists is pointing at flawed risk assessments, is leaving hazards unmitigated, threatening worker safety, putting the environment at risk and endangering company continuity. This scoping review gathers perspectives reported in scientific literature about how to address these problems.Safety managers and regulators, attempting to reduce and eventually close this gap, not only encounter the pitfalls of poor safety studies, but also the acceptance of ‘unknown risk’ as a phenomenon, companies being numbed by inadequate process safety indicators, unsettled debates between paradigms on improving process safety, and inflexible recording systems in a dynamic industrial environment.The immediacy of the stagnating long term downward major accident rate trend in the Netherlands underlines the need to address these pitfalls. A method to identify and systematically reduce unknown risks is proposed. The main conclusion is that safety management can never be ready with hazard identification and risk assessment.     

煤矿企业安全文化影响因素的实证研究

煤矿企业安全文化以煤矿企业安全观念为核心,安全制度、安全行为与安全物态围绕安全观念相互影响交错融合,研究员工安全需要、安全意识、社会安全价值观、沟通系统、社会安全需要、教育培训系统、安全事故、行业特点、国家安全法规、管理参与、奖惩系统、组织承诺、生产力发展水平、社会经济文化等因素对煤矿企业安全文化系统的关系,结果表明,除员工授权外,其他因素对煤矿企业安全文化系统都有一定的影响,从而提出相应的政策建议。     

Competency requirements for process hazard analysis (PHA) teams

Process hazard analysis (PHA) is a cornerstone of process safety management programs. The quality of the PHA performed directly affects the level of risk tolerated for a process. The lower the quality of a PHA, the more likely higher risk will be tolerated. There are few requirements for PHA team members in the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration's process safety management regulations. More detailed requirements for participation in a PHA are desirable.A competency management program should be used to ensure PHA practitioners and teams are appropriately qualified. Criteria for selecting PHA team leaders, or facilitators, and other team members are key to such a program and are described in this paper. The criteria cover both technical and personal attributes. Application of the criteria is described and team performance metrics, which can be used to correlate performance with the assessment of competency to validate the criteria and methods used, are discussed.Owing to the importance of the role played by team leaders, certification of their competency is desirable. Criteria for certification are described and their application is discussed.     

The effectiveness of process safety management (PSM) regulation for chemical industry in Korea

From the 1960s, Korean industries have been encouraged by the government to nurture heavy and chemical industry and to modernize the economics and industrial structures. The development of chemical industry particularly became the turning point in industrial development, and played a major role in the construction of a new industrialized country. However, the process systems in the chemical industry have become more complex and larger, and the inventories of dangerous chemicals that are produced or consumed have continuously increased. Therefore, the hazards from potential accidents such as fire and explosion or release of toxic chemicals have also increased. In fact, from the end of 1980s to the beginning of 1990s in Korea, a number of major industrial accidents such as ABS extruder explosion, TDI release and dryer explosion, etc. occurred and caused many fatalities. As the chemical companies recognized the importance of preventing major hazards, PSM system, the prevention of major industrial accidents, was introduced in January 1995 by amending Industrial Safety and Health Act, and it has been enforced from January 1, 1996. According to the law, the business owner of a workplace with hazardous or dangerous equipment shall submit a process safety report to the Government to prevent any accidents, which could inflict an immediate damage on workers or on areas in the vicinity of the workplaces. As a result of PSM implementation for 7 years, various kinds of effectiveness have been made. Accident rate including number of fatalities has been decreased, and productivity has been increased as well as product quality.     

Ensuring emergency planning & response meet the minimum Process Safety Management (PSM) standards requirements

When incidents happen and the consequences are not mitigated effectively, one of the indicated failures consists of ineffective emergency planning and response (EPR). EPR is an important aspect of the Process Safety Management (PSM) Standards, and the guidelines are stated in CFR 1910.119 (n) which explains the minimum elements of emergency response and procedures in handling emergency or small releases. Despite its implementation in 1992, CSB finds ineffective EPR system in certain accidents such as the Missouri DPS Enterprise Chlorine Gas Release accident in 2002. DPS EPR failed in planning on location of emergency equipment and accessibility. Many other accidents have occurred throughout the decade and even though organizations have their own EPR system, there are issues in meeting minimum PSM requirements. There also exists the problem of self-regulatory policies practiced by organizations, which might not meet these requirements as well. To help organizations meet these minimum requirements, the purpose of this paper is to present a structured and easy technique to plan and implement EPR as per PSM requirements. A model has been developed based on this technique, and its application has been tested as a case study in a refinery in Malaysia and discussed throughout this report. The results reflected the feasibility of this model as it helped users to track and manage documents efficiently. This technique has the potential to help users to manage EPR better and to reduce adverse impacts to people, environment and assets.     

Have government regulations improved workplace safety? : A test of the asynchronous regulatory effects in China's coal industry, 1995-2006

Problem

Empirical studies on the effectiveness of workplace safety regulations are inconclusive. This study hypothesizes that the asynchronous effects of safety regulations occur because regulations need time to become effective. Safety regulations will work initially by reducing the most serious accidents, and later by improving overall safety performance.

Method

The hypothesis is tested by studying a provincial level aggregate panel dataset for China's coal industry using two different models with different sets of dependent variables: a fixed-effects model on mortality rate, which is defined as fatalities per 1,000 employees; and a negative binominal model on the annual number (frequency) of disastrous accidents.

Results

Safety regulations can reduce the frequency of disastrous accidents, but have not reduced mortality rate, which represents overall safety performance.

Discussion and summary

Policy recommendations are made, including shifting production from small to large mines through industrial consolidation, improving the safety performance of large mines, addressing consequences of decentralization, and facilitating the implementation of regulations through carrying on institutional actions and supporting legislation.

Impact on industry

Until recently, about 4,000 coal miners perished annually in China, demonstrating that workplace safety in China's coal industry is an urgent and important issue. This research provides evidence that safety regulations have asynchronous effects and identifies the priorities in improving safety in China's current coal mining. This may assist the Chinese government to design more effective safety improvement policies and improve the effectiveness of safety regulations and safety performance.     

Limitations of current risk assessment methods to foresee emerging risks: Towards a new methodology?

The objective of this work-in-progress is to investigate the potentialities but also the limitations of traditional risks analysis tools especially in the context of emerging technologies and develop a method facilitating the early detection of scenarios of accidents. This is certainly a challenge particularly for new industrial fields since, in this case, very little or no lesson from past accidents is available. It is believed that such situations cannot be conveniently treated using traditional risk assessment methods (HAZOP, FMEA, …) and typical examples are given. The reason is that those methods rely heavily on past accidents and are therefore “trapped” in them so that they are largely “inductive”. In terms of foreseeing the future, the shortcomings of inductive methods are recalled. The possibility to imagine the future with very little clues is then discussed on the ground of theoretical consideration and a way to do so is proposed (abduction, serendipity). Then on the basis of the observation of how the experts work and how discoveries are made, a potential new methodology is outlined.     

Guidance to improve the effectiveness of process safety management systems in operating facilities

The Process Safety Management (PSM) systems at the operating facilities in the Oil & Gas and in Chemical manufacturing industries have matured over the years and have become, at most facilities, very robust and sophisticated. These programs are administrated by Process Safety (PS) teams at both the corporate business units and plant levels and have been effective in reducing the number and severity of PS events across the industries over the past 25 years or so. Incidents however are occurring at a regular interval and in recent times several noteworthy PS events have occurred in the United States which have brought into question the effectiveness of the PSM programs at play. These facilities have been applying their PSM programs with the expectation that the number and severity of PS events would decrease over time. The expected result has not been realized, especially in context to those facilities that have undergone the recent incidents. Current paper reviews a few publicly available PS performance reports of Oil & Gas and Chemical manufacturing industries. The authors identified a few factors at play that have led to these PS events based on their experience, literature review, and incident investigation reports. Most of the factors are intertwined with multiple PSM elements and it requires a holistic approach to address them. Each of the factors is described and the path forward is proposed to improve the effectiveness of PSM programs.     

Process safety challenges for SMEs in China

While process safety regulations and standards have been in place in western countries for more than two decades, China has only recently started to officially embrace these issues with the adoption of its Process Safety Management (PSM) regulation AQ/T 3034-2010 (SAWS, 2010). However, compliance with this regulatory framework requires substantial resources and may therefore appear too complex to be efficiently implemented by small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the chemical sector. This is of particular relevance as about 99% of chemical companies in China are SMEs, accounting for more than 80% of all chemical accidents. To address this issue, additional local regulations and planning activities related to process safety have been implemented in China, including the establishment of hundreds of chemical industry parks. Some of the process safety problems faced by chemical industry parks are identified and discussed in this paper. To help solve these problems, UNEP's “Responsible Production approach for Chemical Hazards Management along the Value-Chain” is introduced in this paper and suggested as a simplified PSM approach targeted specifically at SMEs which, regardless of handling hazardous chemicals in their daily operations, may not have the knowledge or capacity to efficiently implement PSM and may not fall in the scope of the PSM regulation AQ/T 3034-2010. By introducing PSM to SMEs in a more manageable way, relevant steps can be progressively implemented by companies towards full compliance with the current regulatory framework, contributing to increased safety in chemical industry parks in China.     

Improved management practice and process hazard analysis techniques for minimizing likelihood of process safety incidents in Taiwan

In Taiwan, process safety accidents often occur despite the prior implementation of process hazard analysis (PHA). One of the main reasons for this is the poor quality of the PHA process; with the main hazards not being properly identified, or properly controlled. Accordingly, based on the findings of 86 process safety management (PSM) audits, dozens of post-accident site resumption review meetings, and hundreds of PSM review sessions, this study examines the main deficiencies of management practice and PHA implementation in Taiwan, and presents several recommendations for improved PHA assessment techniques and procedures. The study additionally examines the feasibility for using PSM-related information, such as process safety information and process incident information, as a tool for further enhancing the PHA quality. Overall, the study suggests that, in addition to following the basic rules of PHA and requirements of OSHA (1992),management in Taiwan should also provide training in the enhanced assessment techniques proposed herein and take active steps to incorporate PSM information into the PHA framework in order to improve the general quality of PHA and reduce the likelihood of process safety accidents accordingly.     

炼化企业化学品“一书一签”安全管理探讨

炼化企业发生过多起因不明化学品使用不当而发生的安全事故,事故原因都表明企业在化学品安全技术说明书和安全标签管理上存在薄弱环节。基于国家在一书一签安全管理上相应的制度和标准,分析企业在一书一签安全管理上存在的不规范问题,如版本不符合要求、信息不全、关键数据缺失、传递环节中断、现场无一书一签等,导致一书一签未充分发挥应有的作用。针对上述问题,从一书一签在编制与索取、建档与维护、发放与传递、共享与应用等方面提出管理要求,确保化学品一书一签实现全流程规范管理。     

Building Safety indicators: Part 2 – Application,practices and results

Petroleum exploration and production in the Barents Sea is a controversial topic. The Goliat field outside the northern coast of Norway will be the first offshore oil development in this region, with planned production start in 2013–2014. Avoiding major accidents at Goliat is critical; not only to reduce the risks to human lives and the environment, but also to gain political acceptance. Providing early warnings of major accidents for Goliat is one of the main objectives of the research project ‘Building Safety’. The objective of this paper is to describe the development of early warnings in the form of indicators. In addition, the paper includes an overview of current status of early warnings of accidents in other major hazard industries; the nuclear power industry, the chemical process industry, and aviation. Experiences from these industries, including lessons learned from recent major accidents, have been used as important input to the development of early warning indicators.