Application of domino effect quantitative risk assessment to an extended industrial area

Escalation of primary accidental scenarios triggering a “domino effect” have caused extremely severe accidental events in the chemical and process industry. The identification of possible escalation events is required in the safety assessment of sites where relevant quantities of hazardous substances are stored or handled. In the European Union, “Seveso-II” Directive requires the assessment of on-site and off-site possible escalation scenarios in sites falling under the obligations of the Directive. In the present study, a methodology developed for the quantitative assessment of risk due to domino effect was applied to the analysis of an extended industrial area. Recently developed equipment damage probability models were applied for the identification of the final scenarios and for escalation probability assessment. The domino package of the Aripar-GIS software was used for risk recomposition. The results evidence that quantitative risk assessment of escalation hazard is of fundamental importance in order to identify critical equipment and to address prevention and protection actions.     

The significance of domino effect in chemical accidents

A historical survey was performed on 330 accidents involving domino effect, occurred in process/storage plants and in the transportation of hazardous materials; only accidents occurred after 1st-January-1961 have been considered. The main features – geographical location, type of accident, materials involved, origin and causes, consequences, domino sequences – were analyzed, with special consideration to the situation in the developing countries and compared to those from other previous surveys. Among the involved substances, LPG was the most frequent one, followed by liquid hydrocarbons. Process plants (38.5% of cases) and storage areas (33%) were the most common settings; 10.6% of past domino accidents occurred in transfer operations. The ratio between “two-step” and “three-step” domino accidents was found to be 6. A specific analysis of the accidents (84) occurred in the 21st century was performed, comparing them with the total set of accidents. Finally, a set of specific recommendations inferred from the results is provided.     

化学事故危害后果评估与应急救援的辅助决策系统设计

根据重大城市的化学事故后果评估与应急救援的实际需要出发,提出了研制辅助决策系统任务需求和设计构想,阐述了该系统的系统结构、系统实现的流程和系统功能,并做了可行性分析。系统的模块包括：化学品基础信息模块、化学事故类型划分模块、地理信息系统模块、化学源周围道路交通模块、实时的天气预报模块、数学模型模块、危害后果评估模块、救援方案生成模块、人员疏散撤离方案生成模块、人机交互模块。系统与地理信息系统（G IS）、卫星导航系统（GPS）、遥感成像技术结合后能够实现精确定位、快速评估。将物联网技术与系统结合,还可实现对大型固定化学源远程时时监控,确保在事故发生后第一时间掌握信息,为后果评估和应急救援赢得时间,将化学突发事故的危害降到最低。该系统在信息化条件下,较好地为决策者进行化学事故后果评估,为应急救援决策提供了依据,可大幅度提高应急救援效能。     

Underground parallel pipelines domino effect: An analysis based on pipeline crater models and historical accidents

This paper focuses on the analysis of the possibility of domino effect in underground parallel pipelines relying on historical accident data and pipeline crater models. An underground pipeline can be considered as safe following an accident with an adjacent gas or liquefied pipeline when it remains outside the ground crater generated. In order to prevent the domino effect in these cases, the design of parallel pipelines has to consider adequate pipeline separations based on the crater width, which is one of the widely used methods in engineering applications. The objective of this work is the analysis of underground petroleum product pipelines ruptures with the formation of a ground crater as well as the evaluation of possible domino effects in these cases. A detailed literature survey has been carried out to review existing crater models along with a historical analysis of past accidents. A FORTRAN code has been implemented to assess the performance of the Gasunie, the Batelle and the Advantica crater models. In addition to this, a novel Accident-Based crater model has been presented, which allows the prediction of the crater width as a function of the relevant design pipeline parameters as well as the soil density. Modifications have also been made to the Batelle and Accident-Based models in order to overcome the underestimation of the crater width. The calculated crater widths have been compared with real accident data and the performance evaluation showed that the proposed Accident-Based model has a better performance compared to other models studied in this work. The analysis of forty-eight past accidents indicated a major potential of underground parallel pipelines domino effect which is proven by two real cases taken from the literature. Relying on the investigated accidents, the crater width was smaller than or equal to 20 m in most cases indicating that the definition of underground pipeline separations at around 10 m would be sufficient to ensure a small probability of the domino effect.     

Threshold values for domino effects caused by blast wave interaction with process equipment

The present study focuses on the definition and assessment of overpressure threshold values for the damage to equipment caused by blast waves originated by primary accidental scenarios. A revision of literature data and of the available damage probability models was carried out. Threshold values were proposed for different categories of process equipment, taking into account either damage levels or release intensities following the loss of containment. Specific threshold values for domino effect were also proposed.     

Modelling accidental releases of dangerous gases into the lower troposphere from mobile sources

The article reports the results of different methods of modelling releases and dispersion of dangerous gases or vapours in cases of major accidents from road and rail transportation in urban zones. Transport accidents of dangerous substances are increasingly frequent and can cause serious injuries in densely inhabited areas or pollution of the environment. For quantitative risk assessment and mitigation planning, consequence modelling is necessary.

The modelling of dangerous substance dispersion by standard methods does not fully represent the behaviour of toxic or flammable clouds in obstructed areas such as street canyons. Therefore the predictions from common software packages as ALOHA, EFFECTS, TerEx should be augmented with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models or physical modelling in aerodynamic tunnels, and further studies are planned to do this.

The goal of this article is to present the results of the first approach of modelling using these standard methods and to demonstrate the importance of the next development stage in the area of transport accident modelling of releases and dispersions of dangerous substances in urban zones in cases of major accident or terrorist attacks.     

Overcoming the blame game to learn from major accidents: A systemic analysis of an Anhydrous Ammonia leakage accident

This article aims to demonstrate the need for changing the methods with which accidents are analyzed, if we truly wish to use what we uncover from them to learn and enrich our knowledge base of organizational management. The goal is to relinquish the broadly adopted and rather simplistic paradigm that accepts the search for human error and unsafe acts performed by workers, and produces “guilt diagnostics”. Instead, we use a systemic accident analysis methodology, based on the sociotechnical principle of understanding the real operating conditions in which accidents take place. In order to demonstrate the benefits of the theoretical framework, we compare the analyses of an Anhydrous Ammonia gas leakage accident in a fish processing plant using the traditional accident analysis model based on unsafe acts and the proposed systemic approach. The results favor the latter since it tends to be more reliable and offering useful recommendations to safety management processes, thus helping to prevent accidents, especially in complex systems.     

城市重大事故应急演习方法研究---演习目标及其评价准则

应急演习是城市开展重大事故应急准备过程的主要任务之一,应急演习目标是检查演习效果,评价应急组织、人员应急准备状态和能力的指标.本文介绍了可供选择的十八项演习目标和各项目标的评价准则,同时介绍了分组选择演习目标的方法.     

GIS在化工园区事故应急救援辅助决策中的应用

采用GIS平台与应急决策支持技术相结合,以园区高危工艺和重大危险源作为分析对象,开发化工园区安全管理系统中的应急救援辅助决策模块,针对园区内高危工艺或重大危险源事故后果预测与事故应急救援管理的科学性和有效性,扩展为对整个化工园区的事故风险管理与事故应急救援辅助决策支持。运用该模块可实现园区内突发事故后果预测、最优救援和疏散路径规划、应急辅助决策方案生成,有效提高化工园区事故救援的科学性和效率,减少人员伤亡和财产损失,提高化工园区安全管理水平。     

基于风险的化工园区布局优化决策支持系统

为加强化工园区风险辨识和布局优化,主要研究化工园区布局优化决策支持系统.在分析该系统主要功能的基础上,介绍基于风险的化工园区布局优化决策支持系统的理论模型:对化工园区重大危险源事故预测建模,包括重大危险源事故发生概率预测和事故后果预测;从个人风险、社会风险和财产风险3个模型评价化工园区区域动态风险,依据这3种风险值,计算区域综合风险;分别就功能区布局、消防布局和交通布局,对化工园区提出动态布局优化方法和建议措施.通过理论模型建立决策系统软件,结合实证分析,证明该决策支持系统的合理性.