A novel methodology for evaluating the change of existing operational staffing levels (MCSL) in the chemical industry

Operational manning levels in the chemical industry not reflecting real circumstances and/or not taking into account various possible accident scenarios can be financially adversarial and can even lead to (minor and major) accidents. This paper provides a methodology to assist chemical companies in analyzing changes of their existing operational staffing levels. The method can be implemented within the entire organization or within a part thereof (i.e., a business unit or an installation). The method has been applied in a major chemical company in Belgium. The Belgian case illustrates the user-friendliness of the suggested manning level risk analysis method.     

Preparing for major terrorist attacks against chemical clusters: Intelligently planning protection measures w.r.t. domino effects

Chemical industrial areas or so-called chemical clusters consist of hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of chemical installations situated next to each other. Such areas can thus be seen as the summation of a large number of structures exhibiting danger to a certain degree for initiating or continuing accident domino effects or knock-on effects. In this article, an approach to investigate in a systemic way the vulnerability of each installation within the larger chemical cluster context, is developed. Our suggested method results in a prioritization of chemical installations with respect to their vulnerability for domino effects. The method can be used for intelligently designed protection of chemical industrial areas against terrorist attacks.     

Contribution of a systemic modeling approach applied to support risk analysis of a storage unit of chemical products in Morocco

This paper proposes a new systemic modeling approach using the unified modeling language (UML) as an operational tool to model a complex industrial system and analyzes its risks. This approach is presented as a modeling process divided into three phases corresponding to functional analysis, structural analysis and risk analysis. This study aims to formalize the interactions within an industrial system and to identify the abnormal situations which could generate risks. The application of this approach is demonstrated with an example of a storage unit of chemical products located in Morocco. This approach provides a comprehensive view that facilitates the understanding of the organization of an industrial system and leads to more effective analysis of its safety.     

Planning for resilient collaboration at a new petroleum installation – A case study of a coaching approach

The current paper reports the case study of a coaching process assisting an oil company in exploring how to establish a potential for resilient collaboration. When a new petroleum installation is being prepared for operation, a range of decisions is made that impacts the possibility for achieving resilient collaboration, i.e., collaboration that is sufficiently robust and flexible to work efficiently and safely across the various operational states that may arise, within the organization. It is, thus, of key importance that issues related to resilient collaboration – what collaboration should be like and how to achieve the desired way of collaborating – are addressed from an early point in the preparatory phase, to increase the likelihood that e.g., the work processes, tools and technologies, established jointly will come to promote the resilient collaboration. The purpose of the present study was to assess whether a coaching approach called, Coaching for Resilient Collaboration in IO (CORECIO), would be able to promote reflections about what resilient collaboration should imply in a planned organization, and help achieve alignment about this, in the early part of the preparatory process. Eight employees involved in preparing for operation of the new petroleum installation participated in the study, which involved the conduction of five workshops. The paper addresses strengths and limitations of CORECIO, and suggests how coaching might constitute a useful approach for assisting highly skilled professionals in preparing for resilient collaboration at a new petroleum installation in the early, conceptual, part of a design phase.     

Optimizing and balancing operational manning levels and SHEQ within chemical companies

Many chemical organizations are struggling with efficiently optimizing their operational manning levels due to a lack of management insights in the subject. However, manning levels not reflecting real circumstances and not taking into account various possible accident scenarios can be financially adversarial and can even lead to (minor and major) accidents. This paper suggests a performance-based methodology to assist chemical plants in their efforts to systematically improve operational manning levels. By integrating manning level standards with the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle of continuous improvement and providing a generic action plan for any organization to elaborate an efficient means of improving manning level performance, operational manning levels can be advanced without having to undergo a costly and inefficient trial-and-error phase.     

A case study on the influence of a magnetic shielding retrofit on the static magnetic field present in a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) suite

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to assess whether the practice of retro-fitting passive magnetic shielding to Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) suites is effective in retaining the 0.5 mT footprint of the static magnetic field to within its designed position.MethodologyThe research methodology involved identification of an MRI installation where passive magnetic shielding was to be fitted to an installation already in operational use. Site based physical measurements of the magnetic flux density of the static field were then taken both ante and post installation of the shielding, so as to be able to determine its effectiveness.FindingsThe results identified areas in the retrofitted magnetic shielding where, as a result of its design, hot spots in excess of 0.5 mT occurred.Practical implicationsThis research highlights design, construction and safety issues that the designer could, if he had this prior knowledge, have eliminated at source.ValueAt the planning stage of a new MRI suite, designers could use the information contained in this research as part of their design risk management process. This research serves to demonstrate the importance of eliminating any possible future need to install retrofitted passive magnetic shielding to an original MRI suite design. It also shows the need for designers to identify the location of any hot spots in the shielding installation where the magnetic flux density may exceed 0.5 mT and become a potential hazard to those individuals fitted with heart pacemakers or other electronic body implants.     

Diagnosis of safety culture in safety management audits

Based on the sociotechnical systems approach, an understanding of safety culture as deeply rooted assumptions about the interplay of people, technology, and organization in their relation to safety is presented. As a complement to audit methods aimed at assessing formal safety management, a questionnaire was developed which allows some indications of these assumptions to be captured by providing data on perceptions regarding operational safety, safety and design strategies, and personal job needs. Analyzing response patterns of different occupational, hierarchical, and organizational groups within a company in combination with formal audit results and the communicative validation of both in a feedback meeting can help the auditors as well as the members of the company to gain a deeper understanding of safety management and safety culture in that company. Results from seven audits in petrochemical plants are presented and discussed with respect to the validity and practicability of the chosen approach.     

Safety management systems under Seveso II: Implementation and assessment

The `Seveso II Directive' (96/82/EC) requires certain establishments holding hazardous substances to implement a Safety Management System (SMS). The first part of the paper discusses the origin of this requirement, the guidance drawn up to help companies fulfil it, and the results of preliminary testing of this guidance. One important element in implementing and inspecting SMS is the identification of SMS weaknesses, the safety culture that effects SMS and finally the evaluation of safety performance. The second part of this paper examines some principles underlying industrial practice in evaluating SMS. Audit-related activities, involving proactive performance indicators for monitoring compliance with standards, are used nowadays to identify weaknesses of the SMS. Preventive actions to control risks and policy updating within the company through strategic plans are found to be sensitive to the number and type of SMS elements taken into account as indicators. The value of quantifying performance using simple rating systems in audits may be limited to the single installation. The guidelines and evaluation methods could thus produce useful results only when safety aspects and system elements are identified and evaluated separately for each installation; the value of quantification is limited to the individual elements after considering their functional relation with the rest of the elements in the SMS environment and the local safety culture into which they are developed.     

在役化工装置安全评价模式的研究

根据在役装置安全评价的两类目的,分析现有在役化工装置安全评价模式中存在的不足;提出在役化工装置安全评价的一个新思路和新模式;给出了基于新模式的安全评价程序,并对该评价程序各个步骤及采用的评价方法组合进行了较为详细的讨论,其关键是建立评价指标体系。该评价模式既能查找出装置中存在的具体安全隐患,也能给出装置总的安全评价结论。同时指出,安全评价指标体系的建立和完善应成为安全管理的一项标准化、基础性工作。该评价模式的思路不仅适用于在役化工装置的安全评价,也适用于其他系统安全现状评价,是对进一步完善当前安全现状评价工作的一个有益尝试。     

On Evaluation and Localization of Auditory Warning Devices for Adequate Audibility

This paper presents an analytic procedure to assist safety practitioners in evaluating the audibility of an existing auditory warning system in their workplaces. Two alarm location models are described: (a) a model with an unknown signal sound level, and (b) a model with a known signal sound level. A heuristic algorithm to determine a minimum number of alarm devices and their locations so that the warning signals can be clearly heard by workers is also proposed. The algorithm considers the ambient noise level, noise levels generated by individual machines, locations where workers are likely to be present, and noise levels at worker locations. From the numerical examples and the computation experiment, both the optimization and heuristic approaches yield solutions that satisfy the 15-dBA constraints. The heuristic approach is efficient in solving large alarm location problems due its capability to find near-optimal solutions within reasonable computation time.     

Chemical plant innovative safety investments decision-support methodology

Introduction

This article examines the extent to which investing in safety during the creation of a new chemical installation proves profitable.

Method

The authors propose a management supporting cost-benefit model that identifies and evaluates investments in safety within a chemical company. This innovative model differentiates between serious accidents and less serious accidents, thus providing an authentic image of prevention-related costs and benefits. In classic cost-benefit analyses, which do not make such differentiations, only a rudimentary image of potential profitability resulting from investments in safety is obtained.

Results

The resulting management conclusions that can be drawn from such classical analyses are of a very limited nature. The proposed model, however, is applied to a real case study and the proposed investments in safety at an appointed chemical installation are weighed against the estimated hypothetical benefits resulting from the preventive measures to be installed at the installation.

Conclusion

In the case-study carried out in question, it would appear that the proposed prevention investments are justified.

Impact on industry

Such an economic exercise may be very important to chemical corporations trying to (further) improve their safety investments.     

安全文化的平衡计分卡绩效评价方法

对安全文化的科学评价有助于准确预测安全走势,有助于安全生产的针对性管理和安全文化自身的建设,能促进安全管理水平的提高。平衡计分卡是有效的绩效评价和战略管理工具,能够兼顾长期目标与短期目标、财务目标与非财务目标、企业内部目标与外部目标、员工个人目标与企业团队目标之间的协调和平衡。通过对平衡计分卡维度的设定和指标的选择,建立安全文化的平衡计分卡评价模型,给出权数确定、指标分值确定、指标标准化、分值计算的方法。在煤矿应用后,能真实反映煤矿企业安全文化的运行情况,是一个综合的安全文化绩效考核和评价工具。     

The oil and gas industry,the Offshore Installation Manager (OIM) and the management of emergencies - Changes necessary to achieve effective competence assessment of OIMs in controlling emergencies

Within the UK offshore oil and gas industry all installations require to be under the charge of a ‘competent’ installation manager in accordance with the Offshore Installations and Pipeline Works (Management and Administration) Regulations (MAR) 1995. The Offshore Installation Manager (OIM) is responsible for the safety of all persons onboard and within 500 m of an installation. Should an incident arise, the OIM performs one of the most critical roles within the offshore industry - management of the response to the emergency to mitigate and make safe the installation to secure a place of safety for persons onboard or organise their safe evacuation. The emergency response also includes limiting the loss of hydrocarbons to the environment.Research at the University of Aberdeen has identified 8 potential barriers to the effective competence assessment of OIMs in controlling emergencies. These underlying barriers are a consequence of current UK legislation and industry practices in the assessment of OIM competence and result from:

• •multiple definitions of competence,
• •competence assessment predominantly by observation,
• •lack of specific and unambiguous competence requirements for trainers and assessors,
• •complexity in UK legislation and complicated interpretation of terms,
• •lack of statutory competence requirements for OIMs in controlling emergencies,
• •lack of ownership of OIM competence and competence assessment,
• •complex interactions across multiple UK Government departments, and
• •lack of regulation and independent audit of the competence assessment process of OIMs in controlling emergencies.

The potential barriers were identified by qualitative analysis of key documentation, including legislation, using a critical hermeneutic approach. Hermeneutics has historically been used to analyse texts within the domains of theology, business and law. It arguably, however, represents a powerful approach to the study of documents within the engineering domain and the offshore oil and gas industry.This paper discusses the identified potential barriers, research conclusions and recommendations and represents the culmination of three years of doctoral research investigating the competence assessment of OIMs in controlling emergencies within the offshore oil and gas industry. The research, in particular, is relevant to Duty Holders within the offshore industry, safety engineers and UK Government departments.     

Exploring work unit context and leader–member exchange: a multi‐level perspective

Leader–member exchange relationships have rarely been explored within the context of the work unit. Employing a sample of 285 employees of a southeastern county library system, the work unit contextual factors of work group size, work group cohesiveness, organizational climate, and leader power were examined for their relationship with LMX from the subordinate's perspective, using a within and between analysis (WABA) approach. All of the contextual variables except size were significantly related to LMX. The WABA and r_WG analyses revealed that effects occurred at both within‐ and between‐group levels, indicating individual difference effects. Thus, practitioners should emphasize enhancements to group and organizational processes as well as contributions toward relationship building in LMX dyads. Future research should expand the network of contextual variables that may have potential relevance with LMX, since this study demonstrated that the work context in which the dyad resides contributes in part to the LMX phenomenon. Additional study of the work unit size and LMX relationship is also warranted, as the current research failed to replicate previous research with a predicted negative relationship. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Use of safety barriers in operational safety decision making

Operational personnel in complex hazardous industries are regularly called upon to make decisions that balance the production and safety objectives of their organisation. Regulations and industry standards focus on defining and complying with operating limits of various kinds as the primary method of achieving the right balance. Such limits remove the need in many cases for in-the-moment judgements about safety and production priorities.Focussing solely on the compliance with a pre-defined envelope underestimates the direct contribution to safety from operational managers based on their professional judgement. Research in a chemical plant, a nuclear power station and an air navigation service provider has identified a “line in the sand” approach taken by experienced operating personnel when abnormal situations arise. In developing these situation-specific self-imposed limits, operational managers focus on the status of safety barriers, rather than considering risk from first principles. This approach could form the basis of a new procedure, which lays out the process to be followed in determining how best to proceed (similar to job safety analysis or permit to work). This would acknowledge that such decisions are necessary, assist operational personnel in making better choices and open such decisions to appropriate audit and scrutiny.     

Human and organisational factors in the operational phase of safety instrumented systems: A new approach

The international standards IEC 61508 and IEC 61511, which provide a general framework for the design and implementation of safety instrumented systems, require quantification of the achieved risk reduction, expressed as a safety integrity level (SIL). Human and organisational factors affect the performance of safety instrumented systems during operation and may threaten the achieved SIL, but this is usually not explicitly accounted for. This article presents a new approach to address human and organisational factors in the operational phase of safety instrumented systems. This approach gives a prediction of the operational SIL and can also be used to improve safety. It shows which human and organisational factors are most in need of improvement and it provides guidance for preventive or corrective action. Finally, the approach can be used as part of a SIL monitoring strategy in order to maintain the achieved SIL at the required level during the operational phase.     

I-Risk: development of an integrated technical and management risk methodology for chemical installations

This paper presents an integrated quantitative risk assessment method for hazardous installations, taking into account management as well as technical design and producing risk level measures. The key components of the I-Risk methodology are the technical model, the management model and their interface. The technical model consists of developing a master logic diagram (MLD) delineating the major immediate causes of loss of containment (LOC) and associated quantitative models for assessing their frequency. The management model consists of the tasks, which must be carried out systematically in the primary business functions (such as operations, emergency operations, maintenance and modifications). A management audit quantifies the quality of these management tasks. The management–technical interface modifies certain parameters of the technical model on the basis of the quality of the safety management system of the specific installation. The methodology is exemplified through its application to the risk assessment of an ammonia storage facility. A detailed technical model simulating the response of the system to various initiating events is developed along with a detailed management model simulating the influence of the plant-specific management and organisational practices. The overall effect is quantified through the frequency of release of ammonia as a result of a loss of containment in a storage tank and in a pipeline.     

基于HAZOP分析的加氢装置工程设计方法

加氢装置属甲类火灾、爆炸危险生产装置。为了在设计阶段尽可能消除或控制潜在风险,本文总结了多套加氢装置HAZOP分析报告中的设备类别及其分析内容,提出了基于危险与可操作性(HAZOP)分析的加氢装置工程设计方法。在传统工程设计方法的基础上增加了参数敏感性工程设计方法,依据分析报告中的设计建议,利用ASPEN软件计算过程参数变化对目标参数的影响程度,确定参数稳定操作区域;建立了数据库管理界面实现了加氢装置工程安全设计经验知识的有序管理。应用基于HAZOP分析的加氢装置工程设计方法,有助于将安全隐患问题在设计阶段消除或加以控制,可为降低石化装置改造成本和提高装置的安全水平提供方法依据。     

Assessment of the Pulmonary Toxicity of Inhaled Gases and Particles With Physicochemical Methods

Abstract

Physicochemical techniques used for evaluating the pulmonary surfactant (PS) quality are discussed as methods useful in assessing toxicity of inhaled gases and particles. Two standard devices, Langmuir-Wilhelmy film balance and pulsating bubble apparatus, are presented in detail, and the measured results of interaction between sulfuric acid and 2 models of PS material are analyzed. The evident decrease in surface activity of the pulmonary surfactant after its contact with the acid at concentrations approaching 0.001 M may be considered as an indicator of the adverse effect, which can result in several health problems. The presented approach can be used as a method of assessing pulmonary toxicity of any substances present in the breathing air.     

基于环境参数监测评估的丙烯腈装置安全预警技术研究

以丙烯腈生产装置为研究对象,调查分析其存在的主要危险因素以及工艺特性,依据偏差分析原理建立了丙烯腈装置的异常处置原则与标准,设计了具有环境质量浓度监测评估和过程参数偏差预警分析的双重监控预警平台。该平台通过建立的OPC通讯技术,实时获得现场环境质量浓度及关键参数的信息,进行泄漏扩散事故的早期预警和早期干预处置,并通过对监测数据的综合动态分析预测危险气体环境质量浓度的变化趋势以及可能对周边带来的危害。