Global process industry initiatives to reduce major accident hazards

In the past 10 years, the vapor cloud explosion at Texas City, the ammonium nitrate explosion in Toulouse, a pipeline disaster in Belgium, and three near total loss events in Norway have highlighted that major accident process safety is still a serious issue. Hopes that PSM or Safety Case regulations would reduce process events by 80% have not proven true. The Baker Panel, convened after Texas City developed a series of recommendations, mainly around leadership, incentives, safety culture and more effective implementation of PSM systems. Many US-based companies are working hard to implement the Baker recommendations. In Europe, an approach built around safety barriers, especially relating to technical safety systems, is being widely adopted.The author’s company has carried out a global survey of process industry initiatives, for both upstream and downstream activities, to identify what the industry itself is planning to enhance process safety in the next 5-10 years. This paper presents a summary of some of the major programs and initiatives as apply to traditional oil majors, newer national oil companies, and the chemical industry. These are a mixture of Baker recommendations, barrier approaches and tighter integration of process safety and asset integrity. While the factor of 10 improvement achieved in occupational safety over the past 20 years seems unattainable for process safety, a factor of 3-4 improvement in the next 20 years does seem possible. This would call for significant effort on the part of operators, but the benefits fully justify the effort.     

Quantitative risk assessment: How realistic are those frequency assumptions?

Although much has changed in recent decades in how the consequences are treated in risk assessment of major industrial accidents, estimation of frequencies still appears to be largely based on values from several decades ago. This paper reviews briefly some of the implications of this, drawing on lessons not only from the process industries but also from other not so obviously relevant fields such as aerospace and finance, where the significance of such factors such as organizational culture, normalization of deviance, ownership, demographic change, etc. is becoming increasingly recognized in the analysis and hence the control of risk.Failure to consider such factors and their effects can pose a problem, because risk assessment is not simply an abstract concept but can have a real influence on the level of risk. If protective measures such as the safety culture of the site, etc. can be shown to significantly change the risk zone, this can persuade the risk generator to improve those factors or take other steps to reduce the risk such as reducing the inventory in the process. Conversely, assessments conducted for well-run companies may misrepresent the risk if the site ownership changes to a financial holding company with a focus on maximizing short-term profit and resale of the assets, and it can be difficult even for well-motivated management to justify protective measures if they produce no apparent difference in the risk.This paper introduces these and other issues for consideration in the symposium which follows.     

安全文化分析及其发展

安全文化通常用于描述如何在工作场所对安全进行管理,通常表现为员工对安全的态度、信任、观念、和价值标准等。通过分析事故原因,证实在诸如工艺、设备等一系列硬件条件对安全生产起决定性作用的因素之外,安全文化作为安全生产的重要组成部分,在安全生产过程中起决定性作用。这一认知在切尔诺贝利核电站事故等一系列国内外的安全生产事故的回顾和调查中逐渐清晰并为人所接受。通过安全文化概念的发展,对比各种安全文化定义的阐释,分析安全文化所包含的特征要素,论述安全文化的重要性并展示其复杂性。在分析安全文化评价方法的基础上对安全文化评价方法融入安全评价的可能做出展望,为进一步的安全文化评价研究提供参考。     

Influence of new generic frequencies on the QRA calculations for land use planning purposes in Walloon region (Belgium)

In Europe, the article 12 of the “Seveso” Directive focuses on land use planning (LUP) around major hazard plants and imposes to keep a sufficient distance between a major hazard plant and populated areas. In Belgium, the LUP is treated at the regional level. The regional authority defines the policy and manages the LUP according to the quantified risk. The quantified external risk, around each Seveso company in the Walloon Region, is assessed by a unique technical expert, the Faculté Polytechnique de Mons, by means of a full probabilistic approach (QRA). This QRA methodology uses accident generic frequencies published by the Flemish Region (Aminal, 2004). In 2009-2010, the quantification of the external risk of the 90 walloon Seveso plants will be completed, based on this set of generic frequencies. However, the Flemish Region recently published a new set of generic frequencies (LNE, 2009), which, in some cases, are quite different of the previous ones for some equipment. This paper discusses the influence of the new frequency data on the quantified risk. An overview of the changes induced by the new set of data will be presented, as well as their impact on the already defined "consultation zones" in which decisions are made concerning the compatibility of the land use and the intensity of risk.     

Optimization of recertification intervals for PSV based on major accident risk

Overpressure is a major hazard in the process industry with the potential to lead to a major accident. Pressure Safety Valves (PSVs) are often used as the last layer of protection against such a hazard and require regular recertification in order to be dependable. The valve safely vents gas from a vessel when the pressure becomes excessive. It is often the practice in industry to apply one or two years as the normal recertification interval of PSV. However, experience from the Norwegian oil and gas industry is that the recertification process several times have caused leaks of gas. The process thus represents a certain risk in itself and the question is then whether the recertification intervals presently being used actually are optimal from a risk point of view? The objective of this paper is to look into this problem, applying typical data from an oil and gas installation. An optimal recertification interval will be calculated based on minimization of risk to personnel.     

安全评价工作若干问题探讨

指出目前安全评价中范围确定、评价单元划分、评价方法选用、对策建议制定、重大危险源辨识工作容易出现的问题及误区,对相关问题产生的原因及带来的影响进行分析与探讨,阐明范围确定、评价单元划分、评价方法选用、对策建议制定、重大危险源辨识工作相关原则与方法,可以避免安全评价工作中出现重大失误,影响安全评价工作的客观性与质量,以期共同提高安全评价工作的质量.     

Bhopal and its effects on the Canadian regulatory framework

Instead of legislating after the Bhopal accident, Canada choose to innovate by adopting a consultative approach. In 1987, Environment Canada set up the Major Industrial Accidents Council of Canada (MIACC), a non profit organization financed by the federal and provincial governments and industry.

MIACC was a process rather than a structure. Governments, industries, responders, trade unions, NGOs, etc. have shared their expertise. It has worked as a partnership for the development of standards, guidance documents, etc. in prevention, preparedness, response and recovery.

MIACC ceased to exist in 1999. Although, MIACC disappearance is unfortunate, it is not dramatic. A culture of partnership, of working together towards common objectives, is now well in place and influences the development of regulations.

Natural disasters and the 911 terrorist attack on New York triggered the publication of regulations.

The legislative process started in 2001 with the Province of Quebec adopting a new Civil Protection Act for the protection of persons and property against disasters.

Year 2003 saw major developments in the regulation of emergencies—changes that are likely to have significant influences on how companies operate in Canada. Surprisingly, however, these changes have received little attention in the media, and many companies may not be aware of their implications.

This paper will review these developments, and will examine what has already taken place. Topics include:

• The federal regulation of environmental emergencies under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act;

• Extension of the Criminal Code of Canada to allow criminal charges and possibly heavy penalties for senior officials and corporations, including an explicit legal duty to protect workers from harm;

• Quebec Civil Protection Act designed to identify and manage risks;

• Ontario‘s stepwise regulation of municipal emergency preparedness with the intended goal of NFPA 1600 compliance by 2007, and the implications for the process industries;

• Potential regulation at the municipal level.

人的不安全行为对高危行业从业人员安全评价的影响研究

从危险源、事故隐患的理念出发,定义安全工程中\"不安全人\"的概念;提出了某些从业人员由于生理心理上的影响,因而有其不可控制性;存在着不可控制的隐患,需要进行基于定量方法的测量、辨识和评估.在现代安全工程需要安全评价的基础上,建立一套全新的针对高危行业从业人员的安全评价方法,是对目前的安全评价的有益补充.     

重大危险源普查与建立重大事故预防控制体系

本简要介绍了重大危险源普查技术方法和北京、上海等6城市重大危险源普查结果。论述了重大事故预防控制体系要素,包括重大危险源普查(辨识)、评价、安全管理、应急计划、安全规划、安全监察,GIS网络监控系统等。     

基于神经网络的重大危险源分级研究

利用人工种经网络系统理论，对重大危险源进行分级研究，介绍了危险源分级网络系统的结构、学习过程和分级方法，并在计算机上进行网络实现与模拟。实例结果表明，利用神经网络方法对重大危险源进行分级是合理可行的，具有一定的实用价值。     

The successes and challenges of implementing high reliability principles: A case study of a UK oil refinery

Research conducted on organisations that are able to sustain excellent safety records over long time periods suggests that there are a number of practices that organisations can adopt to achieve high levels of reliability and safety. These practices are often discussed in the context of major incidents to highlight the safety standards that high hazard organisations should try to emulate. However, previous research has predominantly focused on non-profit organisations, and comparatively little research has examined whether high reliability practices may be meaningfully applied to commercial contexts. This paper addresses this gap by using a qualitative approach to explore the types of reliability-enhancing practices implemented in a UK-based oil refinery in its attempt to achieve its ethos of ‘safe and reliable operations’. The findings illustrate the successful application of reliability-enhancing practices in several domains, including: hazard identification and control; emergency preparedness and collection; and analysis of incidents and near misses. Management commitment to safety emerged as an important factor underpinning the successful implementation of reliability-enhancing practices, highlighting its potential significance in the context of commercial organisations. However, promoting an open reporting culture and maintaining high levels of management visibility may be some of the challenges encountered by organisations striving to implement reliability-enhancing practices.     

A risk-based approach to design warning system for processing facilities

Alarm flooding is a major safety issue in today's processing facilities. Important recommendations are available for alarm management; however, they are often violated in practice, especially in the alarm systems implemented through the distributed control system. An effective process alarm prioritization and management system is desired for a safe and effective operation of a process facility.In present work, authors address two main issues related to an alarm system – the reliability and the prioritization of the alarms. The main objective is to deal with the alarm-flooding problem in process facilities. A multi alert voting system based on sensor redundancy approach is proposed to improve the reliability. A quantitative risk-based alarm management approach is proposed to address the flooding issue. In the risk-based approach, an integrated model consisting of the probability (P), the impact (I) of the potential hazards, and the process safety time is proposed to prioritize these raised alarms.The proposed approach is further explained by a reactor system with pressure and temperature variable monitoring and controls, where the hazards associated with two alerts caused by over high pressure and over high temperature are analyzed and integrated with response time for alarms generation and prioritization.     

企业安全文化评估与企业安全行为的质化研究

通过总结国内外各种不同的安全文化概念,归纳分析了国内外较为流行的近10种安全文化建立模式.在研讨文献的基础上,通过深入访谈、焦点小组与参与观察,归纳构造了一套共11个维度,总题项为152题的安全文化评估量表.通过对选定企业的实证问卷调查,进行统计分析,采用多元逐步回归分析等方法对安全文化各评核因素及整体安全文化进行预测,并以百分数呈现其整体的安全文化现状水平.通过基于扎根理论的各种质化研究方法,对案例企业的安全文化建设和企业安全行为进行研究,得到了7点关于企业安全行为的研究发现,并提出了相应的改进建议.     

企业安全性评价模糊数学方法研究

根据船舶行业的特点。建立安全指标体系，并应用改进式层次分析法对各指标权重处理。运用模糊评判模型。用三角形隶属函数确定隶属度，对企业现状进行安全评价。     

航空安全文化运行模式研究

依据安全文化基本原理,对航空安全文化模式进行系统化设计.将安全精神文化、制度文化、行为文化和物态文化4个子系统置于安全文化模式的大系统中,综合分析各子系统之间的互动关系及其对管理模式变革的影响.结合航空安全管理的特点,设计安全文化运行机制的结构框架.通过分析安全文化模式的运行过程和运行功能模块,实现航空安全文化模式的动态管理,使零散的安全文化模式得以系统化.航空安全文化模式的构建为航空运输企业建立了一个程序化、系统化、动态循环的管理过程,并以持续改进的思想指导企业系统地实现其安全目标.