Focus on mission success: Process safety for the Atychiphobist

Modern process plants are complex engineering systems. While thorough reviews of system safeguards are performed, catastrophic events continue to occur, often unfolding in unforeseen ways. Success in process safety demands safe processes, and understanding rare, high consequence events is central to the traditional process safety approach. This philosophy is common to all high-hazard industries, offering the potential for sharing approaches, experience, and lessons learned. The problem, however, is that people (and organizations and entire industries) who fear failure (atychiphobia) sometimes obsess about failure so much that they miss opportunities to succeed.This paper examines selected risk management practices in the power generation and aerospace industries and how those practices have led to improved performance. Risk informed decision making (RIDM) has had widespread application in the nuclear and aerospace industries, and is undergoing enhancements to become a key framework for risk management. Additionally, rather than focusing on avoidance of loss, there are emerging approaches supporting achievement of success. This approach provides a more direct link of risk to business and operational objectives, but does challenge conventional risk approaches founded in a loss prevention-centric view. The paper reflects upon risk informed decision making and success modeling, and suggests how these methods may be applied in the field of process safety. Specific examples are drawn from the defense in depth approach from the nuclear power industry and mission success concepts developed for NASA.     

Strontium isotope study of coal utilization by-products interacting with environmental waters

Sequential leaching experiments on coal utilization by-products (CUB) were coupled with chemical and strontium (Sr) isotopic analyses to better understand the influence of coal type and combustion processes on CUB properties and the release of elements during interaction with environmental waters during disposal. Class C fly ash tended to release the highest quantity of minor and trace elements-including alkaline earth elements, sodium, chromium, copper, manganese, lead, titanium, and zinc-during sequential extraction, with bottom ash yielding the lowest. Strontium isotope ratios ((87)Sr/(86)Sr) in bulk-CUB samples (total dissolution of CUB) are generally higher in class F ash than in class C ash. Bulk-CUB ratios appear to be controlled by the geologic source of the mineral matter in the feed coal, and by Sr added during desulfurization treatments. Leachates of the CUB generally have Sr isotope ratios that are different than the bulk value, demonstrating that Sr was not isotopically homogenized during combustion. Variations in the Sr isotopic composition of CUB leachates were correlated with mobility of several major and trace elements; the data suggest that arsenic and lead are held in phases that contain the more radiogenic (high-(87)Sr/(86)Sr) component. A changing Sr isotope ratio of CUB-interacting waters in a disposal environment could forecast the release of certain strongly bound elements of environmental concern. This study lays the groundwork for the application of Sr isotopes as an environmental tracer for CUB-water interaction.     

Soil criteria to protect terrestrial wildlife and open-range livestock from metal toxicity at mining sites

Thousands of hard rock mines exist in the western USA and in other parts of the world as a result of historic and current gold, silver, lead, and mercury mining. Many of these sites in the USA are on public lands. Typical mine waste associated with these sites are tailings and waste rock dumps that may be used by wildlife and open-range livestock. This report provides wildlife screening criteria levels for metals in soil and mine waste to evaluate risk and to determine the need for site-specific risk assessment, remediation, or a change in management practices. The screening levels are calculated from toxicity reference values based on maximum tolerable levels of metals in feed, on soil and plant ingestion rates, and on soil to plant uptake factors for a variety of receptors. The metals chosen for this report are common toxic metals found at mining sites: arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead, mercury, and zinc. The resulting soil screening values are well above those developed by the US Environmental Protection Agency. The difference in values was mainly a result of using toxicity reference values that were more specific to the receptors addressed rather than the most sensitive receptor.     

Urban growth management in Jeddah

The towns and cities of Saudi Arabia have been subjected to sustained growth pressures since the transformation of the country's economy following the discovery of oil in the Eastern Province of the Kingdom. The rapid growth which has been experienced has created major problems for the central and local government agencies responsible for planning and managing urban growth. The experience of Jeddah, one of the major cities in Saudi Arabia, is described and the problems of planning and managing its growth are analysed. Weaknesses relating to the structure of the planning system are identified, as are major difficulties in relation to the quality and quantity of professional staff. Recent attempts to improve the operation of the planning system are described and evaluated.     

New view of environmental health: Toward an environmental research policy for international strategies

We are witnessing a growing concern with the global dimension of many environmental issues, reflected in the increase in the number and significance of international environmental organizations. Yet there is no internationally applicable strategy for environmental research which is management oriented. A new type of research policy, which integrates ideas derived from environmental and human ecology, is required in order to deal with cultural and ecological diversity and their interactions as reflected in the ecology of landscapes. The newly defined concept of environmental health is proposed to fill this gap. This concept integrates the latest developments in landscape evolutionary ecology and environmental health, bringing out a conflict between making the environment conducive to human health and increasing the available options for supporting the essential biological and ecological processes of the environment. Lessons derived from the evolution of human environments are used in order to illustrate how health may become un umbrella for developing an environmental research policy, which could also serve as a catalyst for international environmental projects.     

Natural resource degradation in a small watershed in Nepal

Amid growing concern about the conservation of renewable natural resources, the process, extent and symptoms of their degradation are examined with specific reference to the Upper Pokhara Valley. Based on a household survey, field observations, informal deliberations and land use analysis, the results of this study reveal that forests and grazing land have been subject to increasing degradation caused by demographic, socioeconomic and institutional factors. The intensity of degradation varies by watershed. In particular, rainfed pakho land on steep slopes is under the severe threat of accelerating soil erosion, despite the construction of terraces. This calls for the formulation of a comprehensive natural resource conservation strategy which should be based on a framework comprising an integrated population control programme, planned land use changes and institutional reforms .     

A coastal cliff management district for protection of eroding high relief coasts

Ensuring that new buildings do not interfere with the recreational and protective functions of the natural system and that the buildings will be useful long enough to protect the investment are among long-term solutions to coastal erosion. We propose that coastal cliff management districts be established for management of eroding high relief shorelines. Such districts would include an imminent failure zone, in which bluff retreat is possible at any time; a migration zone, which allows for long-term shoreline retreat; and a stability control zone in which activities affecting bluff erosion are restricted. Procedures are described for delineating these zones based on geomorphic criteria. If these land use controls are implemented, some shorefront development can be accommodated while retaining valuable characteristics of the natural system.