Dynamic accident modeling for high-sulfur natural gas gathering station

Dynamic accident modeling for a gas gathering station is implemented to prevent high-sulfur natural gas leakage and develop equipment inspection strategy. The progress of abnormal event occurring in the gas gathering station is modeled by the combination of fault tree and event sequence diagram, based on accident causal chain theory, i.e. the progress is depicted as sequential failure of safety barriers, then, the occurrence probability of the consequence of abnormal event is predicted. Consequences of abnormal events are divided into accidents and accident precursors which include incidents, near misses and so on. The Bayesian theory updates failure probability of safety barrier when a new observation (i.e. accident precursors or accidents data) arrives. Bayesian network then correspondingly updates failure probabilities of basic events of the safety barriers with the ability of abductive reasoning. Consequence occurrence probability is also updated. The results show that occurrence probability trend of different consequences and failure probability trend of safety barriers and basic events of the safety barriers can be obtained using this method. In addition, the critical basic events which play an important role in accidents occurrence are also identified. All of these provide useful information for the maintenance and inspection of the gas gathering station.     

永磁同步曳引机冲顶事故分析

依据现行电梯标准中对安全控制的基本要求,从事故现象入手,对一起永磁同步曳引机冲顶事故进行分析,指出了电梯在电气控制回路设计和部件选型中存在的一些常见问题,模拟分析出了可能的事故过程,最后对改进电梯控制系统设计提出了一些建议。希望在电梯控制回路的绝缘保护等问题上能够引起业内人士对电路控制结构安全设计的足够重视。     

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.     

Trends of hazardous material accidents (HMAs) during highway transportation from 2013 to 2018 in China

Statistical analysis of hazardous material accidents (HMAs) in China from 20013 to 2018 related to characteristics and consequences is discussed in this study, revealing different time volatility, spatial distribution and accident consequence features. Yearly, monthly, weekly and hourly levels of HMAs are analysed, and the corresponding factors are discussed. The trends of HMAs are affected by different factors, such as efforts toward safety-specific rectification by the government, holidays, five-day workweek systems and daily traffic peaks. The spatial distribution trends indicate that highway transportation of hazardous materials is mostly short-distance transport. The accidents that occurred on normal road sections account for 82.76% of the total HMAs during transportation. Leaking accidents caused by HMAs account for 79.35% of the total accidents. Countermeasures focusing on improving highway transportation safety for hazardous materials are recommended.     

基于生态安全格局的国土空间保护修复优化——以内蒙古呼包鄂地区为例

构建生态安全格局可为国土空间保护修复提供对策,以补充现有研究对国土空间优化实践指导的不足。以内蒙古呼包鄂地区为案例,识别城镇、生态源地,构建源地扩展阻力评价体系,通过最小累积阻力模型划分安全格局小区;基于电路理论识别国土空间保护修复重点区域（生态廊道、生态“夹点”、生态障碍点）,优化生态安全格局,提出国土空间保护修复建议,得到的主要结论有：研究区城镇源地适宜扩展区远小于生态源地,国土空间保护修复有较大潜力;安全格局小区中生态保育区生态空间面积最大,其次是优化缓冲区生态空间,生态防护区生活空间最小;识别135条生态廊道,12个生态“夹点”,6个生态障碍点,164个生态战略点,架构生态安全网络,形成“多核四区三带一屏一流域”的国土空间保护修复格局,以达到提升生态景观完整度与连通性、维护区域生态安全的目标。     

Mechanisms to exclude local people from forests: Shifting power relations in forest transitions

Forest transitions may significantly contribute to climate change mitigation but also change forest use, affecting the local people benefiting from forests. We analyze forest transitions as contested processes that simplify multifunctional landscapes and alter local livelihoods. Drawing on the Theory of Access, we develop a conceptual framework to investigate practices of multifunctional forest use and the mechanisms that exclude local forest use(r)s during forest transitions in nineteenth century Austria and twenty-first century Lao PDR. Based on historical sources, interviews and secondary literature, we discuss legal, structural and social-metabolic mechanisms to exclude multifunctional forest practices, marginalizing peasants and shifting cultivators. These include, for example, the increasing enforcement of private ownership in forests or the shift from fuelwood to coal in Austria and restrictive land use planning or the expansion of private land concessions in Laos. By integrating political ecology and environmental history in forest transitions research we unravel shifting power relations connected to forest change.     

应急监测在处置突发性环境污染事故中的思考

针对环境监测部门在处置突发性环境污染事故中承担的任务,提出了应急监测软件支持系统建设内容、目前应着力解决的问题及能力建设的思路与对策。目的是使监测部门从基础信息、技术装备、能力培养和资金渠道等方面全面满足环境应急监测的需要。为有关部门采取控制污染措施、减轻污染危害赢得宝贵时间,最大限度地减少污染造成的损失和危害。     

Process industry accidents in Sri Lanka: Analysis and basic lessons learnt

Accidents in the process industry could be prevented or reduced by having good safety management measures. Such preventive measures could be further improved through the experiences and lessons learnt from past accidents. Therefore, analysis results of past accidents are valuable sources of information for determining root causes and as case material to prevent and reduce the adverse consequences of accidents in the process industry.This paper looks at accidents in the process industry that have occurred in the past 10 years from 1997 to 2006 in Sri Lanka to gain an understanding of the nature and consequences of accidents. Lessons and main areas of concern to improve safety in the Sri Lanka process industry are discussed. The analysis is done for different event types based on specific operating process stage during which the accident occurred such as processing, loading and unloading, repair and maintenance and storage, the immediate effect types such as fire, explosion, chemical releases and emissions and the consequences of each accident. Fire incidents were observed in 38 accidents analyzed. The results show that the highest number of accidents has occurred during processing operations followed by accidents during maintenance and repair work. The cause analysis shows that many accidents have occurred due to technical and human failures.The accidents are then classified according to the severity of the consequences in order to compare the nature of accidents experienced in Sri Lanka with respect to accidents in other countries in the world.     

Accidents: A discrepancy between indicators and facts!

Despite, the overwhelming amount of currently available safety management systems (and accompanying tools) accidents with hazardous substances still occur every now and then in the process industries.In this paper a large number of recently occurred accidents in the process industries are analysed showing that reoccurring disruptions during daily operation were present in the causal path of these accidents. The reoccurring disruptions can be seen as pre-warning signals. Their existence forms a gap with the common proactive safety indicators. This gap exists of information, already present and available in daily operation, of which it is UNKNOWN (to the local assessor) that it may lead to unsafe situations/accidents, e.g. maintenance backlogs, quality reports, etc.It is argued that these reoccurring events should be considered to be included in the safety indicators after assessment by an extended body of knowledge, because these events seem to become increasingly important regarding the prevention of accidents that still occur nowadays.