Abstract
This study identified and prioritized potential failure scenarios for natural gas drilling operations through an elicitation of people who work in the industry. A list of twelve failure scenarios of concern was developed focusing on specific events that may occur during the shale gas extraction process involving an operational failure or a violation of regulations. Participants prioritized the twelve scenarios based on their potential impact on the health and welfare of the general public, potential impact on worker safety, how well safety guidelines protect against their occurrence, and how frequently they occur. Illegal dumping of flowback water, while rated as the least frequently occurring scenario, was considered the scenario least protected by safety controls and the one of most concern to the general public. In terms of worker safety, the highest concern came from improper or inadequate use of personal protective equipment (PPE). While safety guidelines appear to be highly protective regarding PPE usage, inadequate PPE is the most directly witnessed failure scenario. Spills of flowback water due to equipment failure are of concern both with regards to the welfare of the general public and worker safety as they occur more frequently than any other scenario examined in this study.
Highlights
The rapid growth of natural gas extraction in recent years, from shale formations, has caused concern about the potential negative impact of this development on the surrounding environment, human health, and public safety
Spills of flowback water due to equipment failure are of concern both with regards to the welfare of the general public safety
While types of spills seem have a low to Spills of flowback water and dueworker to equipment failurethese are of concern both withtoregards to the welfare of the general public and worker safety. While these types of spills seem to have a low to Spills of flowback water due to equipment failure are of concern both with regards to the welfare of the general public and worker safety
Summary
The rapid growth of natural gas extraction in recent years, from shale formations, has caused concern about the potential negative impact of this development on the surrounding environment, human health, and public safety. Because of this rapid growth, there have been many efforts to assess potential negative impacts in order to find ways to mitigate them and increase the safety of the natural gas industry [4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11]. Hydraulic fracturing wastewater generally has very high concentrations of salts and total dissolved solids (TDS), as well as levels of radionuclides, metals, and organic compounds that could be harmful to human health and pose treatment and disposal difficulties [16,17,18,19,20,21]
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