The Business Case for Process Safety

Abstract

This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights of paper SPE 157592, ’The Business Case for Process Safety,’ by Scott Berger, Center for Chemical Process Safety, prepared for the 2012 SPE/APPEA International Conference on Health, Safety, and Environment in Oil and Gas Exploration and Production, Perth, Australia, 11-13 September. The paper has not been peer reviewed. Over its 27-year history, the Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) has observed that the first step toward implementing a strong process-safety-management program is obtaining top-management commitment. The CCPS has learned that communicating the business case for process safety is an important part of the process of obtaining this commitment. Using a fictional incident as a case-study example, this paper will illustrate that process safety can have financial, as well as ethical and professional, benefits. Introduction The CCPS has identified four dimensions in which process safety can influence the value of the business: Corporate responsibility Business flexibility Risk reduction Sustained value These dimensions affect financials in both quantitative and qualitative ways, addressing both cost savings and revenue enhancement. Table 1 illustrates the alignment of these four dimensions. The Incident One January day several years ago, a major process vapor line ruptured in the core unit of the Phlogiston Chemical Company Western Plant. Minutes later, a serious explosion ripped through the unit. The blast wave dislodged a nearly empty vessel, ripping it from its connecting piping. The vessel contained a toxic material that dispersed downwind, along with thick black smoke from the fire that resulted from the explosion. The company’s emergency-response team, along with local firefighters, responded rapidly. While residents took shelter, the responders set up a water curtain to mitigate the toxic release and worked to extinguish the fire. Unfortunately, when the response team sounded the all-clear signal 4 hours later, nine workers and one town resident were dead. Another 25 families gave thanks that their loved ones would recover from their injuries. Ultimately, investigators determined that a main flange in the vapor line had been bolted incorrectly and that the mounting brackets of the vessel containing the toxic material had corroded. A root-cause analysis showed that the technician assigned to the plant’s mechanical-integrity program had simply been “checking the boxes” for the previous 5 years and that management never spot-checked the mechanical-integrity program to verify that it was being practiced as written.