Accidents In Chemical Industry Research Articles

Analysis of Accidents in Petroleum and Chemical Industries

This study determined the critical risk factors that influence the risk of major accidents in petroleum and chemical industries. The retrospective study assessed five iconic accidents using the tripod beta analysis methodology. These failures were aggregated into critical risk factors for these major accidents. The findings of this study revealed empirically that there are broadly five critical risk factors that influence the risk of major accidents: (i) design flaws, (ii) site process safety management, (iii) barrier management / control, (iv) operating procedures, and (v) process safety culture. These findings highlight that major accident risks can accumulate “dangerous” from the impairment of safety-critical barriers and that the operators of petroleum and chemical facilities may be blind-sided to the cumulative risk of the impairments. The findings also highlight the need for a proactive risk assessment tool with the capability to check the health of safety-critical barriers on a real time basis, in an operating plant. The use of Tripod Beta as a tool in accident causation analysis is recommended

An evacuation path planning method for multi-hazard accidents in chemical industries based on risk perception

Evacuation path planning is an important research topic in emergency management of chemical accidents. Facing the challenges of the continuous increase in the frequency of multi-hazard chemical accidents including fires, explosions, and toxic releases, the requirement to improve the evacuation path planning method considering the dynamic and multi-hazard characteristics of the accidents has become increasingly urgent. In order to address the shortcomings of the static, single-hazard, and passive evacuation path planning methods, this paper proposes an evacuation path planning method for multi-hazard accidents in chemical industries based on advance and on-site risk perception. This method applies dynamic and comprehensive risk analysis as the equivalent distance criterion to improve the D* path planning algorithm. A chemical park in Guangzhou, China, is adopted as a case study to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method and quantitatively demonstrate the effect of the method in improving evacuation efficiency. This paper further discusses the flexibility of the proposed method in considering environmental factors, evacuation preferences, and emergency response requirements. The evacuation path planning method proposed in this paper is expected to contribute to the optimization of emergency management of multi-hazard accidents and provide guidance for the enhancement of safety and loss prevention in chemical industries.

Investigation of the Relationship between Biorhythms and Occupational Accidents Severity in a Chemical Industry, 2009-2022

Introduction: Occupational accidents have several life and financial consequences in industries. Among the causes of accidents, human error and unsafe behavior are known as the most important factors. Studies showed that biorhythms affect human errors and occupational accidents. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between biorhythms and the severity of occupational accidents in the chemical industry. 
 Materials and Methods: This study investigated chemical industry accidents from 2009-2022. After removing the incomplete reports, 279 accidents report was collected. The investigated accidents were classified into two groups major and minor. Information related to the biorhythms cycles was analyzed using Natural Biorhythm software. Data analysis was done using SPSS-24.
 Results: The investigation of accidents showed that 115 and 164 people were involved in major and minor accidents, respectively. In this study, in the critical state of the intellectual cycle, the number of major accidents was significantly higher than minor accidents (P=0.009). In the investigation of morning shift work accidents, the relationship between the critical state of the intellectual cycle and the severity of accidents was confirmed (P=0.004). We found no significant relationship between physical and emotional cycles with the severity of accidents. 
 Conclusion: The results of the present study showed that the critical days of the intellectual biorhythm are related to the severity of occupational accidents. It is recommended to conduct more studies on different jobs and duties to clarify the exact relationships between the variables.

Analysis of Critical Risk Factors in Five Iconic Major Accidents in Petroleum and Chemical Industries

This study determined the critical risk factors that influence the risk of major accidents in petroleum and chemical industries. The retrospective study assessed five iconic accidents using the tripod beta analysis methodology. Literatures on five iconic accidents were reviewed, and the immediate causes of the accidents, preconditions and latent failures were analysed using a focused group of process safety professionals. These failures were aggregated into critical risk factors for these major accidents. The findings of this study revealed empirically that there are broadly five critical risk factors that influence the risk of major accidents: (i) design flaws, (ii) site process safety management, (iii) barrier management / control, (iv) operating procedures, and (v) process safety culture. These findings highlight that major accident risks can accumulate “dangerous” from the impairment of safety-critical barriers and that the operators of petroleum and chemical facilities may be blind-sided to the cumulative risk of the impairments. The findings also highlight the need for a proactive risk assessment tool with the capability to check the health of safety-critical barriers on a real time basis, in an operating plant. The use of Tripod Beta as a tool in accident causation analysis is recommended.

Dynamic-risk-informed safety barrier management: An application to cost-effective barrier optimization based on data from multiple sources

An integrated approach for performance assessment and management of safety barriers in a systemic manner is needed concerning the prevention and mitigation of major accidents in chemical process industries. Particularly, the effects of safety barriers on system risk reduction should be assessed in a dynamic manner to support the decision-making on safety barrier establishments and improvements. A simulation approach, named Simulink-based Safety Barrier Modeling (SSBM), is proposed in this paper to conduct dynamic risk assessment of chemical facilities with the consideration of the degradation of safety barriers. The main functional features of the SSBM include i) the basic model structures of SSBM can be determined based on bow-tie diagrams, ii) multiple data (periodic proof test data, continuous condition-monitoring data, and accident precursor data) may be combined to update barrier failure probabilities and initiating event probabilities, iii) SSBM is able to handle uncertainty propagation in probabilistic risk assessment by using Monte Carlo simulations, and iv) cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) and optimization algorithms are integrated to support the decision-making on safety barrier establishments and improvements. An illustrative case study is demonstrated to show the procedures of applying the SSBM on dynamic risk-informed safety barrier management and validate the feasibility of implementing the SSBM for cost-effective safety barrier optimization.

A dynamic individual risk management method considering spatial and temporal synergistic effect of toxic substance leakage and fire accidents

Actual chemical industrial park accidents usually involve multi-hazard accidents. Synergistic effect of accidents could lead to serious casualties. In order to reduce the individual risk of accidents, this work proposes a method for managing the dynamic individual risk when toxic substance leakage and fire accidents occur concurrently, in which spatial and temporal synergistic effect of above two accidents is considered. The synergistic effect may reduce individual escape ability, and is modeled by quantifying the relationship between escape ability and toxic substance dose. In addition, the method analyzes dynamic individual risk of a person receiving the thermal radiation dose and toxic substance dose when escaping along a certain route. The casualty degree is described by the injury degree based on dose thresholds and the total fatality probability based on Probit model. Combined with the accident scenario, the critical safety escape distance is obtained. The model is proposed to plan the individual escape route based on the risk assessment results. The critical values of toxic substance concentration and thermal radiation intensity are defined as the basis for planning alternative escape routes. Finally, the optimal escape route is obtained according to the total fatality probability of each route. The range of safe escape direction can be used when wind direction information is inaccurate. A case study demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed method and risk management strategy.

"ACCIDENTS IN THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY: AN ANALYSIS OF THE HFACS-PEFE MODEL TO EXAMINE THE ROLE OF HUMAN FACTORS "

One of the most common causes of accidents in chemical industry is human error. In order to minimize the accident frequency and associated damage, a better understanding of the role played by human factor in such accident is prerequisite. The Human Factors Analysis and Classification System- Petrochemical Enterprise Fire and Explosion (HFACS-PEFE) model is established to examine the mechanism of human failure. According to the model, violations, intellectual limitations, inadequate supervision, and insufficient safety culture are the most essential elements in the occurrence of accidents. Both direct causes and latent human failures involved in chemical industry accidents are identified and are then analyzed. An accident database is constructed which includes accident date, location, death and injuries. Relationships between different human factors, which are involved in the HFACS-PEFE framework, are identified by conducting chi-square test and odds ratio (OR) analysis. Different accident development paths and corresponding probabilities are achieved with the help of these relationships.

Determining performance shaping factors to assess human error in the emergency response team in chemical process industries: a case study

Objectives. Human error (HE) plays a crucial role in the occurrence of accidents in chemical process industries (CPIs). Emergency response team (ERT) members are predisposed to HEs due to the nature of their work. The HE potential is influenced by the performance shaping factors (PSFs). Managing PSFs can diminish the human error probability (HEP) and consequently increase the emergency response success chance. This article aimed to determine the PSFs for ERT members in CPIs. Methods. First, an initial list of PSFs was searched and classified within human reliability analysis methods and studies. Then, an expert panel of the emergency management system was utilized to identify, classify and weight the initial PSFs. The fuzzy Delphi method and content analysis technique were applied to summarize and categorize the PSFs. Results. The results of the study showed that 11 PSFs had greater impacts on the ERT members’ error potential. Findings revealed that stress and physiological stressors, competency, and team and organization were the three most important PSFs. Conclusion. The most important and relevant PSFs can be effectively used in accurate HE assessment of ERT members in CPIs.

Synergistic effects on the physical effects of explosions in multi-hazard coupling accidents in chemical industries

One of the challenges of the multi-hazard coupling risk assessment is synergistic effects. This research performed experiments and numerical simulations, aiming to analyse the synergistic effects on the physical effects of explosions. The direct influences of atmospheric temperature and density on the propagation of explosion shock waves were explained and quantified through function fittings. Shock wave velocity will increase with the increase of atmospheric temperature and the decrease of atmospheric density. On the other hand, shock wave overpressure will decrease with the increase of atmospheric temperature, but not be significantly influenced by the density. The indirect synergistic effects on explosion physical effects were also explained through the analysis of the phenomena in the experiments and simulations. Temperature and density gradients could cause inhomogeneous velocity distribution and change the shapes of the shock wave fronts, thereby influencing the reflection and changing the shock wave overpressure. Based on the experimental and simulative results, the direct and indirect influences of the synergistic effects on consequence analysis and risk assessment were analysed in explosion-toxic-fire coupling accident scenarios. This research provides a multi-hazard idea for synergistic effect research, and can also be instructive for the risk assessment and safety management in chemical industries.

Assessment of the effectiveness of a course in major chemical incidents for front line health care providers: a pilot study from Saudi Arabia

BackgroundMass chemical exposure emergencies are infrequent but can cause injury, illness, or loss of life for large numbers of victims. These emergencies can stretch and challenge the available resources of healthcare systems within the community. Political unrest in the Middle East, including chemical terrorist attacks against civilians in Syria and increasing chemical industry accidents, have highlighted the lack of hospital preparedness for chemical incidents in the region. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a course designed to empower frontline healthcare providers involved in mass casualty incidents with the basic knowledge and essential operational skills for mass chemical exposure incidents in Saudi Arabia.MethodsA mixed-methods approach was used to develop a blended learning, simulation enhanced, competency-based course for major chemical incidents for front line healthcare providers. The course was designed by experts from different disciplines (disaster medicine, poisoning / toxicology, and Hazard Material Threat - HAZMAT team) in four stages. The course was piloted over five days at the Officers Club of the Ministry of Interior (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia). The 41 participants were from different government health discipline sectors in the country. Pre- and post-tests were used to assess learner knowledge while debriefing sessions after the decontamination triage session and simulation-enhanced exercises were used for team performance assessment.ResultsThe overall knowledge scores were significantly higher in the post-test (69.47%) than the pre-test (46.3%). All four knowledge domains also had significant differences between pre- and post-test results. There were no differences in the pre and post-test scores for healthcare providers from the different health disciplines. A one-year post-event survey demonstrated that participants were satisfied with their knowledge retention. Interestingly, 38.3% had the opportunity to put this knowledge into practice in relation to mass chemical exposure incidents.ConclusionDelivering a foundation level competency-based blended learning course with enhanced simulation training in major chemical incidents for front line healthcare providers may improve their knowledge and skills in response to such incidents. This in turn can improve the level of national preparedness and staff availability and make a crucial difference in reducing the health impacts among victims.

How to Achieve Accurate Accountability Under Current Administrative Accountability System for Work Safety Accidents in Chemical Industry in China: A Case Study on Major Work Safety Accidents During 2010-2020

Positive achievements have been attained since the implementation of administrative accountability system in China. However, the effect of the said system for work safety accidents in chemical industry is unsatisfactory, and the operation way of the government's public power lacks substantial innovation. By analyzing the administrative accountability of 11 major work safety accidents in chemical industry during 2010-2020, the dilemma of public power in the administrative accountability in compartmentalized governance and vertically decentralized authoritarianism was explored from the perspective of empirical analysis in this paper. The research found that current administrative accountability system has such drawbacks as unclear subject of responsibility of public power, ambiguous ownership of responsibility, imperfect democratic structure and information asymmetry. To achieve effective operation of public power in work safety administrative accountability system, attention should be paid to promote the formation of accountability synergy and strengthen the diversification of accountability subjects, and to boost the disclosure of information, improve the transparency of the operation of public power, and reinforce the consistency between power and responsibilities. Moreover, it is necessary to establish and improve the legal system for administrative accountability for work safety accidents, clarify the division of responsibility and achieve accurate accountability, so as to enhance the rationality and operability of the administrative accountability system.

Incidence investigation of accidents in chemical industries: A comprehensive study based on factor analysis

AbstractThis study aimed to identify factors affecting the incidence of chemical accidents in chemical process industries. The present study investigated 840 accidents in 42 chemical process industries over 11 years (2008–2018). Data analysis was conducted using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (EFA and CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM). Data analysis was done using IBM SPSS AMOS v. 22. Moreover, χ2/df, RMSEA, CFI, NFI, and NNFA (TLI) indices were used as model fit indices. The descriptive results showed that 45.3% and 32.14% of the accidents were related to transportation and the release of chemicals, respectively. Factor analysis showed that 6 latent factors and 37 indicator variables affected the accidents. SEM findings showed that latent factors, including individual and occupational training, risk management, and their indicator variables, had indirect effects on the chemical accidents (P < 0.05). In contrast, unsafe conditions and unsafe acts latent factors with their indicator variables had a direct impact on the incidence of chemical accidents (P < 0.05). The findings confirmed that chemical accidents are affected by different causal layers. Using different methods of accident analysis and combining them with scientific and updated techniques of other sciences, that is, mathematics, as well as statistics, can improve accident analysis and controlling methodologies.

Parallel Coupling of Ion Mobility Spectrometry and Ion Trap Mass Spectrometry for the Real-Time Alarm Triggering and Identification of Hazardous Chemical Leakages.

Hazardous chemical leakages involved in chemical terrorist attacks and chemical industrial accidents have been posing severe threats to human health and the environment. Vehicle-mounted mass spectrometry (MS) has been developed for continuous, on-road measurements to map the spatial and temporal distributions of hazardous chemicals. However, the detection of chemicals with small temporal scales and spatial scales is always challenging. In this study, a parallel coupling apparatus combining the techniques of ion mobility spectrometry and ion trap MS (p-IMS-ITMS) was developed to improve the detection rate and the time response capability of a stand-alone ITMS system for short time-span chemical tracking. A workflow was also proposed along with the apparatus, where the ITMS system can be triggered, as chemical suspects were discovered with the IMS system. The sampling positions of the ITMS system were investigated and optimized. In addition, a strategy was proposed to diminish the time span of samples from 1.5 to 0.5 s for evaluating the performances of the p-IMS-ITMS system. The detection rate of the stand-alone ITMS system was measured to be only 9.5, 32, and 87.5% for the time span of 0.5, 1, and 1.5 s, respectively. By comparison, the detection rates of the p-IMS-ITMS system were 99.5, 100, and 100%, where the detection rate was increased by a factor of 10 for 0.5 s time span. Moreover, the addition of an IMS system could provide temporal patterns of hazardous chemicals with a resolution of 33 ms. Finally, the potential of the p-IMS-ITMS system for environmental navigation monitoring and assessment was further demonstrated by detecting the leakages of dimethyl methyl phosphonate and dipropylene glycol monomethyl ether.

Impact of safety attitude, safety knowledge and safety leadership on chemical industry workers’ risk perception based on Structural Equation Modelling and System Dynamics

In chemical industry, major accidents occur occasionally. Past research has demonstrated that risk perception was relevant to safety as it might affect the behavior, which could exert influence on the probability of accidents. It is important to adjust workers' risk perception to reduce accidents in chemical industry. To achieve this goal, some key influencing factors of workers’ risk perception of were identified from 3 aspects including safety attitude, safety knowledge and safety leadership. This was accomplished by gathering empirical data from 287 workers employed in 6 Chemical plants in Jiangsu, China. The model of influencing factors of risk perception for workers was established based on Structural Equation Modelling (SEM), and the path coefficients and weights were analyzed by the SEM. On that basis, the System Dynamics (SD) model of risk perception for workers was established. The study findings revealed safety attitude and safety leadership have a direct positive impact on perception of risk probability and perception of risk severity, safety knowledge has a direct positive impact on perception of risk severity, while safety knowledge has no direct positive impact on perception of risk probability. The findings of the study can provide theoretical supports and method guidance for adjusting the risk perception of workers in chemical industry.

Modeling causal factors of occupational accidents in chemical industries: A 10-year field study in Iran

Analyzing and modeling causal factors of occupational accidents play an important role in planning prevention programs. The study aimed to explore the causal factors of occupational accidents in chemical industries in Iran. The reports of 1322 accidents from 2007 to 2016 were gathered from 22 chemical industries. First, the Accident Frequency Rate (AFR) was calculated and all the effective factors were reviewed and labeled as “dependent” and “independent” factors. Second, feature selection was conducted to find the important causal factors. Then, multiple linear regression analysis was employed to model the most frequent causal factors in accident occurrence. The average accident frequency rate (AFR) was 87.75±74.82. A total of 30 independent casual factors were identified to be eligible for further analysis. Results of multiple linear regression analysis showed that 21 out of 30 important casual factors had the most important role in occupational accidents which are categorized into personal factors, organizational factors, HSE training, risk management, unsafe acts, and conditions as well as the type of accident occurrence. This study revealed that any preventive program should consider the importance of each casual factor in occurring occupational accidents. The higher level of importance needs the higher level of attention. © 2021, Iranian Institute of Research and Development in Chemical Industries. All rights reserved.

Petri net simulation of multi-department emergency response to avert domino effects in chemical industry accidents

Emergency response plays an important role in preventing or delaying the domino effect of chemical accidents. Requirements for emergency response to a major accident may exceed the capacity of the emergency department within the region of responsibility for the accident, in which case multi-department emergency response is necessary. In this work, modeling problems related to the arrival of emergency teams at different times in multi-department emergency response are discussed. These problems will dynamically influence the time to failure of adjacent facilities in the event of a fire. A timed colored hybrid Petri-net (TCHPN) approach is proposed to solve these problems and analyze multi-department emergency response processes. An example of responding to a tank fire illustrates the proposed approach. An emergency response process is simulated, and probabilities of fire escalation prevention under different fire levels are analyzed.

Fire and Explosion Risk Assessment in a Combined Cycle Power Plant

Fire and explosion are the most prevalent accidents in chemical and process industries. Hence, identification of the hazard factors and the methods of controlling these two major accidents are very important in the process industries. In this paper, fire and explosion hazards of some process units at a combined cycle power plant have been estimated using the Dow fire and explosion index. The results of this study show that methane fueled turbine has the highest value of Dow index which is 321, turbine unit with gas oil and gas oil storage site have the Dow index values of 147.5 and 35.5 respectively. The loss control credit factor for methane fueled turbine unit was 0.36 and the Actual Maximum Probable Property Damage was 4.12 US million dollars. Maximum Probable Days Outage is estimated to be 50 days and finally, the loss due to unit pauses is calculated to be 3.03 US million dollars. In addition, the findings of the current study show that the gas oil storage unit suffers the highest amount of loss due to business interruption. The findings of the present study can be used for the improvement of inherent safety and can also be applied to estimate the losses due to fire and explosion.

Statistical Analysis and Prediction of Fatal Accidents in the Metallurgical Industry in China

The metallurgical industry is a significant component of the national economy. The main purpose of this study was to establish a composite risk analysis method for fatal accidents in the metallurgical industry. We collected 152 fatal accidents in the Chinese metallurgical industry from 2001 to 2018, including 141 major accidents, 10 severe accidents, and 1 extraordinarily severe accident, together resulting in 731 deaths. Different from traffic or chemical industry accidents, most of the accidents in the metallurgical industry are poisoning and asphyxiation accidents, which account for 40% of the total number of fatal accidents. As the original statistical data of fatal accidents in the metallurgical industry have irregular fluctuations, the traditional prediction methods, such as linear or quadratic regression models, cannot be used to predict their future characteristics. To overcome this issue, the grey interval predicting method and the GM(1,1) model of grey system theory are introduced to predict the future characteristics of fatal accidents in the metallurgical industry. Different from a fault tree analysis or event tree analysis, the bow tie model integrates the basic causes, possible consequences, and corresponding safety measures of an accident in a transparent diagram. In this study, the bow tie model was used to identify the causes and consequences of fatal accidents in the metallurgical industry; then, corresponding safety measures were adopted to reduce the risk.

Study on Fire Simulation and Safety Distance of Reactor Thermal Runaway

With the development of chemical industry, fire and explosion accidents become more and more frequent. In this paper, a simple analysis is carried out based on the thermal runaway of the reactor, and the explosion simulation is carried out by using the fluent numerical simulation software, according to the standard turbulence model (k- Σ) and the component transport selected EDC- (vortex-dissipative) model. Simulation result intuitively show the pressure, temperature, speed and the relationship between the distance from the center of bums. The results show that the pressure, temperature and velocity decrease exponentially after a certain distance away from the explosion center, the relative safe distance is between 50 and 100 meters in the dangerous area within 50 meters, and in the 100 - meter outside pressure temperature back to normal for a safe distance.

Methodologies for Assessing Risks of Accidents in Chemical Process Industries

Chemical process industries often handle, store and transport chemicals which are flammable and/or toxic. Also, often, processes are employed which are carried out at high temperatures of pressures. These happenings constitute major hazards which carry the risk of serious accidents. The bigger the hazard, the greater is the risk associated with its existence. Despite the best intentions of the industries not to allow any accident to occur, major accidents keep occurring all over the world. This makes it necessary to develop newer methods with which the likelihood of accidents can be forecast and steps taken to prevent those accidents from occurring. This paper presents an overview of the already developed, and still evolving, methods for assessing risk of accidents in chemical process industries.