Process Safety Management Research Articles

중대산업사고 발생 원인과 통계 기반 중대산업사고 예방을 위한 시사점 연구

The purpose of this study is to draw implications for the prevention of major industrial accidents by analyzing the statistic and causes of major industrial accidents according to the Industrial Safety and Health Act. For this purpose, an empirical analysis of major industrial accidents that occurred over the past 17 years was conducted. As a result of the analysis, it was confirmed that the process safety management system is effective in preventing major industrial accidents. In addition, a lot of major industrial accidents occurred during normal operation and maintenance work by not complying with safe operation guidelines or safe work permit procedures. In terms of material and type of accident, there were many fire and explosion accidents caused by flammable liquids and flammable gases, and the main ignition sources were static electricity and electric sparks. By facility, many accidents occurred during maintenance work in storage tanks, reactors, and piping, or due to runaway reactions.

Improved management practice and process hazard analysis techniques for minimizing likelihood of process safety incidents in Taiwan

In Taiwan, process safety accidents often occur despite the prior implementation of process hazard analysis (PHA). One of the main reasons for this is the poor quality of the PHA process; with the main hazards not being properly identified, or properly controlled. Accordingly, based on the findings of 86 process safety management (PSM) audits, dozens of post-accident site resumption review meetings, and hundreds of PSM review sessions, this study examines the main deficiencies of management practice and PHA implementation in Taiwan, and presents several recommendations for improved PHA assessment techniques and procedures. The study additionally examines the feasibility for using PSM-related information, such as process safety information and process incident information, as a tool for further enhancing the PHA quality. Overall, the study suggests that, in addition to following the basic rules of PHA and requirements of OSHA (1992),management in Taiwan should also provide training in the enhanced assessment techniques proposed herein and take active steps to incorporate PSM information into the PHA framework in order to improve the general quality of PHA and reduce the likelihood of process safety accidents accordingly.

Uncrewed autonomous marine vessels test the limits of maritime safety frameworks

Uncrewed and autonomous marine vessels (UMVs) challenge the underlying paradigm of maritime laws and regulations. Yet UMVs are considered essential for safer, more efficient, and more effective maritime futures. There is a fundamental challenge facing industry and regulators about how to develop and support the nascent UMV industry while maintaining the safety and risk management principles and processes in legacy laws and regulations predicated on the conventional crewed vessel. This paper, drawing upon case studies of developer and operator experiences with Australia’s maritime safety framework, argues for an “intent-based”, flexible, and collaborative approach based on developers’ and operators’ experiences. The case studies show that ad hoc and bespoke regulatory pathways, utilising exemptions and discretions under Australian national laws, although problematic in terms of regulatory consistency and capacity to deal with scale, did allow for the trialling and deployment of two small UMVs. More importantly, the ad hoc approach facilitated information exchange between industry and regulators that is generating reforms and changes at the national level. Although focused on Australia, the findings are significant for maritime futures. It reveals a dialectical approach whereby maritime nations pragmatically work through the risks, standards, and processes that balance safety with facilitating local UMV industries, and in turn, this creates a body of knowledge to inform international reform processes. It also shows the importance of documenting and reflecting on the regulatory journeys of UMV pioneers as essential for safer, more efficient, and effective maritime industries that leverage the potential benefits of automation.

Application of Process Hazard Analysis and Inherently Safer Design in Wood Pellet Production.

Wood pellets are a fuel used for heat and power generation. Wood pellets are manufactured from forest residues and byproducts of other sectors in the wood processing industry, such as sawmilling. Wood pellet production generates combustible wood dust, which presents the risk of fire and explosion. The objective of this research was to incorporate the principles of inherently safer design (ISD) for the management of combustible dust hazards associated with wood pellet production. Using bow tie analysis to explicitly consider ISD within process hazard analysis (PHA), ISD barriers were successfully identified, including the use of paved surfaces to store feedstock to minimize rocks entering the process and presenting a risk of ignition sources, the use of reduced-size silos to minimize the inventory and increase the turnover frequency, the removal of unnecessary or hazardous equipment, such as fans, following a redesign, and the relocation of hazardous equipment, such as cyclones, outside and away from personnel. A summary of example-based guidance for combustible dust hazards was collected to support additional ISD implementation within PHA as part of the process safety management (PSM). The research also highlights learnings for conducting virtual PHA workshops, as well as identifying opportunities for incorporating ISD within operating wood processing facilities through the incident investigation and risk assessment elements of PSM.

Process Safety Management Gap Audit Reports in Steel Industry

Process Safety Management Gap Audit Reports in Steel Industry

Development and implementation of a process safety competency development program (PSCDP) for process safety engineers: A unique collaboration between industry (SABIC) and academia (MKOPSC)

Process Safety Competencies are demonstrable knowledge,skills,behaviors and attitudes required to perform process safety related jobs. They are critical to the successful implementation of any process safety management program in the process industry.This paper shares the experience of the collaboration between a major multinational chemical manufacturing company, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) and an academic institution, the Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center (MKOPSC) of Texas A&M University at Qatar (TAMU-Q) for the development and implementation of a comprehensive and long-term Process Safety Competency Development Program (PSCDP) for SABIC process safety engineers. It outlines the fundamental guiding principles and mechanism for building the PSCDP and provides a description of the structure and content of the program as well as its implementation in the 2017–2021 period. The preliminary results and impact of the program on the trainee engineers at SABIC are highlighted along with the benefit of engaging in such a program for both the company and the academic institution.

Exploring the Role of BIM in Construction Safety in Developing Countries: Toward Automated Hazard Analysis

Safety is a well-researched yet underperforming management aspect of the construction industry. Building information modeling (BIM) can help, and some frameworks have addressed safety management in limited phases of the project lifecycle. This study positions BIM centrally in the safety management process and develops a safety management framework that covers the entire lifecycle of a construction project in the context of developing countries. A systematic literature review is conducted to identify the safety factors and BIM features that are synthesized to devise BIM-based safety improvement strategies. The strategies are presented to construction management professionals from developed and developing countries through an online questionnaire survey, and their level of agreement is identified. Afterward, construction safety experts are engaged to integrate these strategies into appropriate lifecycle phases. Additionally, these experts are also engaged to develop an automated hazard recognition process to leverage BIM potential in safety management. The integration of strategies into project lifecycle phases resulted in a comprehensive safety implementation framework leveraging the BIM platform. This framework takes a lead from the experience of developed countries and considers the limitations of developing countries in terms of resources and technology. Furthermore, a BIM-based process map for hazard identification is developed. The process map takes the BIM model as input and provides a detailed safety report. The process map can be automated to enhance effective safety management. This study expands the body of knowledge through a BIM-driven lifecycle safety management framework for developing countries where BIM adoption is still in its early stages. It is a fresh take on safety automation to make the construction industry safer and more reliable. However, it is limited due to inadequate safety reporting and documentation in developing countries. Future research can improve upon this limitation by positioning in a safety-compliant culture.

Analyzing dynamic risk of stampede in stadium: A quantitative method considering the various status of risk factors in whole process

With the increase of large-scale mass activities, stampedes of deaths and injuries easily occur. The bidirectional qualities between the state's shifting combinations of different risk factors and accidents must be more thoroughly analyzed. The triangular fuzzy number and the Bayesian network are applied in the study to construct a risk analysis model for stadium stampede accidents. 46 accident samples and 24 risk factors closely related to activities were collected for the study. The results show that 7 factors, including audience mood, vulnerable groups, retrograde crowd, abnormal person, flammable and explosive material, walkway in stadium, and special time period, are more likely to cause stampede incidents. When the factors related to the live audience are added together in the most dangerous state, the probability value of the activity safe state decreases from 86% to 31%. In particular, the mood state of the audience, ranging from the more excited to crazy, is most sensitive to stampede. In addition, four major causal chains are obtained. The two risk factors, crowd flow limitation measures and safe entrance and exit, contributed most significantly to the stampede when the personnel volume ratio began to exceed 80% or when the security entrances and exits were partially closed. The model constructed in this paper can dynamically demonstrate the rules between the transition combinations of different states of risk factors and stampede. It will provide some theoretical basis for the process safety management of large-scale mass activities in stadiums.

PSM 규정량 개선을 위한 LPG와 LNG 위험성 비교평가

산업안전보건법에 따른 공정안전관리(PSM) 규정 개정과 관련하여 연료용 액화석유가스(LPG) 사용량을 검토하였다. 스팀 보일러 연료용 LNG의 양을 5 ton/d에서 50 ton/d로 변경하였는데 이에 대해 다른 국가의 규정들과 LPG/LNG의 위험성을 같이 비교하였다. 대부분 LPG는 외부의 파이프라인에서 공급되는 LNG와 달리 현장 연료 저장 탱크를 통해 공급된다. 따라서 LPG와 LNG에 대한 영향평가 및 위험성 평가는 LNG와 비교하여LPG의 적정량을 결정하는 데에 필요하다. 사고빈도를 고려한 위험성 평가는 LPG와 LNG를 연료로 사용할 때 필요한 양과 열량을 각각 동일하게 적용하였으며 개인적 위험도와 사회적 위험도에 대해 정량적 평가를 하였다.

Transferability of the highway safety manual freeway model to EU countries

IntroductionIn roadway safety management processes, Accident Prediction Models (APMs) represent the best available tools to analyse potential safety issues, to identify safety improvements and to estimate the potential effect of these improvements in terms of crash reduction. The Highway Safety Manual (HSM) provides consistent predictive methods for estimating the predicted average crash frequency, but an appropriate calibration is necessary to use them in contexts different from the ones where they were developed. MethodThe present study provides a contribution in this field of research providing a European APM based on the one proposed by HSM and introducing a new methodology to transfer the HSM to different European rural freeways. Specifically, a new set of jurisdiction-specific (JS) base safety performance functions (SPFs) have been developed as a function of annual average daily traffic volume and roadway segment length, considering JS base conditions specific for each different national network, different from the HSM base conditions. These new SPFs were then used for the calibration of the full models, and the results compared with those obtained applying the HSM predictive model. This allows to evaluate the potential benefits of calibrating jurisdiction-specific base SPFs, with different base conditions. ResultsThe results showed that the local SPFs development approach allowed to obtain a better fit than the HSM predictive model for the analysed European countries. ConclusionsThe findings suggest that the development of jurisdiction-specific base SPFs will offer more suitable APMs for countries that differ from the USA, thus a more reliable prediction could be obtained by applying this procedure. Practical ApplicationsThe use of JS SPFs allowed developing European APMs based on those proposed by HSM but applicable to different conditions. This represents a useful starting point for further analysis and improvements in accident prediction modelling.

The framework of safety management on university laboratory

In recent years, with accidents in campus laboratories happening more frequently, and sporadically many personnel and property concerned are under serious threat. To address this issue, it has become a priority for universities in China to enhance safety management in the laboratory. To begin with, this study analyzed accidents that occurred in a university laboratory in the past ten years. The aim of this act was to conclude the problems in current safety management in the university laboratory. This was followed by exploring solutions and measures for those problems, making hazardous chemicals management a critical factor in campus laboratory safety management. With this idea, an assessment of hazardous chemicals of their holistic life-cycle on campus has been conducted, which realizes the information perception throughout its entire life-cycle on campus as well. Last but not least, a platform for safety and emergency management of hazardous chemicals has been built. This platform can act as a catalyst, effectively improving the regulatory levels of hazardous chemicals. Thus, the main responsibility for hazardous chemicals units can be further implemented. Through the construction of the safety management system for the full life-cycle of hazardous chemicals, the process of safety management of the university laboratory is fulfilled, and the inherent safety of the university laboratory is finally realized.

Development of a general inherent safety assessment tool at early design stage of chemical process

The purpose of process safety is the prevention and mitigation of incidents arising from process-related hazards while inherent safety design is one of the most effective ways to prevent accidents in the process safety management. Inherent safety assessment tools (ISATs) play an important role in the application of inherent safety design. However, many ISATs suffer from various limitations. Hence, we propose a general inherent safety assessment tool to evaluate inherent safety level at the early design stage of chemical process. First, we define two criteria of good inherent safety assessment tools from their purpose, namely reliability and usability. We link the inherent consequence to process parameter and chemical property, subsequently propose a general inherent safety assessment tool for different hazardous sources (e.g., and fire/ explosion, health, environment). The proposed tool can eliminate the uncertainties in the risk-based inherent safety assessment tools and address the problem that the amount of material handled is not considered in the continuous numerical assessment tools. Finally, we use two cases to illustrate the proposed inherent safety assessment tool and compare with the commonly used ISATs. This work can accelerate the inherent safety design at the early design stage to prevent incidents in the chemical process.

Validation of Machine Learning Algorithms as Predictive Tool in the Road Safety Management Process: Case of Network Screening

Validation of Machine Learning Algorithms as Predictive Tool in the Road Safety Management Process: Case of Network Screening

Effect of transit-oriented design on pedestrian and cyclist safety using bivariate spatial models

Introduction: Walking and cycling for transportation provide immense benefits (e.g., health, environmental, social). However, pedestrians and bicyclists are the most vulnerable segment of the traveling public due to the lack of protective structure and difference in body mass compared with motorized vehicles. Numerous studies are dedicated to enhancing active transportation modes, but very few studies are devoted to the safety analysis of the transit stops, which serve as the important modal interface for pedestrians and bicyclists. Method: This study bridges the gap by developing joint models based on the multivariate conditional autoregressive (MCAR) priors with distance-oriented neighboring weight matrix. For this purpose, transit-oriented design (TOD) related data in Los Angeles County were used for model development. Feature selection relying on both random forest (RF) and correlation analysis was employed, which leads to different covariates inputs to each of the two joint models, resulting in increased model flexibility. An integrated nested Laplace approximation (INLA) algorithm was adopted due to its fast, yet robust, analysis. For a comprehensive comparison of the predictive accuracy of models, different evaluation criteria were utilized. Results: The results demonstrate that models with correlation effect perform much better than the models without a correlation of pedestrians and bicyclists. The joint models also aid in the identification of the significant covariates contributing to the safety of each of the two active transportation modes. The findings show that population density, employment density, and bus stop density positively influence bicyclist-involved crashes, suggesting that an increase in population, employment, or the number of bus stops leads to more active modes involved collisions. Practical Applications: The findings of this study may prove helpful in the development and implementation of the safety management process to improve the roadway environment for the active modes in the long run.

The Evolutionary Game of Post-conflict Management for New Generation of Construction Workers in China: The Mediating Role of Foremen.

The emotional perception of the new generation of Chinese construction workers is becoming stronger, and the traditional punishment-type management model is gradually failing. In order to address the safety hazards caused by the negative emotions generated after workers' conflict events, the motivation of workers to actively participate in the construction of safety climate is increased, and the safety performance of construction projects is enhanced. This paper introduces emotional event theory to assess workers' psychological perceptions and uses foreman as an intermediary for safety management to analyze the decision-making process between managers and work-groups in the safety management process. By establishing a tripartite evolutionary game model of manager, foreman, and worker, the evolutionary differences among the three parties when the manager is strict or appeasing are examined. The results of the study showed that managers who showed appeasement were more effective than those who showed stringency in accomplishing the safety goals of the project. As the workers' psychological perception index increased, workers were more inclined to adopt aggressive strategies, and their behavior was more influenced by their own moral identity as well as the foreman's attitude under the manager's appeasement attitude. This study can provide managers with suggestions on how to handle the situation after a conflict, which can help regulate the behavior of construction teams and eliminate safety risks.

A tale of two MOCs: An adventure fable outlining the constant danger of not following proper process safety protocol

AbstractOne of the process safety management (PSM) concepts that so many have struggled with is management of change. It seems so simple on the surface, but it has resulted in serious incidents. Using a story format, two incidents are recited to illustrate what went wrong with management of change (MOC), and how the incidents could have been avoided. A fairy tale story based on the incidents was created to illustrate the importance of MOC. The fairy tale uses familiar character types and forms to illustrate: why the change was not recognized; hazards of uncontrolled changes; and the importance of MOC in the prevention of process safety incidents. The fairy tale story communicates lessons learned from two incidents that resulted from MOC failures.

Managing the mechanical integrity of pressure equipment using a layers of protection framework and incorporating integrity operating windows

A requirement of performance based regulatory regimes for managing process safety is to demonstrate the adequacy of control measures for reducing the risk of a major incident so far as reasonably practical (SFARP). Loss of mechanical integrity allowing loss of primary containment (LOPC) is recognized as a possible initiating step for a major incident. Often LOPC results from the action of damage mechanisms such as corrosion that are able to degrade or destroy the mechanical integrity of the containment envelope of pressure equipment. LOPC, allowing a major incident, generally arises from human error in the form of a lack of recognition of a damage mechanism that should have been identified in a HAZOP or risk assessment and captured in a standard operating practice supported by relevant training. In this paper, a layers of protection framework is proposed for assessing the performance standards and performance indicators required of control measures to allow demonstration that likelihood of LOPC has been reduced SFARP, where LOPC has resulted from a damage mechanism such as corrosion. The context is the requirement to demonstrate adequacy of the practices used to assure the integrity of the containment envelope of pressure equipment required to prevent a major incident. The assessment includes examining the adequacy of inspection as a control measure including the RBI practice of using industry failure frequency databases to underpin the justification of an extension of inspection intervals. An improvement is proposed that recognizes the role of integrity operating windows (following API RP 584) for managing the process environment including providing evidence of control of the service conditions and recording excursions from nominal service conditions. Underpinning the proposed improvement is consideration of the contribution of human error to LOPC events and the need to recognize performance shaping factors that minimize error.

Математическое моделирование и программная реализация процесса управления обеспечением безопасности полетов и деятельностью авиационного персонала

Obtaining timely, reliable and complete information about the state of the aviation system, and its processing using the latest information technologies is one of the most promising directions in solving the problem of reducing accidents in aviation. The paper presents an analysis of peculiarities of information and mathematical modeling of flight safety management process. One of the methods of ensuring flight safety is to monitor the production of flights, as well as to analyze the quality of officials' performance of their direct duties, which allows identifying and classifying emerging hazards, accumulating information in databases for subsequent use as a decision support system in the process of flight management, as well as for carrying out preventive measures to eliminate them. A mathematical model is given, based on a proactive method, the essence of which is to actively detect and predict the occurrence of hazardous factors of flight activity before their manifestation in flight. The model includes consideration of the effectiveness of flight safety management by various organizational groups at several stages of flight preparation, as well as an analysis of the effectiveness of officials. Based on the proposed mathematical model, a flight safety control system was developed, which is designed to constantly influence the elimination of hazardous factors, both on the ground and in the air. The system operates around a specific crew and a specific aircraft during the preparation, conduct and analysis of the flight. The use of the proposed management system, together with a model for assessing the organizational performance of officials, allows for the most comprehensive consideration and prevention of factors affecting flight safety. Description, structure diagrams, screen forms of the application package implementing the proposed mathematical model and flight safety management system, as well as results of testing of the proposed system in military units are given.

Safety and security risks management process for cyber‐physical systems: A case study

AbstractCyber‐physical systems (CPS) are applicable in emerging industries such as health, energy, autonomous vehicles, and Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT). In CPS the physical assets, that is, actuators and sensors, etc. communicate with each other over a messaging protocol. This communication process of CPS makes them vulnerable to cyber‐attacks which challenge the system safety, making security and safety two major concerns for CPS. Both safety and security risks are considered separately in literature. However, the International Society of Automation (ISA) focuses on the alignment of security and safety risks of CPS. Weak or no alignment in safety and security of a system may result in an inefficient or partially protected system which could end up in disasters. This pressed the need for an integrated safety‐security risk management process. For this purpose, we used a tetra packaging case study to (i) examine the vulnerabilities of CPS by running the risk management process, (ii) identify safety‐security requirements, and (iii) align retrieved safety‐security requirements with the relevant standards. The results show (i) safety hazards and security risks along with their severity and priority, (ii) mitigation guidelines are provided by consulting IEC 61508, and (iii) 15 safety‐security requirements are identified and are aligned with ISO9001 Packaging and labeling machine standard.

MOC 101—Fundamentals for effective change management

AbstractManagement of change (MOC) is the cornerstone of a successful risk‐based process safety (RBPS) management program. Safe operation and maintenance of facilities that manufacture or store hazardous chemicals require robust process safety management (PSM) systems. The MOC element of a PSM program establishes a formal, documented, and authorization process for any proposed changes to manage changes that may introduce unexpected new hazards or increase the risk of existing hazards. Furthermore, the MOC process ensures that changes are communicated to potentially affected personnel, as well as ensures that all affected documentation is updated. A poor MOC program has been a root cause of several process safety incidents, including the Flixborough disaster. The temporary modifications did not go through a proper review process; an effective MOC program could have discovered the design flaws before the change was implemented and prevented the explosion. In addition to case studies such as this, this paper will provide an overview of best management practices and essential features for the MOC element, which can be used as a basis to develop or evaluate existing MOC management systems, and as a result, play a role in identifying hazards, managing risk, and sustaining safe operations.