Major Accident Prevention Research Articles

Training assessment: prevention of major accidents through the approach of proactive safety, risks, and emergencies (APSRE)

This article presents Training Assessment: Prevention of Major Accidents through the Approach of Proactive Safety, Risks, and Emergencies (APSRE), for senior, full, junior, and undergraduate professionals and university graduate and postgraduate students, with the aim of improving the way thinking about a Proactive Safety Environment. With the development of research on Risk Management and the conception of the Proactive Safety Approach, with the aim of preventing major accidents and the damage arising from these events, the need to train people in organizations was verified, to support the survey and research of information, warning signs, analysis of proactive safety demands, planning, and development of actions, for the prevention of these major accidents, which are historically recurrent. The training for this course is made up of four free online consultation modules and is hosted on the Internet. The course presents in Module 1, an introductory basis, in Module 2, the theory of accidents, in Module 3, case studies of major accidents in the world, and in Module 4, activities and exercises to prevent and mitigate these major accidents. After the creation of this course, training was developed individually and in classes. In total, 12 classes of the Risk Management and Major Accident Prevention Course were trained, around 250 people in the class format, and around 50 people individually, totaling 300 people. The qualification of the Course Management of Risks and Prevention of Major Accidents, according to the validation presented in this article, can be used to meet different profiles, for senior professionals with knowledge in this subject, the qualification can be propitious for debates and reflections, for the full levels, training can be conducive to deepening the concepts and proposals, for junior levels and students, training can provide an initial base of learning for development in Risk Management and Major Accident Prevention. Conventional risk assessments can be reassessed, due to the contents presented in this article, and the Approach of Proactive Safety, Risks, and Emergencies (APSRE) through the presented framework, can be used to supplement conventional risk assessments.

Assessment of Factors Influencing Process Safety Risk Accumulation in Petroleum Operations in Nigeria

A cross-sectional exploratory assessment of the factors that influence process safety cumulative risk for accident prevention in petroleum operations in Niger-Delta Nigeria was investigated. For the study, a purposive cum random sampling technique was deployed among selected petroleum companies operating in Niger-Delta, Nigeria. A population of 261 of asset integrity engineers/operators, process safety experts, production safety professionals in the petroleum industry in the Niger Delta were sampled using survey questionnaires. Descriptive and inferential statistics (analysis of variance) were used for data analysis. Overall, the study established that process safety cumulative risk assessment has a significant influence in major accident prevention in petroleum operations in Niger-Delta, Nigeria. The study identified seven influencing factors that need to be considered by petroleum industries in Niger-Delta Nigeria, in assessing process safety cumulative risk: (a) preventive and corrective maintenance deviations (agreed by 100% of the respondents), (b) temporary changes (agreed by 98% of the respondents), (c) inhibits/overrides (agreed by 96% of the respondents. Also (d) 97% accounted for downgraded integrity items and (e) 100% accounted for permit to work as influencing factors. The study further showed that (f) simultaneous operations (averred by 99% of the respondents) and (g) open actions from safety review /audits (averred by 92% of the respondents) were the other influencing factors. Including these influencing factors in process safety cumulative risk assessment by the petroleum industries in the study area, will enable better operational decision making in reducing the risk of major accidents.

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.

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.

Proposal for and validation of novel risk-based process to reduce the risk of construction site fatalities (Major Accident Prevention (MAP) program)

Despite developments in the prevention of fatalities in the construction industry, fatalities resulting from well-known hazards continue at an unacceptable rate. Construction fatality prevention literature describes risk management techniques to provide ‘early warning’ of potential events. In dynamic construction project environments, these ‘early warnings’ are missed resulting in serious and fatal events. Critical Control Risk Management (CCRM) provides an alternative strategy to prevent fatal events in the construction industry. However, no research exists that explores the application of CCRM to actual construction projects. This study aims to design, develop, and validate a construction fatality prevention program using CCRM principles through mixed method research. A six-phase fatality prevention process, the Major Accident Prevention (‘MAP’) program was developed and validated over 18 months on an Australian construction project. The MAP program provided a practical approach to risk management which significantly enhanced frontline risk management practices. Modelling of performance indicators identified first aid injuries and hazard reporting were the most significant measures which correlated with supervisor observations, and personal risk assessments MAP activities. A weak correlation between MAP activities and first aid injuries was identified (0.528p = <0.05) with further statistical analysis limited by the small sample size. A key attribute of the MAP program was the risk profiling planning tool which provided a four week look ahead on the fatal risks, allowing management to focus effort on verifying relevant critical controls in the field. The findings of this study aim to help construction organizations develop and implement fatal risk prevention programs.

Взаимосвязь классификации химических веществ и критериев отнесения объектов к категории опасных производственных объектов

In 2002 the international community adopted a new system of hazard classification and labeling of chemical products, which is recommended to be implemented by all the Member- countries of the United Nations through national legislation and international acts. Within the frame of the implementation of this decision, in 2015 the amendments were made to the Directive of the European Community of June 24, 1982, № 82/501/EEC on the prevention of major industrial accidents, and to the United Nations Convention onthe prevention of major industrial accidents, and a little later to the national legislation of the European countries establishing measures on preventing major accidents. In 2017, the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union adopted the technical regulation on the safety of chemical products, which establishes classification criteria that are completely identical to the criteria for the system of hazard classification and labeling of chemical products. Entry into force of the technical regulation of the Eurasian Economic Union will lead to the need for amending all theregulatory legal acts and regulations that contain regulations based on the classification of chemical products, including in the Federal Law № 116-FZ of July 21, 1997, On industrial safety of hazardous production facilities. The task of harmonizing the legislation on industrial safety with the international documents in terms of the classification of chemicals was planned to be solved when developing a new law on industrial safety. During the discussion, the developers encountered different approaches to the definition of classes of hazardous substances, the analysis of which became the subject of this article. The authors formulated proposals that can be used at the next round of harmonization of the Russian legislation on industrial safety with the international documents. When preparing proposals with classes and lists of hazardous chemicals for use in the industrial safety legislation, a comparison was made not only of the definitions of classes of chemicals in different documents, but also of their quantities, which are the criteria for qualifying objects as hazardous production facilities. It is noted that the term «flammable liquids», used in 116-FZ, practically does not occur in the international classifications, therefore, when developing new documents, it was proposed not to use it.

Preparation for Transport Accidents of Dangerous Goods by Inland Waterways at the Establishments Involving Dangerous Substances

An important condition for the elimination of accidents during the transport of dangerous goods by inland waterway is the existence of appropriate legal rules. The unloading and loading of hazardous goods in ports as a hazardous plant involves a high risk. Internal safety planning enables operators of dangerous establishments with a port to be prepared for the prevention, elimination and mitigation of major accidents involving dangerous substances during the transport of dangerous goods at the premises. In the present study, the author will address this scientific problem in detail.

Chemical substitution in processes for inherently safer design: pros and cons

Abstract The aim of chemical substitution is to replace hazardous chemicals with a less hazardous alternative in a certain product or process to make it safer for human health and the environment. While a lot has been done by researchers, industries and regulatory bodies on chemical substitution for safer products, very little has been reported in the field of safer processes. On the other hand, chemical substitution is one of the core principles of inherently safer design, a concept frequently used in the chemical industry for the prevention of major accidents. This work presents an analysis of implementing chemical substitution methodology for safer processes through inherently safer design. Chemical industries, nowadays, are frequently asked to phase out hazardous chemicals from their processes. This paper provides an insight into the issues and practicability of chemical substitution in processes with the help of case studies and a review of the existing frameworks of inherently safer design.

Взаимосвязь геомеханики и недропользования с позиций законодательного определения термина «Недра»

The article presents a historical overview of the development of Geomechanics as a science in the re-search school of the Institute of Mining of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. A par-ticular attention is given to research into the stress-and-strain state of the rock mass and its changes in the course of operating the mining facilities, which plays a crucial role in securing the stability of struc-tures, mining safety, and prevention of major accidents. To ensure the safety of mining, a complex of research methods is used, including theoretical studies, physical and computer modeling, geophysical sensing of rock masses, ground-surface and satellite geodetic studies of the deformation processes. Geomechanical studies carried out at the Institute of Mining helped to gain new insights into the struc-ture of rock masses, variability of the stress-and-strain state, its mosaic structure as determined by the self-organization process within hierarchical block mass, to reveal the sources of emergencies and cat-astrophic events in mining. Current geomechanical research at the Institute is dedicated to the development of a scientific approach and execution of territory zoning using the criterion of technogenic and natural disasters in mining, studying regularities in the self-organization processes within the rock mass, development of technology to select favorable locations for hazardous and critical mining facili-ties. A special role is played by the prediction of possible changes in the stressandstrain state over time. The Geomechanics Department of the Institute of Mining uses field studies of the rock mass structure, geodetic studies of its mobility, remote sensing using satellite interferometry, and computer simulation of the properties and processes that take place within the rock mass.

Prevention of Major Accidents of Mobile Risk Sources

At present, the issue of public safety in the production and manipulation of hazardous chemicals deserves more attention, since various major accidents such as fires, explosions and toxic gas releases take place frequently. The issue of prevention of emergency events has become more and more topical. The growing amount of hazardous substances transported leads to increased risk of emergencies. In order to reduce this risk in the transport of hazardous substances, a number of technical, operational, traffic and safety conditions and requirements must be fulfilled. These all contribute to the reduction of hazards and risks. The aim of the presented article was to determine the extent of the danger zone in the event of a gasoline leak due to a traffic accident in a built-up urban area with a high frequency of traffic and population movement.

Safety Barrier Management: Risk-Based Approach for the Oil and Gas Sector

In the Oil and Gas sector, risk assessment and management have always been critical due to the possibility of significant accidents associated with the presence of large amounts of flammable hydrocarbons. Methods to provide accurate and reliable risk analysis for an oil platform usually focus on critical equipment and identify causes and consequences of loss of containment. Safety barriers are important elements of such accident scenarios, aiming to reduce the frequency of unwanted events. Estimating the performance of safety barriers is essential for the prevention of major accidents. This work first focuses on the application of risk-based analysis on the process area equipment of the floating platform Goliat. Such an approach is secondly extended to the most relevant safety systems to prevent fires and explosions and consequent catastrophic domino effects. An additional challenge resides in the fact that safety barriers cannot always be classified as equipment, as they are often composed of operational and organizational elements. Through the application of the ARAMIS Project (Accidental Risk Assessment Methodology for Industries in the Context of the Seveso II Directive) results, the frequency modification methodology based on TEC2O (TEChnical Operational and Organizational factors) and the REWI (Resilience-based Early Warning Indicators) method, it is possible to quantify the safety barrier performance, to reduce the frequency of unwanted events. While conducting this study, the importance of the management factor in combination with technical and technological aspects of safety barrier performance was analyzed. Starting from the initial project conditions, applying worsening technical factors, and simulating n organizational management for the safety systems, it is possible to quantify the performance of the safety barriers, highlighting the importance of management factors in terms of prevention of major accidents, and to assess the dynamic risk for the overall plant.

Prevention and mitigation of injuries and damages arising from the activity of subliminal enterprises: A case study in Slovakia

The paper focuses on risk sources under no legislative pressure in the field of prevention of major accidents. Despite this, they can represent significant sources of risk of accidents.The aim of the paper is to present the results of the risk assessment associated with the operation of enterprises not regulated by the SEVESO III Directive (the so-called subliminal enterprises), to provide information on possible operational problems and to verify the applicability of recognized risk analysis methods for these specific sources of risk. Last but not least, its purpose is to point out that subliminal enterprises, due to their location close to residential areas or areas with a high concentration of population, pose a serious risk to the population.The paper summarizes the results of the quantitative risk assessment of a specific enterprise not included in the Seveso Directive – a filling station. Filling stations are frequently located in built-up areas with a dense coefficient of habitability. Due to their number, location (e.g. close to residential areas), frequency of occurrence of persons in the area and handling of dangerous substances during normal operation, they can have negative or even tragic consequences to the life and health of the population.Due to the non-existent risk assessment methodology for enterprises with subliminal quantities of dangerous substances and the lack of a systematic search for risk sources, a risk assessment procedure for these companies is designed.

Analysis of Fire and Explosion Properties of LNG

Aim: The aim of this article is to analyse fire and explosion properties of LNG along with the identification of hazards that may arise during emergency incidents involving it. The article is based on an analysis of the available literature and a full-scale experimental study involving a 200-liter LNG tank leading to a jet fire. Introduction: Safe use and proper transport of flammable and harmful substances, together with the analysis of the effects of threats, enable the reduction of the number of accidents and provide possible conditions for the evacuation of people and property in a hazard zone. The compilation and systematization of knowledge on the safe use of the environmentally friendly LNG fuel will allow for an increase in the scope of its use. It is consistent with the state’s sustainable development policy consisting in identifying threats or adjusting technical solutions that minimize losses in transport or industry. Methodology: There are many legal acts in the world regarding safe storage and transport of LNG. One of the most important is Directive 2012/18/EC known as “Seveso III”. This document contains requirements for the prevention of major accidents involving hazardous substances – including LNG – and ways to reduce their negative effects on human health and the environment. Relevant requirements have also been specified in standards, tests, articles and other international acts, including in the European agreement on the international carriage of dangerous goods by road (the so-called ADR Agreement). The article compares flammable and explosive parameters of LNG. Possible scenarios occurring during the release and ignition of the LNG vapour cloud have been shown. The change of pressure of LNG vapour in the 200 l tank as a function of its heating time in the burning spill of a mixture of gasoline and diesel fuel is presented. In such a thermal exposure, a jet fire with a flame length of up to 5 meters was obtained. Conclusions: The proper use of flammable gases should be a priority in ensuring fire and explosion safety in facilities, during transport, etc. Hence, recognizing the threats and comparing them, or matching technical solutions that minimize the effects of LNG failures will allow active inclusion of knowledge in this field in the process of protection against fire and explosion. In case of LNG storage, attention should be paid to the types of materials in the immediate vicinity of this liquefied gas in order to have sufficient mechanical properties at the lowest liquefied gas temperature. Keywords: LNG, fire safety, process safety Article type: review article

Ageing management and monitoring of critical equipment at Seveso sites: An ontological approach

A safe “ageing” of Seveso establishments is a challenge for both operators and regulators. To this scope, Seveso III Directive required to integrate the equipment integrity issue into the safety management system for the major accident prevention; at the same time, the Italian Authority adopted a short-cut method for a quick ageing evaluation, which awards the application of the best techniques to control integrity and prevent deterioration-related failures. In this paper, the use of the ontology has been proposed to support decision-making about the implementation of technical solutions to control equipment ageing and comply the requirements of the Seveso legislation. To contrast deterioration mechanisms, the rapid development of data intensive smart sensors should be exploited and, in this frame, the automated on-line direct monitoring of equipment conditions, based on innovative low-cost sensors, is a novelty and promising solution. The developed ontology-based system points towards the adoption, when possible, of on-line monitoring. This solution provides much more data than traditional measurements and it is essential for the operators to understand how to merge concurrent information and data and to adequately control equipment deterioration. The ontology-based approach appears a viable solution even for this purpose. To demonstrate its potentiality, a real use-case has been used, where the model has been tested in finding the best technical solutions to improve the ageing management of an atmospheric distillation unit of a refinery in order to comply with safety requirements. A further use-case is given to show how the model can be used to react, after real-time damage signals, to restore safety conditions by means of an adequate decision-making.

Chemical industry in China: The current status, safety problems, and pathways for future sustainable development

Safety risks have become an obstacle to the sustainability of the chemical industry in China since many chemical companies were forced to close down by China’s government in the past three years. This study investigates chemical safety in China in order to identify the causes of the major accidents and accompanying casualties, formulating the safety management needs to develop a sustainable chemical industry in China. First, we analyze the evolution and current status of China’s chemical industry to identify possible safety issues rooted in the industry. Second, a thorough accident investigation is conducted based on official statistics and collected chemical accidents in China in the period 2004–2019. Furtherly, the main laws, regulations, guidelines, standards and measures related to chemical safety are analyzed and compared with those in Europe. According to analyses related to the chemical industry, chemical accidents and safety legislation and measures in China and Europe, the current problems with respect to chemical safety in China are discussed systematically. Based on research findings, we propose recommendations for the improvement of chemical safety so as to promote the sustainable development of the chemical industry in China. This study also provides basic data and information for future studies on the safety and sustainability of the chemical industry and major accident prevention in other countries.

Process Safety Leading Indicators in Oil Storage and Pipelines: Building a Panel of Indicators

The inherent hazards of crude oil and other hydrocarbons have led the companies that work with these products to act toward the prevention of major accidents, so that their activities do not cause damages to the population, property and environment, apart from guaranteeing the operational continuity and survival of business. Major accidents are caused when simultaneous failures of the protection layers of the process safety management system occur. Establishing leading indicators that demonstrate process safety performance is necessary to support decision-making and prevent the degradation of safety systems and to avoid major accidents. For the implementation of these indicators, it is necessary that the anomalies related to process safety are properly and separately appropriated from occupational safety anomalies. The methodological structure of this paper relies on a research, based on approach of process safety by important institutions of the world, focusing on what has been established for leading indicators in this area. A case study in storage and transport facilities for petroleum and oil products is developed. From the theoretical framework studied, an initial database of leading indicators of process safety was structured, which was carefully customized for the industrial segment studied and allowed the initial selection of a set of process safety leading indicators. This initial database was submitted to a group of selected experts who validated these indicators. Then, with the support of the fuzzy method, a final panel of process safety leading indicators was chosen and ranked.

Process safety education - learning at the level of the establishment and at the human level

Major industrial accidents, such as the accidents in Seveso (1976) or in Bhopal (1984), did occur in the past. They still happen contemporarily, eg. fire in Arkema Inc. on August 29, 2017 or in BASF Corporation October 17, 2016 and there is little doubt that they will keep on occurring in the future. Lack of or insufficient learning, drawing no conclusions from accidents or even forgetting about them might be viewed as some of the reasons for such state of affairs.Learning can be considered at the level of the whole establishment (learning organization) as well as at the level of a particular person. With the use of Peter Sange's definition of learning organization and its five characteristics: thinking systems, personal mastery, mental models, shared vision and team learning, we can diagnose the weaknesses and strengths of establishment as an organization that can learn. However the learning process of the individual depends directly on the way the lecturer delivers knowledge. The use of the division of professional qualifications into mental, practical and personality traits with the application of Bloom's taxonomy (classification of educational learning objectives) and Niemierko's taxonomy (classification used in Poland) allows us to look at training in a different, more practical way.Training methods and organizational solutions, especially in process safety, play a key role as they transform into the need to use the acquired knowledge in practice, in a real situation, under pressure at the moment of accident. There is a reason the key elements of the system for the prevention of major industrial accidents, i.e. the safety management system and emergency plans, are based on systematic training and continuous improvement. Emerging concepts and methods of occupational safety and health management intertwined with resilience engineering, such as Safety II, Zero Accident Vision or Human & Organizational Performance can be successfully used in process safety.

Major accident prevention illustrated by hydrocarbon leak case studies: A comparison between Brazilian and Norwegian offshore functional petroleum safety regulatory approaches

Despite laws, regulations, or risk management tools designed to avoid loss events, a hydrocarbon leak (HCL) in an offshore oil and gas platform11Also mentioned in this paper as ‘offshore platform’ or ‘platform’. is a major hazard event that reveals failures in risk control. In addition, similarities between different HCLs challenge the efficiency of current improvement mechanisms and the completeness of applied risk management practices. Accident causation models sustain that different roles in different levels, including regulators, companies, and the work environment, create the necessary conditions to a loss event, and therefore should be part of the accident analysis. This paper analyzes similar HCLs occurred in Norwegian and Brazilian offshore platforms to compare the regulatory approaches to risk control, aiming to identify influences related to the recurrence of HCLs in functional regulatory regimes (FRRs). As a result, each HCL among case studies consists of human errors that occurred while offshore crews were operating unsafe systems created by improper design or changes to address operational demands. An inappropriate context may support the impairment of safeguards that may not always be available or reliable in an environment which has as particular aspects the remoteness and the need to be self-sufficient. As a consequence, unsafe systems impose safety rules to offshore personnel and more relevance to human performance in the overall risk picture. In FRRs, the combination of regulatory requirements and enforcement activities is part of the safety context and influence risk owners’ behavior. The current comparison identifies differences between Brazilian and Norwegian regulatory regimes that may influence safety in offshore systems, as well as risk constraints related to human performance, which is strongly dependent on influencing factors such as safety culture.

Major accidents in Norwegian fish farming

The Norwegian fish farming industry is experiencing accidents that may have serious consequences for fish-farm operators, the environment, and the farmed fish themselves. Fatalities and serious personnel injuries, mass mortality of fish during and after operations, introgression of genes from farmed salmon, the spread of disease and material damage to assets are among the consequences. The reputation of the industry and the market value of its products may also suffer as a result of such incidents. Other industries have developed regulations aimed at preventing incidents called major accidents, which are usually defined as accidents that have different characteristics than occupational accidents. A holistic and efficient risk management system needs to cover all types of incidents. In spite of serious accidents, regulators have yet to adopt a holistic approach to the prevention of major accidents in Norwegian aquaculture. Here, we describe and discuss five main risk dimensions in the aquaculture industry that provide a holistic view of the complex risk picture of fish farming; fish welfare, personnel safety, risk to the environment, economic loss and food safety. Hazards that emerge in the fish production process and in the local environment, have consequences both for the fish farm and for society as a whole. On the basis of characteristics drawn from definitions of major accident regulations in other industries and the risk dimensions of fish farming, we propose a general definition of major accidents. The definition is discussed based on the type of risks that occur in fish farming, and with an emphasis on accidents that have happened in the Norwegian aquaculture industry. The occurrence of major fish farming accidents shows that a systemic approach to safety and risk management is needed. Regulators and industry are already looking to the offshore petroleum industry in order to develop and adapt technology and risk management for aquaculture. Approaches to risk regulation in the two industries are discussed and some differences pointed out. Barrier management is one of the potentially holistic and systemic major risk management methods required in offshore regulation that is seen as a possible way forward for the fish farming industry, and we offer some reflections on adopting this method to fish farming.

Major accident prevention: A Construction Site Approach for Pro-active Management of Unsafe Conditions

In large-scale construction projects, site situation and surrounding environment can change daily. This is due to multiple factors acting as “incident catalysts”, like less, or un-skilled workers, outsourcing, more complex construction phases (heights or confined spaces), under pressure working conditions, as well as changes in environmental conditions (e.g. wind, temperature, etc.). It is essential to acquire a statistical significant reference concerning the unsafe acts and risky behaviour to implement proactive measures preventing occurrences of major incidents. In this paper, the construction phase in the Middle East of one of the world’s largest oil and petrochemical integrated complex was considered. Starting from the accident/incident pyramid approach, management, direct field supervisors, as well as subcontractors were involved in the development and upgrading of a Multilayer Reporting System, covering any risk behaviours, unsafe situation, violations or acts, safety or environmental issues, near misses as well as minor, or major accidents. The modular approach provided a comprehensive overview of the core human and technical issues in the construction and testing of the process plant, suggesting how to implement technical and managerial solutions to handle them effectively, reduce the likelihood of errors, violations and avoid damages to the facilities, environment and humans.