Operational Risk, Process Safety

A few weeks ago [note: written in August 2010], Senator Frank Lautenberg proposed Secure Chemical Facilities Act (S. 3559) to the Senate committee on Homeland Security. The bill mandates Inherent Safer Technology (IST) or Inherently safer design (ISD) at high-risk chemical facilities.

Knowing the uncertainties surrounding the mere definition of  inherent safety, one could say that it is preposterous to mandate IST. IST cannot be regulated and worse it would burden the industry. To a large extent this is true.

OSHA is asking stakeholders to identify hazardous chemicals they believe are most in need of action. 

Why?

“OSHA realizes the inadequacy of many of its Permissible Exposure Limits (PELs) and is seeking creative solutions, both long term and short term, to address this inadequacy.” 

For the benefit of the readers of the blog, I would appreciate if you leave a comment below to indicate what chemicals are of immediate concern. You can submit your nominations to OSHA here by 27th August:

http://www.osha.gov/pelforum.html

Check valves are commonly used in the process industry for preventing back-flow or reverse flow.

Check valves achieve unidirectional flow by means of a mechanical partition – ball, diaphragm, disc.

According to the FAA, there have been 113 battery fire incidents on passenger and cargo planes between 1991-2010. There is a battery fire incident every two months in the airline industry.

Below is an excellent safety message about driving safely (Courtsey: Paul Koyich).

In a number of my previous blog posts, I have emphasized the disturbing trend of fires and explosions in the biodiesel and biofuel industry.

Based on the statistics, the biodiesel industry in the US is experiencing an incident every two-and-a-half months, i.e. approx. 10 weeks.

Earlier this year I was in Seoul and got a chance to see Avatar 4D.

What’s the 4th dimension?  Moving seats, wind, water sprinkling, lasers, and synthetic smells used to enhance the movie experience.

That made me wonder, with so much  advances in media/entertainment, why is most safety training so dull?

“This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill – the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill – you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.” 

– Morpheus to Neo in the movie The Matrix.

[Read more…]

A few weeks ago, I had written a post comparing threshold exposure values for SO2 and H2S. After that post, Lee Pharis, one of the blog readers, forwarded me an email describing the new EPA standard for SO2 exposure.

EPA has set the one-hour SO2 health standard at 75 parts per billion (ppb), a level intended to protect against short-term exposures ranging from five minutes to 24 hours.

Chemical processes and designs are increasingly being evaluated for inherent safety – i.e. reduce the hazard rather than the risk. The philosophy behind inherent safety is ‘What You Don’t Have, Can’t Leak’ and so you take necessary steps to reduce the hazard.

OSHA Process Safety Management (PSM) program is nearly two decades old and I believe that the 14 PSM elements provide a good basic framework for facilities to create a safety program.

What OSHA PSM lacks is quality metric.

Let me explain further.

Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) are a part of today’s corporate growth strategy. As a part of M&A due diligence various critical business issues are evaluated. But what about safety performance of the company you are looking to acquire or merge with?

You will say that most M&A in oil and gas/chemical processing industries are asset-driven. You look at what the pots and pans can do for you in the future and base your M&A decision.

Natural gas pipelines have caused incidents leading to fatalities, injuries, and property damages.

To be precise, there have been an average of 50 serious gas pipeline incidents every year in the U.S. between 1990-2009 (Source: http://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/comm/reports/safety/SerPSI.html?nocache=4823) resulting in more than 300 fatalities. Majority of the reported gas incidents have occurred on the gas distribution lines – i.e.  gas pipeline systems that are found in thousands of communities from coast to coast and distribute natural gas to our homes and businesses.

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Risk is a perception.

Our perception of risks is mainly affected by two factors:

(a) whether we are voluntarily accepting the risk. 

A good example is a refinery worker considers the risks at workplace lower than his cousin who has only read about chemical plants; and

(b) potential consequences of event or act or decision.

LNG spilled onto water sometime undergoes a rapid phase transition (RPT) or physical explosion creating localized overpressures.

Such physical explosions are also observed when water contacts molten metal or hot lava (steam explosions)