3

Key elements of an effective process safety management system

Approximate Learning Time

 

Introduction

In this unit you will learn about how a complete and integrated Process Safety Management system can be developed, with a particular emphasis on Risk Identification and Assessment and Hazard identification and risk assessment.

Some of the elements in this unit are looked at again in more detail in unit 7.

 

The Four Focus Areas & The Four Accident Prevention Pillars

 
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  • 3.1

    Key elements of an effective process safety management system

    Four Accident Prevention Pillars

    The Basic Components

    There is broad agreement on the basic components of a Process Safety Management system, although there are minor variations in the way different bodies define it.

    The Chemical Centre for Process Safety (CCPS, see reading list) specifies that a complete PSM system should be built on the four accident prevention pillars.

    The four Accident Prevention Pillars

    • Click on the targets to reveal the four accident prevention pillars.

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  • 3.2

    Key elements of an effective process safety management system

    Four Focus Areas

    The Basic Components

    The Energy Institute, in its High Level Framework for PSM, outlines four focus areas:

    The Four Focus Areas

    • Click on the targets to reveal the four Focus Areas

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  • Compare the two, and you’ll see that they’re saying the same thing in a slightly different way.

    Chemical Centre for Process Safety

    Accident Pillar 1

    Commit to Process Safety

    Accident Pillar 2

    Understand the Hazards & Risks

    Accident Pillar 3

    Manage Risk

    Accident Pillar 4

    Learn from Experience

    The Energy Institute

    Focus Area 1

    Process Safety Leadership

    Focus Area 2

    Risk Identification and Assessment

    Focus Area 3

    Risk Management

    Focus Area 4

    Review and Improvement

     
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  • A combined total of 20 elements sit beneath each of the 4 focus areas.

    Each of these elements has to be effectively managed to create a complete and fully effective Process Safety Management System.

    Let’s look more closely now at the 4 Focus Areas provided by The Energy Institute, and the elements within each Focus Area.

    • Click on the targets below for more information.



     
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  • Reaction to Buncefield

    Given that the purpose of this course is to prepare you for the real world of Process Safety Management, it’s important that you make the link between the theory and the practice.

    In other words, in this area, how do the Focus Areas and the elements within them apply to day-to-day operations in the chemicals industry?

    As you’ve already seen, case studies play a major role in this course, and we’ll now take a second look at the Buncefield incident in 2005.

    After you have watched it, there is a simple exercise which will help you to make the link between theory and practice.

    Reaction to Buncefield Explosion Decision

    In this short film, the Health and Safety Executive asks three important questions linked to Process Safety Management.

     
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  • The 3 key questions that the HSE referred to can be linked to the Energy Institute 4 Focus Areas.

    Do we understand what could go wrong?

    Do we know what our systems are to prevent this happening?

    Do we have information to assure us that they are working effectively?

    • For further reading download the files.

     
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  • Key Elements

    To illustrate the concept of key elements, we now need to take a closer look at one Focus Area (Risk Identification and Assessment) and one element within that Focus Area (Hazard identification and risk assessment).

    This element can be considered in two parts (A & B).

    Part A

    Understand how to identify hazards associated with hazardous substances and process plant

    Part B

    Understand how to assess the risks associated with hazardous substances and process plant

     
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  • Part A: Identifying Hazards

    It’s important to understand how to identify hazards associated with hazardous substances and process plants.

    Important Advice and Definitions

    The tabs below contain some important terms and definitions linked to Process Safety Management.

    The Health and Safety Executive define hazard as: Anything that may cause harm e.g. chemicals, electricity, working from ladders, noise etc.

    In the context of process safety we can consider a hazard to be: Anything that can lead to catastrophic accidents particularly structural collapse, explosions, fires and toxic releases associated with loss of containment of energy or dangerous substances.

    An incident/accident, as defined in the COMAH regulations, means “an occurrence (including in particular, a major emission, fire or explosion) resulting from uncontrolled developments in the course of the operation of any establishment and leading to serious danger to human health or the environment, immediate or delayed, inside or outside the establishment and involving one or more dangerous substances

    Harm can be to people and/or the environment.

    In order to identify hazards, you must be able to classify dangerous substances. in other words, you have to know what you’re processing.

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  • Identify hazards within
    actual events

    These three videos document examples of incidents where companies had failed to identify hazards, and this led to major explosions and fires.

    As you watch the video clips, think about what the hazards were that the companies failed to identify, and how that links back to the 4 Focus Areas and the individual elements.

     
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  • Classification of Dangerous Substances

    An important pre-requisite of hazard identification is a detailed knowledge of dangerous substances, and the effect on people and the environment of major accidents involving these substances.

    Oil SpillYou should therefore devote additional time offline to studying the technical terms and definitions contained in the ‘Dangerous substances’ PDF glossary.


    • For further reading download the files.

     
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  • Loss of Containment

    A key concept in Process Safety Management is loss of containment. This describes a situation where dangerous substances (eg. liquids, gases, electricity) escape from pipes, pumps, tanks, containers, etc. It also relates to incidents where solids (eg. metal structures and equipment) are projected through the air, fall from height, etc. In the vast majority of major incidents, loss of containment is the principle cause.

    Loss of Containment Examples

    Example 1

    Overpressure leading to mechanical failure, High velocity and/or large mass projectiles, High temperature releases

    Example 2

    Rotating equipment failure, High velocity and/or large mass projectiles

    Example 3

    Equipment falling from heights

    Example 4

    Electricity Leakage

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  • Loss of containment of Energy

    A detailed knowledge of the most likely causes of loss of containment is another essential pre-requisite in the process of identifying and understanding hazards.

    Containment So, again, you should devote additional time offline to studying the technical terms and definitions contained in the ‘Likely causes of loss of containment’ PDF glossary.


    • For further reading download the files.

     
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  • Hazard Identification Techniques

    Any Hazard Identification process will involve a mix of received wisdom, established practices and current experience: bringing together theory and practice.

    As with any industry involving complex operations, different hazard identification techniques have evolved. In this section we look at three of them.

    The first two rely heavily on the experience of the team involved in the process.

     
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    Hazard Identification Techniques

    HAZOP differs from the first two approaches because it is very structured and formalised.

    See below for key terms.

     
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  • That concludes Part One.

    A recap - you will remember that one of the four Energy Institutes Focus Areas we looked at is Risk Identification & Assessment

    One element within this Focus Area is Hazard identification and Risk assessment, which we have divided into two parts:

    In Part One we looked at how to identify hazards associated with hazardous substances and process plant

    In Part Two we turn our attention to how to assess the risks associated with hazardous substances and process plant.

     

    Hazards and Risks Activity

    Part 2: Understanding Risk

    Understanding the risk associated with an activity requires answering the following 3 important questions.

     
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  • Correct!

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  • Understanding Risk

    Risk is a function of Consequence and Frequency

    The HSE has produced a five-step approach to risk assessment.

    • For further reading click on the available resources.

    5 Steps
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  • Risk Evaluation Techniques

    There are a number of different Risk Evaluation Techniques.

    • - Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA)

    • - Layer of Protection Analysis (LOPA)

    • - Fault Tree Analysis (FTA)

    • - Event Tree Analysis (ETA)

    • - Human Reliability Analysis (HRA) event tree

    • For further reading download the files.

     

    Well done. You have reached the end of Unit 3.

    Proceed to Unit 4 or return to the Main Menu