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Major accidents such as those at Texas City • developing world-class safety management
and Buncefield and in the Gulf of Mexico have high- systems; and
lighted the critical role played by senior managers in • identifying weaknesses in these systems using
the process industries. Effective leadership is essen- targeted performance indicators.
tial to develop a positive safety culture that remains
constantly vigilant toward process safety risks. (For LEARNING FROM RECENT EVENTS
details on how DuPont and Dow executives have Major accidents with multiple fatalities continue to
established a strong safety culture in their companies, occur worldwide in the process industries, causing
see “Orchestrate An Effective Safety Culture,” www. distress to those involved and massive costs to compa-
ChemicalProcessing.com/articles/2012/orchestrate- nies. Accidents at Flixborough, U.K., Seveso, Italy,
an-effective-safety-culture/ and “Make Safety Second Bhopal India, and Pasadena, Texas, in the 1970s
Nature,” www.ChemicalProcessing.com/articles/2011/ and 1980s led to tighter regulation of the process
make-safety-second-nature/.) The U.K. Health and industries and raised awareness of the key risk control
Safety Executive (HSE) has made process safety lead- systems needed to prevent such accidents. Recent
ership a key priority for high hazard industries. accidents have increased recognition of the key role
This article will explore the leadership failings of senior managers in ensuring these systems are ef-
that contributed to recent major accidents and essen- fectively implemented and remain robust throughout
tial leadership principles, including: the life of a facility.
• ensuring senior management actively supports Investigation of the 2005 explosion at BP’s Texas
process safety through its investment strategy City, Texas, refinery revealed a series of failings in
and focus on the safety culture of the organiza- process safety management (PSM). This prompted a
tion; fundamental and independent review of the BP cor-
• reinforcing the importance of safety by personal porate safety culture across its refining operations in
example; the U.S. [1]. As the so-called Baker Panel emphasized,
• thoroughly understanding major accident haz- many of the deficiencies it found are not limited to
ards and key risk control systems; BP. So, other processors certainly should ponder the
• investigating process safety incidents and near following noteworthy comments in the report:
misses to find the underlying causes; • Companies should regularly and thoroughly
REFERENCES
1. Baker, J. et al., “The Report of the BP U.S. Refineries Independent Safety Review Panel,” BP, London
(2007).
2. “Buncefield: Why Did It Happen? The Underlying Causes of the Explosion and Fire at the Buncefield Oil
Storage Depot, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire On 11 December 2005,” HSE Books, Sudbury, U.K. (2011).
3. Schein, E. H., “Organizational Culture and Leadership,” 4 ed., John Wiley, Hoboken, N.J. (2010).
4. “Best Practice Guide: Process Safety Leadership in the Chemicals Industry,” Chemical Industries Assn.,
London (2008).
5. “High Level Framework for Process Safety Management,” Energy Institute, London (2010).
6. “Major Incident Investigation Report, BP Grangemouth Scotland, 29th May – 10th June 2000,” HMSO,
Norwich, U.K. (2003).
7. “Process Safety Performance Indicators for the Refining and Petrochemical Industries, Recommended
Practice 754,” American Petroleum Institute, Washington, D.C. (2010).
4 Combustible Dust
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4 Process Safety Management
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4 Electrical Safety
4 Respiratory Protection
4 Hazardous Materials Handling
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Process documentation and other process Of course, the challenge is ensuring the information
safety information (PSI) play a key role in process safety you have is adequate and remains that way. So, in this
management (PSM). Nearly every governing author- article we’ll discuss how to assess and address process
ity, including the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health documentation.
Administration (OSHA), and the National Fire Protec- You should start with the fundamentals. Firstly,
tion Association, as well as insurance providers require senior management should prepare a safety mission
process safety documentation. statement and safety policy that commits them to the
While requirements differ slightly among industries, safety of employees and their work environment. Sec-
the key documents common to most include: ondly, form a safety committee to manage the diverse
• process description; aspects of overseeing collection of data and the creation
• process flow diagram; of required documentation. Members should include
• piping and instrumentation drawing (P&ID); representatives from management; health, safety and en-
• electrical area classification drawing; vironmental; engineering; maintenance; manufacturing;
• process hazard analysis (PHA); quality control; and any other departments important
• material safety data sheets (MSDS); to your processes. Thirdly, the safety committee should
• design basis for emergency systems and devices; create a “basis of safety” document as a roadmap for
• startup/shutdown operating procedures; your approach to the design and management of the
• normal operating procedures; safety system, ensuring your operations meet the intent
• emergency procedures; of your company’s safety policy.
• management-of-change procedure; and The best approach for any large undertaking is to
• maintenance records. segment it into manageable pieces. The safety commit-
Supporting documents may include: tee should delegate individual document ownership to
• material and energy balance; appropriate departments. When resources are limited,
• process chemistry; outsourcing the technical drawings to a local engineer-
• materials of construction; ing firm is a common approach. However, you must
• equipment arrangement; start the process internally because no one knows your
• plot plant; operation better than your own people. Prepare a list
• ventilation design; of documents currently available, even if they’re old or
• emergency planning; outdated. Perform a gap analysis to define which docu-
• upper and lower control limits; ments are missing.
• consequence of process deviation; and If the resources for document preparation (in terms
• accident/incident investigation reports. of time or cost) are a factor, select a smaller “boutique”
Additionally, a site should carefully maintain — and engineering firm that can perform the work part time at
periodically update or revalidate — documents pertain- a reduced cost. Alternatively, consider contacting a local
ing to life safety and building structural design. university about participating in a cooperative program
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