Faculty of Chemical Engineering

Universiti Teknologi MARA

Introduction to

Process Safety - CPE615

Process Safety
What is Safety….???

Process Safety - CPE615

Safety = the older strategy of accident prevention
through the use of PPEs (e.g. hard hats and safety
shoes) and a variety of rules and regulations.

The emphasis is on the worker safety.

Safety and Loss Prevention
• “Safety” has been replaced by “loss prevention”
• Loss prevention includes hazard identification,
technical evaluation, and the design of new

Process Safety - CPE615

engineering features to prevent loss.

Safety/loss prevention = the prevention of

accidents through the use of appropriate
technologies to identify hazards of a chemical
plant and eliminate them before accident
occurs.
Hazard versus Risk

 Hazard = a condition that has the potential to

cause human injury or fatality, damage to
property, damage to the environment or some

Process Safety - CPE615

combination of these.
 Risk = a measure of human injury, environmental
damage, or economic loss in terms of both the
incident likelihood and the magnitude of the loss
or injury.
 In other words, risk = a chance of injury or loss or
bad consequences to happen.
 Categories of Hazards
Category
Chemical Hazards
Mechanical Hazards
Example
acidity, alkalinity, corrosivity,
explosiveness, flammability, toxicity,
asphyxation.
moving equipment, tripping hazards,

Process Safety - CPE615

impact and forces
Thermodynamics Hazards high/low temperature, high pressure,
vacuum, heat transfer
Electrical and Electromagnetic high voltage, radiation, static
Hazards electricity, electrical current
Health Hazards noise, pollution, vibration,
radioactivity,
External Threats accidental damage by missiles and
vehicles, act of god and natural
causes
Safety versus Health
 Health = a state of physical and mental well-being
– including the absence of disease or infirmity.
 Safety = the absence of physical or psychological

Process Safety - CPE615

injury or harm and often extends to the absence
of damage or property
 Safety deals with acute effects of hazards
 Health issue deals with chronic effects of hazards
 Chronic: persistent, prolonged and repeated
 Acute: immediate, short term
Engineers and Safety
 A requirement for engineering curricular to
include safety as a subject matter.
 Health and safety issues must be given great
emphasis starting from the design stage.

Process Safety - CPE615

 Non-compliance with safety standards can
severely affect a company’s bottom line.
 Penalties and fines
 Worker compensation
 Engineers who design the workplace and its
equipment or who manage and supervise
workers need to have an understanding of the
safety and health regulation.
 Major Process Industry
Accidents:
Accidents Consequences
 Fires  Fatalities

Process Safety - CPE615

 Explosions  Injuries
 Toxic Releases  Environmental Damage
 Property Damage
 Evacuations
 Property Losses
 Plant Closings
 Fines, Lawsuit
Some Major Industrial

Process Safety - CPE615

Accidents in the Past
 Bhopal, 1984
 Release of toxic gas
 40 tons of Methyl Isocynate escaped from
Union Carbide Plant
 3000 died (respiratory failure)
 Thousands more died in weeks that followed

Process Safety - CPE615

 More than 500,000 suffered
 Chernobyl, 1986
 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor,
Ukraine.
 Large area of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus was
evacuated, 336 000 people resettled.

Process Safety - CPE615

 Fewer than 50 direct death, but thousands of
cancer-related cases.
 Severe damage to the environment.
 Piper Alpha, 1988
 World’s most famous oil rig disaster.
 167 out of 229 people died
 Initial explosion followed by a fierce fire which, in
turn, triggered off a further series of explosions.

Process Safety - CPE615

 Flames could be seen 100 km away.
 In our backyards: Bright
Sparklers, 1991
 Fire ignited from product testing activities.
 Fire and explosion destroyed the factory
completely.

Process Safety - CPE615

 23 people died and 103 others sustained injuries.
 Not long ago:
BP Texas City Refinery
 23 March 2005
 Fire and Explosion
 Killing 15 workers and injuring more than 170

Process Safety - CPE615

others.
 Quite Recently:
Deep Water Horizon Platform
 Gulf Coast of United States
 Platform explosion and sinking, killed 11 workers
 Leaking of hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil

Process Safety - CPE615

into the Gulf of Mexico that is making it probably the
worst industrial environmental disaster in US history.
 For Next Class
 Prepare a simple presentation to describe about
one past industrial accident.
 Explain, what can we learn from the disaster.

Process Safety - CPE615