Incidents catastrophic

Catastrophic Incident An incident involving a major uncontrolled emission, fire or explosion that causes significant damage, injuries and/or fatalities onsite and have an outcome effect zone that extends into the surrounding community. 

Due to the destructive nature of hydrocarbon forces when handled incorrectly, fire and explosion protection principles should be the prime feature in the risk philosophy of any hydrocarbon facility. Vapor cloud explosions in particular are consider the highest risk at a hydrocarbon facility. Disregarding the importance of protection features or systems will eventually prove to be costly both in economic and human terms should a catastrophic incident occur without adequate safeguards. 

Inherently design safety features at facilities provides for adequate spacing, arrangement and segregation of equipment from high hazard to low hazard. The least hazardous process systems should be used for obtaining the desired product or production objectives. Protective systems are provided to minimized the effects that may occur from a catastrophic incident. 

Negative employee moral may manifest itself in an aspect of direct damage to company equipment as retribution. These effects may be disguised as accidental events in order to avoid persecution by the individuals involved. Other incidents may be perpetrated by outright terrorist activities. Incidental effects may develop into catastrophic incidents unbeknown even to the saboteur. The design of facilities should account for periods when management and labor relations may not be optimum and opportunities for vandalization could easily avail themselves. Where terrorist activity is ongoing suitable preventive measures must be instituted (i.e., increased security measures, barricades, etc.). 

Suggested control and instrumentation for the management of process components are shown in API RP I4C which is still relatively the standard within the industry. All process control systems are usually reviewed by a Process Hazard Analysis, which will deem if the provided mechanism area is adequate to prevent a catastrophic incident. 

Atmospheric vapor releases or liquid spills within a petroleum or related facilities commonly occur every day. They are a major source of the origin of catastrophic incidents. In order to provide an inherently safer facility the common release of process vapors to atmosphere or liquids to grade within the facility should be prevented or eliminated wherever practical. Not only does this improve the safety of a facility it also decreases the amount of fugitive emissions or liquids that occur therefore decreasing any potential harm to the environment. Containment of waste gases and liquids, human surveillance, increased testing, inspection and maintenance, gas detection and adequate vapor dispersion features are all measures to lesson the probability of an incident occurring. 

Areas of the North and South Atlantic, and North and South Pacific present continual extreme and hostile ambient conditions that make survival exposed to such conditions a very limited probability with adequate protection measures. In these locations the probability of survival is increased with the provision of a fixed safe refuge rather than the provision of an immediate means of escape. For offshore facilities historical evidence indicates that both helicopter and lifeboat mechanism may be unavailable in some catastrophic incidents. Remote onshore facilities may also experience severe winter conditions that also render this philosophy applicable. 

Catastrophic Incident A event that significantly exceeds the resources of a jurisdiction. 

Management has the responsibility to create and maintain an atmosphere of trust and respect to encourage openness in reporting near misses and actual loss events. Failure to achieve this positive atmosphere will result in low or no reporting of near misses, which may ultimately lead to a catastrophic incident that could have been otherwise avoided. 

Regulations could encourage inherently safer design and mitigation by granting exemptions where such measures are proven to prevent catastrophic incidents. 

Emergency Response The protection of people from the effects of an escalating or catastrophic incident. 

Regardless, the classification system should achieve a specific outcome and add value. To achieve this goal, companies should consider developing a classification scheme that helps establish the proper team composition based on the complexity, nature, and severity of the occurrence. Chapter 7 describes considerations for building a team based on classification of an incident. The chapter defines terms such as minor incidents, limited impact incidents, significant incidents, high-potential incidents (HIPO), and catastrophic incidents. 

James Reason offered another useful model, often referred to as the Swiss cheese model, that explains how the many factors can converge, resulting in an incident (Figure 6-5). A company tries to promote safety and prevent catastrophic incidents hy putting into place layers of system defenses, depicted in Figure 6-5 as slices of Swiss cheese. Essentially, the term system defenses refers to the safety-related decisions and actions of the entire company top management, the line supervisors, and the workers. This model recognizes that each defense layer has weaknesses or holes. 

Catastrophic incidents—Incidents that have major consequences with unacceptable lasting effects, usually involving loss of human life, severe off-site impacts, and/or loss of community trust with possible loss of franchise to operate. 

High potential incidents must be investigated by a complete team with the full rigor of a catastrophic incident as shown in the next section. 

Investigating a catastrophic incident normally requires a team of experienced, highly skilled specialists who represent not only process safety hut also specialized technologies such as ... 

Some organizations establish a highly trained and specialized corporate incident investigation staff as a preparatory measure for rare major catastrophic incidents. The ability to deploy the trained team quickly is essential. The faster the team is in place, the higher the quality of the data they collect. 

Clearly the result is not very sensitive to the guess of the initial cell abundance Of course, all of this presumes that other factors do not limit the microbial population growth in this catastrophic incident-type case. Such factors would include difficulties of mass transport of pollutant molecules (e.g., in an oil slick or tar balls) to microorganisms in a water column (e.g., Uraizee et al., 1998). Also other critical substances like 02 or the nutrients such as nitrogen or phosphorus species must be present in sufficient quantities to permit unchecked microbial growth. 

The chemical industry, more than any other industry, is perceived as a threat to humans, society, and the environment. Nevertheless, the benefits resulting from this activity cannot be negated health, crop protection, new material, colors, textiles, and so on. This negative perception is more enhanced after major accidents, such as those at Seveso and Bhopal. Even though such catastrophic incidents are rare, they are spectacular and retain public attention. Thus, a fundamental question is raised What risk does society accept regarding the benefits of an activity, of a product Such a question assumes that one is able-a priori-to assess the corresponding risk. 

The design of the transfer system depends on the required flow rate of liquids and vapors into the transfer vessel. If a runaway reaction has to be rapidly dumped to prevent equipment damage or a catastrophic incident, then complete transfer should be effected within a matter of seconds. If the... 

Water has the unique ability to expand 1570 times when changing from a liquid to a vapor, and to contract 1570 times when it is condensing. To visualize this dramatic contraction, just think that a typical rail tank car filled with steam at atmospheric pressure could condense to the volume of 10 or 11 gallons of water. [1] These properties can result in destructive vacuum damage as just shown. The explosive expansion from water to steam can result in a catastrophic incident as the next case history graphically demonstrates. 

The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) has been involved in Chemical Process Safety and Loss Prevention for chemical and petrochemical plants for decades. In early 1985, the AIChE established the Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) to intensify development and dissemination of the latest scientific and engineering practices for prevention and mitigation of catastrophic incidents involving hazardous chemicals. The CCPS serves as a focus for developing literature and courses to continue to improve chemical process safety. 

The primary objective of both HAZOP and What-If reviews are to assure that catastrophic incidents will be avoided during the lifetime of the facility from the processes under review. The reviews objectives are to be thorough, impartial and adequate. 

Marked items marked are considered minimum data required for a HAZOP or What-If review to occur. This data basically contains the layout (plot plan) of the facility, the process design (P ID and process description) and how it will be controlled during an emergency (SAFE chart and fire protection plant). With this information the "experts" can understand the design and operating principles of the facility. Since the emergency isolation, depressurization and fire protection features are provided, it can be readily deduced how the facility will fare from a catastrophic incident. 

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