Major incident

Until 1992, the total sulfur content of jet fuel was limited to 0.2 wt. %. Starting in 1993, a reduction to 0.1% was instituted apparently without major incident since for commercial products, lower levels (to 500 ppm) had been observed very often. 

Environmental and safety incidents that make the news are included in PROMT s summaries. This makes PROMT a quick tool for evaluating a toller s history of major incidents. 

D. R. T. Lowe, Major Incident Criteria—What Risk Should Society Accept , /. Cbem. E. Proceedings ofEurochem Symposium, 1980. 

P. J. Nightingale, Major Incident Following the Failure of an Ammonia Injector on a Urea Plant, Paper presented at AIChE Ammonia Symposium, Aug. 1990. 

The value of TNT equivalency A value based on an average deduced from observations in major incidents or a safe and conservative value (whether or not dependent on the presence of partial confinement/obstruction and nature of the fuel). 

To express the maximum potential explosive power of a fuel, a safe and conservative value for TNT equivalencies of vapor cloud explosions was estimated from literature data on major incidents, after correction for virtual distance. Prugh (1987) concluded that the maximum energy-based TNT equivalency is highly depen-... 

These figures can be used for predictive purposes to extrapolate average major incident conditions to situations under study, provided the actual conditions under study correspond reasonably well with average major incident conditions. Such a condition may be broadly described as a spill of some tens of tons of a hydrocarbon in an environment with local concentrations of obstructions and/or partial confinement, for example, the site of an average refinery or chemical plant with dense process equipment or the site of a railroad marshaling yard with a large number of closely parked rail cars. It must be emphasized that the TNT equivalencies listed above should not be used in situations in which average major incident conditions do not apply. 

HSE method) was based. Therefore, a TNT equivalency of 3% is a reasonable measure of expression of the explosive power of a vapor cloud under conditions similar to those at Flixborough. Such conditions may be considered typical major incident conditions. 

Generally speaking, typical major incident conditions correspond to a release of some ten thousands of kilograms of some hydrocarbon at the site of a chemical plant or refinery that is characterized by the presence of obstructed and partially confined areas in the form of densely spaced equipment. The relative agreement with results derived from the multienergy method indicates that application of this concept is a reasonable approach for this case study. 

On the other hand, a TNT equivalency of 3% is expected to fail in situations where typical major incident conditions do not apply. This explains why the outcomes of the two methods applied to the storage site case study differed. 

Incident Investigation Major incidents Near-miss reporting Follow-up and resolution Communication Incident recording Third-party participation as needed... 

Another application area is the use of PIFs as part of the process of incident investigation. Any investigation which seeks to establish the imderlying causes of minor or major incidents will benefit from a systematic framework for evaluating the factors which can contribute to the human contribution to such incidents. This topic will also be discussed in Chapter 6. 

Task analysis can also be used in a retrospective mode during the detailed investigation of major incidents. The starting point of such an investigation must be the systematic description of the way in which the task was actually carried out when the incident occurred. This may, of course, differ from the prescribed way of performing the operation, and TA provides a means of explicitly identifying such differences. Such comparisons are valuable in identifying the immediate causes of an accident. 

Root cause analysis systems, intended to provide in-depth evaluations of major incidents... 

This section provides information on the personnel who should be involved in data collection and the design of reporting forms. The specific data needs for major incident analyses are discussed, together with the storage and retrieval of data for the purpose of analysis. 

Data Collection Procedures for Major Incident Analysis... 

For a major incident investigation using a comprehensive root cause analysis system, teams will be formed to acquire information relevant to determine the structure and analyze the causes in depth. In addition to evaluations of the immediate causes, imderlying causes are likely to be evaluated by investigations in areas such as safety and quality management. Both paper- and computer-based systems will be used to acquire and record information for subsequent detailed analyses. 

Another major incident concerning methyl mercury was the severe pollution of Minamata bay in Japan (see Box 8.1). Here fish, fish-eating and scavenging birds, and humans feeding upon fish all died from organomercury poisoning. There may have been localized declines of marine species in this area due to methyl mercury, but there is no clear evidence of this. 

However, most detailed planning tends to relate to major incidents, or those which might affect the public or neighbouring sites. 

Every part of an emergency plan has to be understood by all personnel involved, including the emergency services. Detailed instructions therefore have to be issued to all those who will act to control, or mitigate the effects of, a major incident. Everyone on site needs to understand the plan and the procedures in it this includes ... 

Management systems for chemical process safety are comprehensive sets of policies, procedures, and practices designed to ensure that barriers to major incidents are in place, in use, and effective. The management systems serve to integrate process safety concepts into ongoing activities of everyone involved in operations— from the chemical process operator to the chief executive officer. 

Additional initial screening may be performed by identifying buildings that should be considered for evaluation because of either their occupancy or their function (e.g., importance to an orderly and safe shutdown in the event of a major incident, or because their loss would result in significant business interruption). Organizations should establish appropriate criteria for classifying buildings. Some considerations include ... 

Heller, S. I. "Overview of Major Incidents." Paper presented at the NPRA National Safety Conference, May 1993, Houston, TX. 1993. 

The preparation of safety cases under the CIMAH regulations is covered by Lees and Ang (1989). The company is required to report any major incident to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). 

Develop a definition for a major incident, and compare it to CCPS s definition. See CCPS, Plant Guidelines for Technical Management of Chemical Process Safety (1992), p. 236. 

Incident Investigation—In assessing this element, consideration must be given to major incidents, near-miss reporting, follow-up and resolution, communications, incident recording, and third-party participation as needed. 

It should also be remembered that a major incident may also force a company to literary withdrawn from that portion of the business sector where public indignation, prejudice or stigma towards the company strongly develops because of the loss of life suffered. The availability of 24 hour news transmissions through worldwide satellite networks virtually guarantees a significant incident in the hydrocarbon industry will be known worldwide very shortly after it occurs, resulting in immediate public reaction. 

Hazards may also result from the interaction between company employees and the work environment these are called "ergonomic" hazards. If the physical, psychological, or environmental demands on workers exceed their capabilities, an ergonomic hazard exists. These hazards, in themselves may lead to fiirther major incidents when the individual cannot perform properly under stress during critical periods of plant... 

However unfortunate, drilling personnel have been historically directly connected with major incidents within the petroleum industry on numerous occasions and the impression, consciously or unconsciously still remains. On the other hand, it is very rare or non-existent that a loss prevention professional is promoted to the ranks of senior management, even though they may have been keenly conscientious in maintaining a high economic return to the company by the prevention of catastrophic accidents. 

Public perception of a company lowers if it is involved in major incident that has involved considerable fatalities or does major harm to the environment. Although these incidents can be economically recovered from, the stigma of the incident may linger and affect the sale of company products for emotional issues. 

Immediate facility evacuation should be considered as a prime safeguard for all personnel from a major incident. All onsite personnel should be fully trained and where required certified for such an eventuality (i.e., offshore evacuation mechanisms). 

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