Material hazards hazard analysis, impact assessment

Fire hazard analysis (FHA) is the process to determine the size, severity, and duration of a scenario and its impact on personnel, equipment, operations, and the environment. Chapter 5 provided details of performing an FHA. The following paragraphs provide an overview of the FHA process. For example, one scenario could be a seal failure where the material being released is ignited and afire results. In assessing consequences, several questions must be considered ... 

The Chemical Process Industry (CPI) uses various quantitative and qualitative techniques to assess the reliability and risk of process equipment, process systems, and chemical manufacturing operations. These techniques identify the interactions of equipment, systems, and persons that have potentially undesirable consequences. In the case of reliability analyses, the undesirable consequences (e.g., plant shutdown, excessive downtime, or production of off-specification product) are those incidents which reduce system profitability through loss of production and increased maintenance costs. In the case of risk analyses, the primary concerns are human injuries, environmental impacts, and system damage caused by occurrence of fires, explosions, toxic material releases, and related hazards. Quantification of risk in terms of the severity of the consequences and the likelihood of occurrence provides the manager of the system with an important decisionmaking tool. By using the results of a quantitative risk analysis, we are better able to answer such questions as, Which of several candidate systems poses the least risk Are risk reduction modifications necessary and What modifications would be most effective in reducing risk ... 

The enterprise identifies safety and environmental impacts associated with system implementation. Applicable environmental laws and regulations should be identified, and the enterprise should ensure that these are complied with by any alternative solution. The enterprise completes an environmental impact and safety analysis to determine the impact on and by system products, and the impact of their life cycle processes on the environment, or to personnel. Use of materials, or generating by-products, which present a known hazard to the environment, are to be avoided to the extent feasible. Where not feasible, provisions must be provided for proper handling, storage, and disposal of hazardous materials or by-products. Results of these analyses influence trade-off analysis recommendations and assessments of system effectiveness. 

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