Prevention of major accidents

Specifically, the purpose of Convention No. 174, adopted by the International Labour Conference (1993), is the prevention of major accidents involving hazardous substances and the limitation of the consequences of such accidents. It plies to major hazard installations with the exception of nuclear installations and plants processing radioactive substances except for facilities handling non-radioactive substances at these installations, military installations, and transport outside the site of an installation other than by pipeline. 

These Guidelines reflect the intent of Council Directive 96/82/EC (SEVESO II) which is aimed at the prevention of major accidents involving dangerous substances, and the Mmitation of their consequences. There are four major sections in the document Introduction to Safety... 

While the Guidelines pertain to the prevention of major accidents involving dangerous substances, it is important to understand that the principles embodied are suitable for all operations. I do not know of a comparable document having been issued in the United States, that addresses the prevention of major accidents as broadly and specifically. 

Prevention of Major Accidents. International Occupational Safety and Health Information Center (CIS), International Labour Office, CH-1211, Geneva 22 Switzerland, 1993. 

Incompleteness of information on used limits (approx. 43%) and discrepancies in limits themselves cause most of the problems during risk analysis, as mentioned above. The risk analysis is perceived as technical document serving for decision making in prevention of major accidents and should be considered accordingly. 

However, the prescriptive approach to rule-making has three fundamental problems when it comes to the prevention of major accidents. 

The Seveso Directive - Prevention of major accidents which involve dangerous substances, and the limitation of their consequences for man and the environment, with a view to ensuring high levels of protection in a consistent and effective manner. The basic goal was to protect human and environment from Industrial accident. 

COMAH requires that every relevant operator must prepare and keep a major accident prevention policy document setting out the policy with respect to the prevention of major accidents. The policy must be designed to guarantee a high level of protection for persons and the environment by appropriate means, structures and safety management systems . 

Prior to the start of construction of an establishment which will come within the scope of COMAH, the operator must produce a report containing information relating to the prevention of major accident hazards and the limitation of their consequences from the site to the competent authority (normally the health and safety executive). 

Bumba J. et al. 2005. The procedures and methods of analysis and risk assessment for the purposes of the Act on the prevention of major accidents (in Czech). Prague Occupational Safety Research Institute. 

In this paper we study the concept of prudence, which is a fundamental concept in the Norwegian petroleum legislation, as it defines the paramount objective of safety related endeavours both for the companies and for the authorities. We are particularly concerned by what prudence entails in complex systems and explore whether the concept is adequate to reflect ambitious safety objectives in a complex environment. We limit the question to what may be relevant for the prevention of major accidents and discuss the subject from a safety management point of view, not a legal perspective. 

Risk analysis is applied as a mandatory tool in many countries in the prevention of major accidents, see Section 2.2. Legislation such as the Seveso Directives in Europe and the Clean Air Act amendment in the USA has supported this development (European Council, 1996 EPA, 1990). 

This Part illustrates different applications of SHE information systems. Chapter 27 is built around a case, the Ymer offshore platform with Norskoil as operator. The case is fictive, but it draws experiences from a number of real field developments on the Norwegian continental shelf. We will look into how experience feedback is accomplished in different phases of a platform s Ufe cycle, i.e. design, construction and operation. The purpose is to demonstrate the use of different methods presented in previous sections of this book as integral parts of a SHE management system. We will illustrate both the prevention of occupational accidents and the prevention of major accidents. 

Prevention of major accidents 27.3.3.1 Concept selection and definition... 

Managing process safety requires a set of management systems directed at the prevention of major accidents involving hazardous materials. The focus of these management systems is ... 

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