Safety and loss prevention

The term loss prevention is an insurance term, the loss being the financial loss caused by an accident. This loss will not only be the cost of replacing damaged plant and third party claims, but also the loss of earnings from lost production and lost sales opportunity. 

All manufacturing processes are to some extent hazardous, but in chemical processes there are additional, special, hazards associated with the chemicals used and the process conditions. The designer must be aware of these hazards, and ensure, through the application of sound engineering practice, that the risks are reduced to acceptable levels. 

Safety and loss prevention in process design can be considered under the following broad headings  

Control of the hazards for example, by containment of flammable and toxic materials. 

Control of the process. Prevention of hazardous deviations in process variables (pressure, temperature, flow), by provision of automatic control systems, interlocks, alarms, trips together with good operating practices and management. 

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Review Follow-up Verification In addition to someone tracking the follow-up through progress reports, responsibility should be assigned to verify that any process changes were ac tuaUy made in the field. This verification can be done by a review team as part of a process pre-start-up review. It could also be part of the project team management responsibihty or assigned to a particular functional (i.e., safety and loss prevention) representative. The closure of the review process is complete once implementation is verified. 

Puranik, S. A., K. K. Hathi, and R. Sengupta (1990). Prevention of Hazards Through Technological Alternatives. Safety and Loss Prevention in the Chemical and Oil Processing Industries, Qctober 23-27,1989, Singapore, 581-587. IChemE Symposium Series, No. 120. Rugby, Warwickshire, U. K. The Institution of Chemical Engineers. 

This book will also be of nse to process hazard analysis (PHA) team members and process safety and loss prevention specialists. 

A well-designed piece of equipment has safety and loss prevention features built into it. Tlie following typical design considerations are important from tlie standpoint of loss prevention ... 

Eire and Explosion, Dow s Safety and Loss Prevention Guide Hazard. Classification and Protection, Amer. Inst. Chem. Engr., 1973. 

Sulliran, LI. C., Safety and Loss Prevention Concerns for Engineers in Polymer Facilides," Ibid., p. 195. 

Sullivan, H. C., Safety and Loss Prevention Concerns for Engineers in Polymer Facilities, Ibid., p. 195. van Wingerden, C.J., van den Berg and Opschoor, Vapor Cloud Explosion Blast Prediction, Ibid, p. 234. 

The word safety used to mean the older strategy of accident prevention through the use of hard hats, safety shoes, and a variety of rules and regulations. The main emphasis was on worker safety. Much more recently, safety has been replaced by loss prevention. This term includes hazard identification, technical evaluation, and the design of new engineering features to prevent loss. The subj ect of this text is loss prevention, but for convenience, the words safety and loss prevention will be used synonymously throughout. 

In chemical plants and laboratories the industrial hygienist works closely with safety professionals as an integral part of a safety and loss prevention program. After identifying and evaluating the hazards, the industrial hygienist makes recommendations relevant to control... 

We also continue to acknowledge and thank all the members of the Undergraduate Education Committee of the Center for Chemical Process Safety and the Safety and Loss Prevention Committee of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. We are honored to be members of both committees. The members of these committees are the experts in safety their enthusiasm and knowledge have been truly educational and a key inspiration to the development of this text. 

Turney, R. D., "Designing Plants for the 1990s and Beyond," in Proceedings of Safety and Loss Prevention in the Chemical Oil Process Industries, H2, Singapore (1989). 

Pitblado, R. M., S. J. Shaw, and G. Stevens, "The SAFETY Risk Assessment Package and Case Study Applications," in Proceedings of the Safety and Loss Prevention, Chemical and Oil Industries, A4, Singapore (1989). 

Uehara, Y., and A. Kitamura, "Evaluation of Potential Hazards of Oxidizing Substances by Burning T ests," in Proceedings of the International Conference on Safety and Loss Prevention in Chemical and Oil Processing Industries, D5, Singapore (1989). 

BHR Group Ltd, Management and Engineering of Fire Safety and Loss Prevention. Onshore and Offshore. Elsevier Applied Science, London, U.K., 1991. 

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