Safety case history

Sanders, R.E., Designs that Lacked Inherent Safety Case Histories, Journal of Hazardous Materials, Vol. 104, 2003, pp. 149—161. 

W. B. Howard, Case Histories of Two Incidents Following Process Safety Reviews, Proceedings of the Thirty-first Annual Loss Prevention Symposium, AIChE, New York, 1997. 

Pratt, T. H., Electrostatic Ignition in Enriched Oxygen Atmospheres A Case History, Process Safety Prog., V. 12, No. 4, 1993, p. 203. 

Britton, L. G., Loss Case Histories in Pressurized Ethylene Systems, Process Safety Progress, V. 13, No. 3, 1994, p. 128. 

The study of case histories provides valuable information to chemical engineers involved with safety. This information is used to improve procedures to prevent similar accidents in the future. 

The four most cited accidents (Flixborough, England Bhopal, India Seveso, Italy and Pasadena, Texas) are presented here. All these accidents had a significant impact on public perceptions and the chemical engineering profession that added new emphasis and standards in the practice of safety. Chapter 13 presents case histories in considerably more detail. 

Robert M. Bethea, Process Safety Management with Case Histories Flixborough, Pasadena, and Other Incidents (New York American Institute of Chemical Engineers, 1994). 

Roy E. Sanders, Chemical Process Safety Learning from Case Histories (Boston Butterworth-Heinemann, 1999). 

The study of case histories is important in the area of safety. To paraphrase G. Santayana, one learns from history or is doomed to repeat it. This is especially true for safety anyone working in the chemical industry can learn from case histories and avoid hazardous situations or ignore history and be involved in potentially life-threatening accidents. 

In this chapter we cover case histories as reported in the literature. References are provided for more thorough studies. The objective of this chapter is to illustrate, through actual case histories, the importance of applying the fundamentals of chemical process safety. 

When new plants are constructed or when modifications are needed in existing plants, detailed process designs are required. These designs must include special safety features to protect the system and operating personnel. The following case histories emphasize the importance of these special safety design features. 

Procedures are sometimes incorrectly perceived as bureaucratic regulations that impede progress. When reviewing case histories it is apparent that safety procedures and standard operating procedures are needed to help the chemical industry (1) eliminate injury to personnel, (2) minimize incapacitating damage to facilities, and (3) maintain steady progress. 

This chapter on case histories is brief and does not include all the lessons relevant to accidents. The references provide excellent information for more studies. There is significant information in the open literature. However, case histories and safety literature are of no value unless they are studied, understood, and used appropriately. 

In addition to an overview of government regulations, the book introduces the resources of the AICHE Center for Chemical Process Safety library. Guidelines are offered for hazard identification and risk assessment. The book concludes with case histories drawn directly from the authors experience in the field. 

Significant modifications were made to the following topics dispersion modeling, source modeling, flammability characterization, explosion venting, fundamentals of electrostatics, and case histories. This new edition also includes selected materials from the latest AICHE Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) books and is now an excellent introduction to the CCPS library. 

Groothuizen, Th. M., J. W. Hartgerink, and H. J. Pasman, "Phenomenology, Test Methods, and Case Histories of Explosions in Liquids and Solids," Loss Prev. Safety Prom. Process Ind., 239 (1974). 

To analyse the problem posed in Chapter 1 an overview of current literature on tools, methods, and standards concerning safety indicators will be presented in Chapter 3. With this overview a better understanding of the signs currently used to indicate safety will be obtained. These signs will be compared with the signs present prior to recent accidents (1995-2002). From both literature and case histories a hypothesis will be derived that will be especially tested in Chapter 6. Moreover, in Chapter 4, the conclusions will be used to develop some generic concepts and a conceptual practical approach. The approach will consist of several steps and models derived from organizational science and safety literature. 

Chemical Process Safety, Lessons Learned from Case Histories R. Sanders Reviewed only... 

The second part of the book contains 4 chapters on case histories and studies relating to chemical storage, and the appendices deal with specific aspects of labeling, purchasing chemicals, microcomputing, safety equipment, flash points of solvents and a safety checklist. A revised second edition is in press. 

For years, AIChE has sponsored public presentation of actual incident descriptions with accompanying lessons learned. Some of these case histories are contained in the AIChE publications on Ammonia Safety Symposium, Loss Prevention, Chemical Engineering Progress, and Plant Operations Progress. The American Petroleum Institute also publishes a series of booklets on... 

Other avenues for increasing process safety knowledge exist. Previously unrecognized potential hazards and latent properties of materials are written about in industry and technical journals. Peer-reviewed research work in the area of process safety is published in several international scientific journals. Manufacturers and suppliers of process equipment often publicize previously unrecognized failure modes. Additional information on case histories can be found in Chapter 15. 

Some companies have found success with a periodic publication of incident abstracts. Each incident may appear as a one or two paragraph summary in a quarterly bulletin. This information is circulated widely within the corporation. If a site has a special interest in one particular incident, then full details are requested by direct contact between the two sites. The highly abbreviated summary has other uses, for instance, employee safety training meetings or bulletin board postings. Summaries of case histories can be found in Chapter 15. 

---