Technical and Process Safety Philosophy

The box below provides an example of a high-level Technical and Process Safety Philosophy. 

Prior to making the award, it is important to determine whether a company has a philosophy of excellence and corresponding technical capacity to achieve process safety and... 

Moderation control in operations with fissile material makes some proposals technically feasible and can result in significant cost savings in others. Often designs can be simplified and processes made more efficient. However, there are many problems and pitfalls both in calculations and implementation. Therefore, current criticality safety philosophy at the Idaho Chemical Processing Plant (ICPP) permits moderation control only within shielded facilities capable of containing the consequences of an accidental criticality. This requirement was imposed midstream in the development of several projects and necessitated Some redesign. I will discuss... 

The present publication reflects the need, often expressed by Member States, for internationally harmonized criteria for the safe underground disposal of high level radioactive wastes. It sets out a basic safety philosophy for use in planning such disposals, the main objective of which is the isolation of the radioactive wastes from the human environment for considerable periods of time. The basic requirements for the protection of humans arise directly from radiation protection principles extended so as to deal with events and processes that can occur in a deep underground repository in the far future. Technical criteria regarding the waste, the repository and its environs are also specified as a basis for assuring compliance with the safety principles. 

The positive results and savings due to use of NDT and TD are hundred times grater than made investments. This is the main reason why the philosophy of safety management was changed, i.e. from the philosophy to react and correcf to the principle to predict and reduce the losses . The use of NDT and TD allows to foresee the results of economic-technical activity, to make mostly efficient decisions, to reduce the risks, to simulate mutual processes relations in technogenic, ecological and social-economical fields. 

There are many processes available for processing of natural gas to recover valuable liquid products. This paper summarizes the major technologies and its process outline. It is often that several processes are technically capable of achieving the required specification in any particular case. However the final selection is based on various factors ranging from safety, environment, operating philosophy, capital and operating costs etc. Improper selection of a process can lead to sub-optimal developments and technical difficulties later in the field life. 

In hazardous industries, human actions may determine whether a major accident can be avoided or not. In this Section, we will look closer into the role of the operators in the control of major accidents. We have in Chapter 7 identified the different barriers applied in the prevention of fires and explosions in a plant for processing of hydrocarbons. They represent an engineering solution, based on the defences-in-depth philosophy. The idea is to minimise the system s vulnerability to human and technical errors by providing independent and diverse layers of protection. Whereas the operator has a distinct role in maintaining production, the safety systems will take over in cases where the system transgresses certain defined limits. There are many examples, however, where these different barriers are dependent on and vulnerable to operator actions. 

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