Understanding How Process Safety

Differs From Personal Safety

Critical Step Towards A Safer Facility

Engr. Veronica Christine Balangue - Luna

PIChE National Convention
17-20 February 2016

©2013 Fluor Corporation

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Presentation Objectives

By the end of this presentation, audience should be able to:

 Differentiate process safety and personal safety
 Learnhow understanding the fundamental difference of the
two can lead to safer facility
 Learn what the implications are of lack of knowledge in
process safety and inability to recognize it apart from personal
safety

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Lack of Knowledge about Process Safety

 Sounds the same, but fundamentally very different!

 Not too familiar
 Too complicated to be understood
 ‘Cannot relate’ thinking

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What do we mean by Process Safety?

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A Look back at Unsafe Processes

Flixborough, 1974

5
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A Look back at Unsafe Processes

Bhopal, 1984

6
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A Look back at Unsafe Processes

Piper Alpha, 1988

7
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A Look back at Unsafe Processes

Maptaphut, 2012

8
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A Look back at Unsafe Processes

Valenzuela, 2015

9
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A Look back at Unsafe Processes

Tianjing, 2015

10
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Process + Safety

 Process  Safety
Any activity or combination Quality of mind of being and
of activities around the
use, storage,
manufacturing, handling
and movement of
hazardous substances
+ feeling safe and free from
hazards

PROCESS + SAFETY
The protection of people, the Environment and property from
episodic and catastrophic incidents that may result from
unplanned or unexpected deviations in process conditions.
It involves engineering and management skills that exceed
those required for managing workplace safety.

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Process + Safety

 Isa disciplined framework for managing the integrity of

hazardous operating systems and processes by applying
good design principles, engineering and operating practices.
 Deals with the prevention and control of incidents that
have the potential to release hazardous materials or energy
i.e. loss of containment.
 Such incidents that can cause toxic
effects, fire or explosion and could
ultimately result in serious injuries,
or in an unfortunate event, fatality,
property damage, lost production
and can have a detrimental impact
to the environment.

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 Process Safety and Regulations
WHEN WHERE WHAT FATALITIES REGULATIONS
1966 Feyzin, FranceLPG Bleve 18 First LPG prescriptive regulations
1974 Flixborough, UK Cyclohexane 28 EU Seveso I Directive1982
1976 Seveso, Italy Dioxin 1 US Chemical Emergency Preparedness
1979 Bantry Bay, Ireland Crude ship 50 Program 1985
1982 Ocean Ranger, Canada Platform 84 US Emergency Planning and Community
1984 Mexico LPG Bleve 600+ Right-to-Know Act 1986
1984 Bhopal, India Methyl isocyanate 20000+ US Chemical Accident Prevention Program
1986 Challenger Space shuttle 7 1986
1986 Chernobyl, USSR Nuclear powerplant 100+ US Chemical Safety Audit Program 1986
1986 Sandoz, Bale, SZ Warehouse 0 EU Seveso I Directive update 1987
1987 Texas City, USA HF 0
US Clean Air Act Amendments 1990
1987 Grangemouth, UK HCK HP/LP interface 1
1988 Piper Alpha Platform 167 UK HSE Offshore Installations (Safety
1988 Norco, USA Propane FCCU 7 Case) Regulations 1992
1989 Pasadena TX, USA Ethylene/isobutane 23 US OSHA 1910-119 Process Safety
1992 La Mède, France Gasoline/LPG FCCU 6 Management 1992
1994 Milford Haven, UK FCCU feedstock 0
US EPA Risk Management Program1996
1998 Longford, Australia LPG, brittle fracture 2
2001 Toulouse, France Ammonium Nitrate 30 EU Seveso II Directive 1996
2001 Petrobras Platform 11 UK Control of Major Accident Hazard
2003 Columbia Space shuttle 7 Regulations 1999
2004 Skikda, AlgeriaLNG 27
EU Seveso II update 2002
2005 Texas City, US Gasoline ISOM 15
2005 Buncefield, UK Gasoline 0 UK HSE Offshore Installations (Safety Case)
2005 Bombay High, India Platform 13 Regulations 2005
2010 Macondo, US Drill rig and well 11 API RPs on occupied buildings and vents
OSHA Refinery National Emphasis Program

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Personal Safety vs Process Safety

Personal Safety Process Safety

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 Personal Safety vs Process Safety

Applicability
Personal Safety Process Safety

… to all workplace, any industry to primarily to process industries,

e.g.,
 Oil and Gas
 Chemical
 Petrochemical
 Energy/Utility

(Any industry dealing with

materials with intrinsically
hazardous properties)

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Personal Safety vs Process Safety

Hazards
Personal Safety Process Safety

Height Difference Noise Confined Spaces Flammable material Toxic material

under pressure under pressure

Heat Stress Hot Surfaces Electricity

Reactive material under Natural gas from a reservoir

unsafe operating conditions (under very high pressure)

Bio Hazards Chemical Hazards

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 Personal Safety vs Process Safety
Hazard IdentificationTechniques
Personal Safety
- Sample Techniques/Tools:
 On-site hazard identification
checklist
 Visual inspections via audits
 Job hazard analysis
- Learned through training
- Done in-house
Process Safety
- Sample Tools:
 HAZID workshop
 HAZOP
- Requires technical skills and
competency to understand
hazards involved within the
process
- Understand activities associate
with the HSE barriers
- Use of 3rd party
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Personal Safety vs Process Safety

Plot on Risk Matrix

Personal Safety Process Safety

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 Personal Safety vs Process Safety

Impacts
Personal Safety Process Safety
Prevention of a series of incidents Prevention of the catastrophic
events

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 Personal Safety vs Process Safety

Safety Pyramid
Personal Safety Process Safety
Prevention of a series of incidents Prevention of the catastrophic
event

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 Personal Safety vs Process Safety

Hierarchy of Controls
Personal Safety Process Safety

Should start here Must start here

But frequently But frequently

lands here lands here

As such, responsibility for hazard controls is often As such, responsibility for hazard controls is often
in hands of front line workers and supervisors in hands of senior management and engineers

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 Personal Safety vs Process Safety
Performance Measurement
Metrics
Personal Safety
• Personal Safety Stats e.g.
OSHA’s
 TRIF (Total Recordable
Incident Frequency)
 LTI (Lost-Time Injury)
• Established metrics
• Both leading and lagging
indicators
Process Safety
• Process Safety Metrics
• Metrics subject to debate, difficult
to measure
• A number of guidance available,
still not many Operators are
implementing
• Both leading and lagging
indicators
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 Personal Safety vs Process Safety
Performance Measurement

Do these signs ensure your workplace is safe?

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Performance Measurement

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Performance Measurement

Longford Gas Plant,

1998
 Completed about 5
million hours without an
LTI
 Won industry awards for
this safety performance
 Killed
two workers,
injured eight and
severed the state’s gas
supply for two weeks

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Performance Measurement

Texas City Refinery , 2005

 Achievedsignificant improvement in personal safety
performance

 Process safety incident resulting in 15 deaths, more than

170 injuries and significant economic losses
 Considered as the most serious U.S. workplace disaster of
the past two decades

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Performance Measurement

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Performance Measurement

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Performance Measurement

Deepwater
Horizon Well
Blowout
7 years without
lost time injuries
 11 people lost
their lives, 17
injured and
resulted in
massive spill in
Gulf of Mexico

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Performance Measurement

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Performance Measurement

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Performance Measurement

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Summary
Need for mind shift!

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Summary

 Bothpersonal safety and process safety is important and

they complement rather than replace each other.
 Same level of effort and attention to managing both process
and personal safety related hazards shall be provided.
 Process safety hazards should be properly identified so as
for them to be managed. Hence, differentiating process
safety from personal safety is in order to go about this.
 Neglecting the impacts of process safety hazards just
because of the idea that it is too complicated to comprehend,
can result in major accident events which impact a number
of people, the community and environment..

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Questions

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Plugging…

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Plugging…

 Process Safety Seminar by Fluor PIChE Chapter

 6-hr seminar, concepts and group workshops
– Building Blocks

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