Independent Review of Risk Management Program for Proposed Plant Expansion Case Study

 

Independent Review of Risk Management Program for Proposed Plant Expansion Case Study

The Challenge

A world-class chemical company was involved in a project to triple the capacity of its fumigant plant to meet demand due to the phase-out of competing ozone depleting fumigants. An independent review of the company’s risk assessment methods and safeguards for protecting the public from operational hazards was requested by certain government agencies. The plant was regulated by several state and local agencies and any expansion project required permit authorization, in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. 

Our Approach

Our staff teamed up with an environmental consulting organization to review and critique the client’s risk management plan for their expanded facility. The ioMosaic team was comprised of several process safety engineers who routinely apply current state-of the-science risk management tools. During the on-site safety review, the team identified existing safeguards, equipment design, and gathered information on the profile of the chemical processes that occurred in the facility. A portion of the on-site review included a general assessment of the administrative controls and management systems to ensure those were applied as safeguards when assessing mitigation. Below is a list of the typical information reviewed while on-site:

  • Piping and instrument drawings
  • Operating procedures and safe work practices
  • Safety policies and procedures
  • Maintenance procedures and records
  • Inspection procedures and records Injury and incident reports (last 5 years)
  • Emergency response and evacuation plans
  • Training programs and records
  • Reports of previous process hazard analyses, safety assessments, audits, or inspections
  • Chemical reactivity data on individual chemicals or chemical processes

Process Safety Office® PSMPro™, our all-in-one PHA, DHA, audit, and fault tree software, simplifies the recording of findings and tracking follow-up. The potential consequences were calculated using our state-of-the-art consequence hazard modeling software, Process Safety Office® SuperChems®. This software combines expertise in chemical hazard characteristics, advanced numerical computations, and process safety analysis with rigorous models for source terms, dispersion, fires, and explosions. These models have been validated both qualitatively and statistically using large-scale experimental and prior incident data.

The Benefits

Our expertise and experience with hazard evaluation and risk management was key to analyzing the chemical company's operations and assessing the quality of the results in record time. Analysis detailed failure scenarios, discharge and dispersion, the effects of toxicity and explosion, risk-ranking, individual and societal risks, and much more. In a very short timeline, our team was able to assimilate a significant amount of project risk management data and provide a thorough critique of the facility's risk assessment methods and safeguards. Our detailed assessment analysis was incorporated into the report to senior management and government agencies. Our client was pleased with our responsive team and thorough detail of the report.

Learn More

Our mission is to help you protect your people, your plant, your stakeholder value and our planet. To learn more about how we can help you manage risk, call us at 1.844.ioMosaic.