Our White Papers

Although most companies that handle hazardous materials have implemented process safety management systems, they are still having accidents.

This manuscript explains the fire phenomena and introduces the different types of industrial fires that should be identified and characterized during the development of a risk-based quantitative assessment; i.e., flash fires, pool fires, jet fires and fireballs.

It’s a new era for safety culture. Gone are the days of perceiving culture as a static, top-down pyramid where training is considered a check-off-the-box to-do that transforms performance into being “safer” after a single dose of learning. Peak safety competence doesn’t happen overnight, like magic; it’s cultivated.

A kinetic model is required for upset scenarios with runaway chemical reactions that are analyzed dynamically through SuperChems™. Kinetic parameters for these chemical reactions are usually determined by trial and error, one variable at a time. The simplest case requires two parameters, the pre-exponential factor and the activation energy.

Regarding vessels and tubes containing combustible gases or dusts, it is important to acquire knowledge on the conditions under which a fuel and oxidizer could undergo explosive reactions. These conditions are strongly dependent on the pressure and temperature.

Many companies who are regulated by current Good Manufacturing Practices (or cGMP) are discovering that they are also required to comply with process safety management regulations such as PSM in the U.S. or Seveso or COMAH in Europe. And chemical and petrochemical companies who have been regulated for years under PSM are now starting to produce pharmaceutical products that are regulated under cGMP.

Online learning, commonly referred to as eLearning, is uniquely primed to train and deepen individual and organizational competency more efficiently than traditional training methods. The COVID-19 pandemic created a surge in organizations adopting online learning to substitute for traditional, in-classroom training.

An effective management of change (MOC) process simply prevents accidents. In fact, several process industry incident investigations have identified a weakness in the MOC process as the root cause, including two case histories published in a 2001 safety bulletin issued by the United States Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB).

Runaway reactions leading to catastrophic events continue to occur in multipurpose equipment. Examples of causes that can lead to such catastrophic events include but are not limited to: (a) failure to identify and quantify runaway reactions hazards, (b) undersized pressure relief systems for unintended chemical reactions, (c) improper equipment selection and design, (d) cooling systems that are susceptible to single point failure, (e) process knowledge management, (f) management of organizational change and succession planning, and (g) deficient process safety information.

SuperChems™ introduces better tools for managing chemicals and chemicals databanks. These new tools enable the user to quickly select new databanks and/or create project specific databanks that can be included with the project file for complete portability. These new tools automatically update the chemicals mixtures and warn the user if there are potential mismatches or missing chemicals with databank selection. Databanks are no longer required when sharing project files that have embedded project specific databanks.

Some parts of the US media have managed to dramatize key issues surrounding LNG transportation, facility operations, and proposed new projects. Erroneous media speculation and sensationalism, especially regarding the threat of terrorism, have created an atmosphere of anti-LNG sentiment fueled by fear and paranoia.

Companies can have a process safety incident while performing construction, high risk or non routine maintenance activities at their facilities, and the results can be devastating in terms of safety to the workers and public, the environment and the surrounding communities.

Due to the design vintage of many petroleum refineries and petrochemical plants, existing pressure relief and flare systems may be overloaded because of prior unit expansions / upgrades have increased the load on the flare for combined flaring scenarios beyond the original design intentions.

In a typical LNG installation, a rapid depressurization can cause cryogenic temperatures in both upstream and downstream connected process equipment and piping. This phenomenon, sometimes referred to as auto-refrigeration, can compromise the equipment’s mechanical integrity and pose a risk of material embrittlement. As vessel metal walls are exposed to temperatures below the minimum design metal temperature (MDMT), permanent damage is possible.

The present paper focuses on the results from several PSM audits performed between 2010 and 2016, at several different Chemical Process Industry (CPI) facilities. On the one hand, we have evaluated how well these facilities complied with the requirements of the OSHA PSM Standard. On the other hand, the data from the audit findings has been compiled and statistically processed in order to compare the main common findings with the results of those analyzed by OSHA’s Refinery and Chemical National Emphasis Programs (NEP) in 2012.