The investigation of fires, explosions and toxic substance releases requires expertise in a variety of technical disciplines. In addition to an understanding of the nature, causes and effects of such events, expertise in structural analysis, statistical analysis, analytical chemistry, thermodynamics, reaction kinetics, chemical processing, and heat transfer are often needed. ioMosaic has been retained by insurance companies, industry representatives, and attorneys to investigate many incidents to determine the most probable cause given the available information.
The quality of leadership of an investigation can have a significant influence of the effectiveness and quality of the process. Since most companies do not experience serious incidents very often, their safety personnel may not have acquired the skill set to effectively conduct an incident investigation. For these situations, ioMosaic Corporation can provide senior process safety engineers with experience in incident investigation. Having led and participated in many investigations for process industry companies, we have extensive knowledge of the most efficient methodologies. We are also cognizant of the need to be at the site of the incident shortly after the event has occurred. In most cases, we can have our professionals onsite within 24 hours from the time we are notified of an incident.
Utilizing our fault tree analysis experience, we facilitate Root Cause Analysis. Applying fault tree logic diagramming to incident investigations has several benefits:
For many incidents, particularly those involving energetic chemical reactions, the investigation team is presented with physical evidence that can be conflicting or incomplete. In such situations, an option is to conduct experiments that attempt to duplicate the postulated conditions and determine the outcome. ioMosaic professionals have been involved in many investigations where we have devised and conducted experiments to verify the ultimate cause of an incident.
In addition to our extensive computational capabilities, we also provide Verification of Physical Evidence. ioMosaic has a strategic alliance with ioKinetic, a state-of-the-art laboratory facility equipped with a variety of advanced reaction characterization apparatus. For mechanical failure evaluation, we frequently utilize other company resources in the areas of finite element analysis, computational fluid dynamics, and corrosion engineering.
The first 15 minutes after an incident are crucial for gathering the facts about what happened. After this time, valuable information is quickly lost which can deeply affect a company’s operations. Our training offers proven techniques for obtaining the right information from incidents and near misses, and meeting the incident investigation and reporting requirements of the OSHA PSM Standard (29CFR1910.119). Here we embrace the principal of the Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) that states, “Incidents should be viewed as opportunities to improve management systems rather than as opportunities to assign blame". Contact us to request more information on incident investigation training or view our training catalog for our current offering of safety, technology and risk management training, delivered in-person, virtually, or online.
ioMosaic pioneered many of the current risk assessment techniques for processes that handle hazardous chemicals.
Our experts support every aspect to ensure that your facility runs safely and efficiently.
Expertise to help you minimize your exposure to fire, injury, property damage, and litigation.
Integrating best practices with cost-effective solutions to address program deficiencies.
Helping manage risk with facility siting studies, assessments and recommendations.
Senior knowledgeable engineers facilitate PHAs or DHAs in nearly all sectors of the process and processing industries.
Decades of experience leading incident investigations for process industry companies.
We prepare expert opinion reports and provide expert testimony for process incident cases.
Experienced engineers who have performed LOPAs on a wide range of facilities and terminals.
Our experts are at the forefront of pipeline Process Safety Management proficiency.
Offering a comprehensive range of safety, technology and risk management training.
Proven track record of performing QRAs for facilities, pipelines and transportation routes.
Well versed in assisting global companies with their sustainability reporting communications.
Decades of experience mitigating hazards for the chemical and pharmaceutical industries.