Health and safety
PROCESS SAFETY
Staying safe Dr Stephen Bater FEI, Management Consultant, highlights the latest revisions to the Energy Institute’s process safety guidance, in transition to a zero carbon world.
T
he Energy Institute’s High-level process safety framework for process safety management has been revised and will be published in 3Q2021. Developed in 2010 by the industry for the industry, the Framework has successfully been applied to many industrial settings, including hydrocarbon storage, high hazard manufacturing and a range of complex hydrocarbon and chemical processing facilities. Since the first edition was published, many new catastrophic process safety incidents have occurred, with tragic and avoidable consequences. As world-renowned process safety expert Trevor Kletz
Renewable energy, waste and water industries Concentrated solar power Wind energy
Hydroelectric Ocean energy – tidal and wave Biomass Hydrogen Biofuels
Battery storage facilities
Anaerobic digesters
Thermal dryers Waste oil and chemical storage and reprocessing
Major accident hazard/ MATTE (major accidents to the environment) potential Fire – explosion/firewater run-off Collapse of structures, electricity hazard, vessel collision, release of associated lubricants Dam breach, electricity hazard Collapse of structures, vessel collision Fire – explosion, firewater run-off Fire – explosion, firewater run-off Fire – explosion, loss of containment, firewater run-off Fire – explosion, loss of containment, firewater run-off Fire – explosion, loss of containment, firewater run-off Fire – explosion, firewater run-off Fire – explosion, loss of containment, firewater run-off
Table 1: Potential major hazards in relatively new and emerging industries
26 Petroleum Review | August 2021
once observed: ‘Accidents, with a few exceptions, are not caused by lack of knowledge, but by a failure to use the knowledge that is available.’ It is clear that managing complex operations in process and high-hazard industries such as refineries and petrochemical complexes is, and always will be, challenging. Operating companies are increasing their efforts to reduce the risk of catastrophic events, such as the release of toxic, reactive or explosive chemicals that can damage the environment or plant assets, as well as attempting to prevent injury or death to employees and the general public and damage to the environment. Confirming the safety of employees, protection of the environment and physical plant assets in the event of an unexpected process incident can never be underestimated. With the transition to meet the demands of achieving net zero carbon emission goals, there has been a shift to the development of new techniques and technologies for energy and removing carbon from the economy, whilst not compromising social or economic standards to meet these challenges. This presents a new challenge to these sectors on how they manage their risk profile effectively. New opportunities Process safety management (PSM) can be defined as ‘managing the systems and procedures that prevent the uncontrolled release of energy’. It is vital to ensuring safe and continued operations to prevent major accident hazards, major accidents to the environment or damage to the operational assets. Basically, preventing and mitigating fatal, serious injury, environmental damage and catastrophic incident potential in a wide range of high-hazard industry. PSM has traditionally been associated with the oil and gas and chemical process sectors, where the PSM Framework has gained traction and there are process safety specialists embedded in many organisations to ensure that process safety is managed effectively. However, there is a range of newer emerging industries where the principles of process safety management are fully applicable but there is arguably a competency/knowledge gap that potentially could result in catastrophic incidents that are totally avoidable.
Do the leaders in these sectors ‘know what they don’t know’? There can be a paradigm shift in risk management as these sectors embrace the knowledge, systems and experience that already exist and implement the Energy Institute’s PSM Framework. Adopting PSM systems in these industries not only reduces the risk of a catastrophic incident, but also enhances productivity and reliability by reducing the likelihood of an unplanned and costly outage. To emphasise the relevance of PSM to a broader industry sector and recalibrate the view that PSM is only applicable to the traditional hydrocarbon and chemical processing industries. some examples of the potential major hazards associated with relatively new and emerging industries are outlined in Table 1. Every year there are incidents at anaerobic digestion plants and substations that have resulted in large energy releases, explosions and spillages. Several have been catastrophic and resulted in multiple fatalities, serious injuries, environmental damage and huge financial loss. To prevent these catastrophic and avoidable events industries must implement robust arrangements for the management of process safety. To help contextualise this, there are six tenets of process safety that senior leaders in high-hazard, process and renewable energy operations need to satisfy themselves that are being managed effectively: •
Major hazards are recognised and the worst potential consequences are understood throughout the business.
•
Plant and equipment are provided which is ‘fit for purpose’ to reduce the risks from the major hazards to tolerable levels.
•
Systems and procedures are provided which ensure proper operation for plant and equipment and which maintain their integrity.
•
Sufficient staff, with appropriate experience and training are provided to implement the systems and procedures.
•
Emergency procedures that respond adequately to foreseeable incidents are both in place and practised.
