Risk Assessment and Management of Petroleum Transportation Systems Operations

Petroleum Transportation Systems (PTSs) have a significant impact on the flow of crude oil within a Petroleum Supply Chain (PSC), due to the great demand on this natural product. Such systems are used for safe movement of crude and/or refined products from starting points (i.e. production sites or storage tanks), to their final destinations, via land or sea transportation. PTSs are vulnerable to several risks because they often operate in a dynamic environment. Due to this environment, many potential risks and uncertainties are involved. Not only having a direct effect on the product flow within PSC, PTSs accidents could also have severe consequences for the humans, businesses, and the environment. Therefore, safe operations of the key systems such as port, ship and pipeline, are vital for the success of PTSs. This research introduces an advanced approach to ensure safety of PTSs. This research proposes multiple network analysis, risk assessment, uncertainties treatment and decision making techniques for dealing with potential hazards and operational issues that are happening within the marine ports, ships, or pipeline transportation segments within one complete system. The main phases of the developed framework are formulated in six steps. In the first phase of the research, the hazards in PTSs operations that can lead to a crude oil spill are identified through conducting an extensive review of literature and experts’ knowledge. In the second phase, a Fuzzy Rule-Based Bayesian Reasoning (FRBBR) and Hugin software are applied in the new context of PTSs to assess and prioritise the local PTSs failures as one complete system. The third phase uses Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) in order to determine the weight of PTSs local factors. In the fourth phase, network analysis approach is used to measure the importance of petroleum ports, ships and pipelines systems globally within Petroleum Transportation Networks (PTNs). This approach can help decision makers to measure and detect the critical nodes (ports and transportation routes) within PTNs. The fifth phase uses an Evidential Reasoning (ER) approach and Intelligence Decision System (IDS) software, to assess hazards influencing on PTSs as one complete system. This research developed an advance risk-based framework applied ER approach due to its ability to combine the local/internal and global/external risk analysis results of the PTSs. To complete the cycle of this study, the best mitigating strategies are introduced and evaluated by incorporating VIseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) and AHP to rank the risk control options. The novelty of this framework provides decision makers with realistic and flexible results to ensure efficient and safe operations for PTSs

High-speed rail safety analysis based on dual-weighted complex network

This study uses a complex network model to analyze the causes of accidents in high-speed railway operations. By identifying the key factors that led to high-speed railway accidents, hidden safety hazards were discovered. This will help improve the operational safety of the U.S. high-speed rail line under construction. The analysis uses the regional high-speed railway network in Guangzhou, China as a case study, including the railway (including high-speed railway) accidents that occurred in the company\u27s jurisdiction from 2013 to 2017. With comparative analysis between general railways and high-speed railways, the changes of high-speed railway safety factors are explored. Data analysis results show that the main accident causes of high-speed railways and general railways have no significant differences in categories, Equipment and human factors are the most important categories of factors leading to accidents. However, there are obvious differences in specific accident factors. Which include the significant impact of driver staff on the safety of high-speed railways, and the safety of high-speed railways is highly sensitive to incidents. Another key factor is the stability of the equipment, especially the performance of the signal system is critical to the operation of high-speed rail. The underlying reasons reflected by these safety defect factors include: In the short term, a large number of equipment purchases and the construction of new railway lines will cause maintenance, driver, and mechanic pressures and staff shortages. The lack of training system leads to insufficient professional quality of maintenance employees and drivers. The proposed strategy includes enhancing the training organization within the operating company, and adjusting the high-speed railway construction and equipment procurement policies should be gentler in order to reduce the pressure on the system and improve the level of safety

"Fire on the seas! Fine by me?" Advancing an argument for the reform of the criminal liability incurred by corporates, under South African law, as a result of the misdeclaration of dangerous goods to be carried by sea.

Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.The carriage of dangerous goods by sea requires the utmost care and preparation. An essential part of preparing for such operations is a trail of documents evidencing the exact profile of goods to be carried and the hazards they may present. Carriers will generally have to rely on the descriptions of the goods provided by shippers in their preparations, as they are not in a position to have knowledge of the exact nature of the goods. The risks involved with the transport of dangerous goods are greatly heightened when carriers have not provided accurate information about the cargo. In recent years, there has been a steady rise seen in containership fires and incidents, like the Beruit Port explosion, all signifying the risks involved in the carriage of dangerous goods. These incidents often occur due to incorrect or insufficient information regarding the characteristics of the dangerous goods, being provided to carriers, this is also known as the misdeclaration of dangerous goods. This thesis seeks to serve as a guide to legislators and judicial institutions in South Africa in terms of dealing with the challenge posed by the misdeclaration of dangerous goods. It shall thoroughly examine the current liability incurred for the offence of misdeclartaion and the proposed changes to that liability found in the recently proposed pieces of legislation. The adequacy and proportionality of the current and proposed measures will be critically examined, with a particular focus on the ability of said measures to deter companies from misdeclaring dangerous goods. Companies are dominant in global international trade and regulations must accordingly regulate their activities because of the harm they are capable of causing. As the country seeks to reinvigorate its Maritime sector, legislation that adequately protects the ports and seafarers is essential. The sector ought to look at the controls adopted in different sectors for the regulation and punishment of dangerous corporate behaviours. This thesis puts forth the argument that the legislature ought to duly recognize the danger posed by misdeclaration and pre-emptively amend legislation, introducing harsher punitive measures aimed at deterring the occurrence of the offence

The paradox of safety - challenging the current paradigms of organisation and leadership in the prevention of disasters from high hazard technology.

This qualitative empirical research project has examined the interplay between rule-following and adaptive practice in the safe operation of high hazard technology (‘process safety’) and especially the influence of leadership on the entanglement of these paradoxically different approaches, at three different operational oil & gas and petrochemical sites in the Middle East, Asia-Pacific and Europe. Interviews were conducted with 73 people directly involved in plant operations at these sites, firstly using Repertory Grid technique (Kelly, 1955) to elicit individuals' understanding of process safety through the lens of the unfolding of incidents. A second study used semi-structured interviews to focus on leadership and organization relating to process safety through the lens of Complexity Leadership Theory and Leadership- As-Practice. In a third study a critical review of accident analysis was conducted including the analysis of 194 documents relating to 117 process safety incidents, which was compared with that from the two interview-based studies, and also performed a pilot QCA (Ragin, 1987) to explore the application of this method to analysing process safety accidents. The repertory grid data showed that respondents regard both adaptive and administrative practices as important; however the interview data and analysis of incident investigation reports reflect a narrower range of factors, indicating an institutionalised predisposition towards administrative practices, which can be at odds with respondents’ theory-in- use. There are practical implications for incident investigation processes, which may be overlooking the importance of adaptive practices, for individuals at the sharp end who may be coping with the gulf between what they believe is important and what they bring to the surface, share and document, and for managers who may be constraining the establishment of a climate of psychological safety; all of which may be inhibiting organizational learning that could improve process safety. The research contributes empirical findings that support theories of HRO, System Safety and ‘Safety II’ and support and extend theories of Leadership-As-Practice and Complexity Leadership Theory, and makes recommendations both for research and for management practice.PhD in Leadership and Managemen

A comparative study of liability arising from the carriage of dangerous goods between Chinese and English Law

This thesis is about the rights and liabilities arising under English and Chinese law in respect of the carriage of dangerous cargo. It is noted that the danger in dangerous cargoes was not necessarily something in the goods themselves, but might well lie in the way they were packaged, looked after or transported. Accordingly, the responsibilities and liabilities of the various parties with regards to the carriage of dangerous cargoes are usually intertwined and complex. The purpose of this thesis is to analyse and evaluate the dangerous cargoes liabilities in English and Chinese law, by providing suggestions for existing problems in each country based on three sources: contract, tort and statute. Moreover, the chain of causation and concept of remoteness has particular importance in order to establish liability and decide which type and what amount of damage is recoverable. This thesis compares both countries’ liability regimes and how to secure compensation for its victims, and the restoration of the environment, with reference to the EU Environmental Liability Directive and relevant international conventions. The author draws her final conclusions from four important issues: (1) the meaning of dangerous cargo, the packing and handling; (2) the scheme of liability; (3) the channelling of liability; and (4) the type of recoverable damage