Hans J Pasman, Risk Analysis and Control for Industrial Processes - Gas, Oil and Chemicals: A System Perspective for Assessing and Avoiding Low-Probability, High-Consequence Events

Abstract. This book discusses high-impact low-probability risks (so-called HILP risks) in the gas &oil sector and the chemicals using industries. The text is written in an agreeable style, yet at the same time also suitable for technical experts in risk management and process safety. The book is inclusive, in the sense that a triple perspective is used and the history, the present, as well as the state-of-the-art of dealing with HILP risks is discussed. Both technical and non-technical aspects are thoroughly elaborated, and, wherever possible and useful, linked with hazardous materials data and accident scenario information. The book might be interesting for process safety specialists, but it may also be employed as a handbook or reference work in academia.Keywords. Process safety, Oil and gas industry, Hazardous materials, HILP risks.JEL. D81, L60, O30

Chemical distribution in Belgium from 2007 to 2010:an empirical study

Chemical distribution is described from a product lifecycle perspective. The impact of the economic decline in 2009 on Belgian chemical distribution is given in figures. In 2010 the sector recovered sharply. Although the individual companies performed very differently, overall, 2010 was even better than 2008. Increasingly complex legislation on chemical products has initiated a consolidation trend in the sector which in turn has brought on trends in outsourcing and inventory management.<br

The Role of Education in the Prevention of Radicalization and Violent Extremism in Developing Countries

Only since the beginning of this century, the prevention of radicalization has become an important topic in debates about terrorism and sustainable development in developing countries. Research has shown that radicalized individuals are not uneducated, but have often completed secondary or tertiary education. Additionally, it became clear that some extremist groups consider the school environment as an attractive recruitment place. These findings led to a new approach where the education sector is considered as a prominent partner in preventing and combating the radicalization of young individuals. In this article, the potential limitations of the role of the education sector in developing countries are exposed. Based on previous research, three bottlenecks in the education sector were found: unequal access to education, poor quality of education and the relationship between education and employment. In order to strengthen the role of education for sustainable development in developing countries, it is recommended that equal access to education is improved, that schools invest in the creation of safe spaces for their students, that not only secondary but also primary and tertiary education are involved in policy strategies regarding radicalization, and that the job market is adjusted to the educational level of graduated students

The Role of Emergency Response in Risk Management of Cascading Events Caused by Natech Accidents

Causal analysis of technological accidents is essential to prevent similar future accidents or mitigate their consequences. Natural events may cause a unique type of technological scenarios involving the release of hazardous substances called the Natech accident (i.e., natural hazards triggering technological disasters). Natech accidents have attracted the attention of academic researchers, industrial practitioners, and policy makers due to their uncertain and complex nature, increasing occurrence, and severe consequences of major accidents scenarios if they happen. The increase in the number of natural events in the last decades in fact has led to a growing number of Natech accidents. Moreover, the magnitude of the accidents can escalate when it is triggered by a natural event. In fact, Natech accidents can be characterized by the possibility of multiple simultaneous failures (explosions, loss of containments, fires, etc.), the occurrence of cascading events (domino effect), and the disruption of utilities, safety systems, and lifelines

Transportation Risk ANalysis tool for hazardous Substances (TRANS): a user-friendly, semi-quantitative multi-mode hazmat transport route safety risk estimation methodology for Flanders

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Reducing Unknown Risk:The Safety Engineers’ New Horizon

A significant gap exists between accident scenarios as foreseen by company safety management systems and actual scenarios observed in major accidents. The mere fact that this gap exists is pointing at flawed risk assessments, is leaving hazards unmitigated, threatening worker safety, putting the environment at risk and endangering company continuity. This scoping review gathers perspectives reported in scientific literature about how to address these problems. Safety managers and regulators, attempting to reduce and eventually close this gap, not only encounter the pitfalls of poor safety studies, but also the acceptance of ‘unknown risk’ as a phenomenon, companies being numbed by inadequate process safety indicators, unsettled debates between paradigms on improving process safety, and inflexible recording systems in a dynamic industrial environment. The immediacy of the stagnating long term downward major accident rate trend in the Netherlands underlines the need to address these pitfalls. A method to identify and systematically reduce unknown risks is proposed. The main conclusion is that safety management can never be ready with hazard identification and risk assessment.</p

REACH implementation costs in the Belgian food industry:a semi-qualitative study

In this paper we discuss how companies in the Belgian food industry are affected by the REACH legislation and whether their competitiveness is weakened as a result. The study has been carried out through an extensive literature study, an electronic survey, in-depth interviews and a case-study. No indication is observed of REACH compliance significantly hampering the competitive position of Belgian food industry. The overall cost burden seems to be relatively low. In contrast with the chemical industry, large food companies bear the highest costs, whereas the financial impact on small and medium-sized food companies remains limited.<br

An Approach to Update the Failure Rates of Safety Barriers Based on Operating Experience

Hazardous events in process plants like the leakage of dangerous substances can result in severe damage, and such an event is often defined as the TOP event of a fault tree analysis (FTA) in a quantitative risk analysis. The TOP event probability can then be calculated if the basic events probabilities are provided. These probabilities are often determined based on generic reliability data which do not necessarily reflect the operational and environmental characteristics of a plant of interest. This paper presents an approach based on Bayesian network (BN) analysis to explicitly include experience data collected during the plant operation to make the generic probabilities more plant specific. The approach is illustrated via a pressure vessel containing a toxic substance in an Ammonia production plant. In this case study, the failure rate distribution in the BN is updated as the new information becomes available during plant operation. The results show that the suggested approach effectively reflects the operating experience of a specific plant.publishedVersio