Our White Papers

Compliance with the Process Safety Management (PSM) Standard is challenging for even the most sophisticated operators because of the broad scope and highly technical nature of the 14 PSM elements. This paper provides guidance on how to comply with the three elements

On September 18, 2012, a major fire and explosion ripped through a gas plant in Reynosa, Mexico resulting in 31 fatalities and many injuries. The incident was caught on Closed Circuit Television (CCTV)

A detailed risk-based approach is proposed for addressing flammable and toxic dispersions impacting occupied buildings. The approach is based on the results from a complete quantitative risk-based assessment (QRA), which provides the following information per each outcome impacting the target location under analysis

QRA as a technique for managing and understanding risks dates back to the 1970s, initially applied in the aerospace, electronics, and nuclear power industries.

Even before the adoption of ISA-S84.013 as a national standard, safety instrumented systems (SIS) were used to mitigate the risks of process hazards. With the establishment of the standard, there is now a framework for defining Safety Integrity Levels (SIL) for such systems and the associated reliability requirements.

Asset Integrity (also referred to as Mechanical Integrity) findings remain on top of OSHA’s citation list during PSM inspections. Violations most frequently found include failure to address equipment deficiencies, lack of AI written procedures, and failure to perform internal AI inspection(s) and test performance.

Properly conducted interviews of witnesses following an incident are as important to understanding what occurred, as is saving data and information following an incident (presented in the first paper of this series).

Significant critical information is often lost following an accident/ incident due to poor data and information gathering procedures. As a result, should litigation occur, information that could be useful in determining the cause of the incident and later in building a defense is not collected.

This white paper discusses the means to obtain kinetic parameters for dynamic simulations of the runaway reaction between acetic acid and methanol.

Part 2 of this series determined the kinetic parameters based on the conventional inferred self-heating rate vs. measured temperature approach.

Part 3 will develop kinetic parameters based on all-measured temperature vs. time calorimetric output.

The role and benefits of online learning for academia (personal) and organizations (corporate) have increased in popularity and have demonstrated higher levels of learner effectiveness and efficiency, surpassing and antiquating in-person training programs. In this paper, a case study will examine how an online learning management system (LMS) with education structured as building blocks increases overall competency specific to a particular skill set.

OSHA published the Process Safety Management (PSM) standard in 1992. At that time it was viewed as one of the first performance-based regulations in the US. Previous OSHA regulations were viewed as prescriptive or specification based where all documentation and reporting requirements are included.

QRA can be used for a number of different purposes. However, it is most valuable as part of a Risk Management program. Risk Management is the identification and control of hazards,

Process hazard analyses (PHAs) have been conducted on chemical processes for decades. Now PHAs are being conducted on combustible dust handling processes to meet several industry standards, such as NFPA 654 and 664. Although many of the same analysis techniques can be applied, conducting effective PHAs for combustible dust processes requires some differences in approach.