AICHE G-18

ISBN 978-0-471-97815-2

Introduction to the Guidelines

A hazard is a physical or chemical condition that hasthe potential for causing harm to people, property, or theenvironment. A hazard evaluation is an organized effort toidentify and analyze the significance of hazardous situationsassociated with a process or activity. Specifically, hazardevaluations are used to pinpoint weaknesses in the design andoperation of facilities that could lead to hazardous materialreleases, fires, or explosions. These studies provide organizationswith information to help them improve the safety and manage therisk of their operations.

Hazard evaluations usually focus on process safety issues, likethe acute effects of unplanned chemical releases on plant personnelor the public. These studies complement more traditional industrialhealth and safety activities, such as protection against slips orfalls, use of personal protective equipment, monitoring foremployee exposure to industrial chemicals, and so forth. Manyhazard evaluation techniques can also be used to help satisfyrelated needs (e.g., operability, economic, and environmentalconcerns). Although hazard evaluations typically analyze potentialequipment failures and human errors that can lead to incidents, thestudies can also highlight gaps in the management systems of anorganization’s process safety program. For example, a hazardevaluation of an existing process may reveal gaps in the facility’smanagement of change program or deficiencies in its maintenancepractices.

 From its inception, the Center for Chemical Process Safety(CCPS) has recognized the importance of hazard evaluations; infact, the first book in CCPS’ series of guidelines dealt withhazard evaluation procedures.¹ Because of the ongoingand increased emphasis on performing hazard evaluations, CCPScommissioned the development of the Guidelines for HazardEvaluation Procedures, Third Edition. The purpose of PartI – Hazard Evaluation Procedures is to provideusers with a basic understanding of the concepts of hazardevaluation, as well as information about specific techniques sothey will be able to perform high quality hazard evaluations withina reasonable amount of time. Several chapters on new topics,including preparing for studies, identifying hazards, and followingup after completed analyses are included in theGuidelines.

In addition, because of the ongoing need to train a large numberof competent hazard evaluation practitioners, this documentincludes the companion, Part II – WorkedExamples. The Worked Examples give detailedillustrations of how the various hazard evaluation techniques canbe used throughout the lifetime of a process as a part of acompany’s process safety management (PSM) program. Peopleresponsible for hazard evaluation training in their organizationswill find both the Hazard Evaluation Procedures and theWorked Examples to be valuable resources.

The remainder of the Introduction explains some basicterminology and concepts of hazard evaluation and its relationshipto risk management. It outlines various incident prevention andrisk management strategies and discusses how hazard evaluation canprovide important information to organizations who are striving forincident-free operation. This section also discusses how hazardevaluations can be performed throughout the life of a process aspart of a PSM program. Finally, some limitations that shouldinfluence the interpretation and use of hazard evaluation resultsare presented.

Edition:

3

Published:

01/01/2008

Number of Pages:

568

File Size:

1 file , 5.7 MB