Risk Analysis and Reduction in the Chemical Process Industry

Concern for the environment has become one of the big issues in modern society, and one of the chief concerns is the environmental impact of modern industrial production. A particularly sensitive issue is the possibility of accidents in industries where there may be severe consequences for people, property and the environment. At one time the nuclear industry was seen as the most likely to be the cause of significant environmental damage, but after the occurrence of several major accidents such as Seveso, Flixborough and Bhopal, that concern extends to much of the chemicals industry. Pressure from society, reflected by strong legislation, coupled with a greater understanding of the impact chemical processing operations can have, has lead to the adoption of higher profile safety and environmental management programmes within the chemical industry. Under these programmes existing and new processes are rigorously examined to determine the possible causes and consequences of failure, and the results used to improve the process to make failure less likely. Any process audit, aimed at improving safety or lessening the environmental impact, cannot be carried out using intuition or experience alone, so the discipline of risk analysis has grown as a collection of tools and methods which can be utilized to give a quantitive assessment of the risks involved in operating any given process. This monograph examines risk analysis and reduction, emphasizing the various different methods which can be used together, in a global approach, to risk analysis in the chemical process industries. It should be of interest to those involved in risk assessment, environmental impact assessment or safety planning.