1.0 INTRODUCTION
Process Safety Management in oil and gas operations involves a risk management system that focuses on identifying and controlling the hazards arising from oil and gas Processes.Process safety management in oil and gas operations has proven quite a big challenge for oil and gas operators and stake holders involved in the industry. Oil gas and operations involves a complex process that is characterised with hazardous substances, if not controlled and managed properly could lead to major accidents. Since the inception of oil and gas industry, it has recorded series of process related incidents which have led to the development of various process management principles and system aimed at controlling the risks involved in
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).Piper alpha would be used as a case study to demonstrate the weakness in process safety management of that period (20th century) that led to implementation of various process safety related regulations and standards and redirection of process safety management in oil and gas operations.
CASE 1- Piper Alpha accident, UK Offshore.
This accident occurred on 6th July 1988 which resulted to the death of 165 workers and two rescuers. This accident resulted from a gas leak that occurred after the restart of a pump that was closed down for maintenance. The pump was erroneously started as resulted of poor communication at shift changeover. Fundamentally, the safety of piper alpha was compromised the day it was put into use for a different service it wasn’t design for. Furthermore, a proper hazard analysis wasn’t carried out However; there was also inoperative evacuation plan and control system. Lessons drawn were: * The need for a formalised and effective system of safety management * Formalised safety assessments for identifying and evaluating major hazards * An effective Emergency response and safe evacuation plan. * The need for proper management of change
The piper alpha and other major accidents led to need for a performance oriented process safety management which involves a systematic management of risk through a process of continuous
Proper training and protocols may have solved or prevented the problem. With more problems to add to the list of chain reactions from the accident, the government had to change industry safety which in turn, increased industry safety. New study groups were used to research the incident. New organizations had to be created to conduct proper training implementing the safety measures for the power plant operators. Many new publications had to be brought into existence to have better oversight of nuclear power plant operations. A
The organizational culture of arrogance, noncompliance and risk- taking contributed to the accident. The company did not consider corporate social responsibility important and hence it did not drill the oil in a sustainable way to protect the stakeholders and the environment. Instead, the company considered profit making a priority instead of the safety of the stakeholders and the public (Arnold & McKay 20). Whistle-blowers were laid off and intimidated if they exposed the company’s unethical activities. As a result, the company undertook many projects and it was focused on working on the frontiers and managing the risk. Besides, the organization protected itself from stakeholder who questioned the firm’s decision to take the risks. The executive managers did not entertain opposing views. In addition to that, failure to put in place safety measures and risk management policies contributed to the accident. The OSHA identified flaws in the company’s regulations after the explosion at the Texas oil refinery, but the firm did not address the issues. Instead, the organization continued to take risks and cut costs and violated the United States law in order to reduce the costs of producing oil.
It adequately reviews plausible studies from renowned authors and organizations, which improves its validity as a review document. The author adopts viewpoints that consider different variables, which express the thoroughness of this article. The author of this article is a significant contributor to safety literature through his books on safety management, which improves the validity of this article. The article insights from ASSE journals, Heinrich, Bird, the Stanford Report, OSHA and NIOSH research project. However, the author evaluates their respective ratios to determine discrepancies. The author further evaluates the items utilized in constituting direct and indirect costs, including the purpose of the evaluated articles. It reflects a thorough review against literature on safety, which improves the article’s
Just moments after being given instructions to climb to a higher altitude “the captain stated, ‘Look at that crazy fuel flow indicator their on number four, see that?’” (TWA flight crash). Afterwards, in an investigation lead by the Nation Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) they concluded that the cause of the crash was due to the combustion of the mixture of air and fuel in the “center wing fuel tank” (TWA flight crash). It is no wonder why many people believe the cause of the crash was a fuel tank explosion. Later, the NTSB claimed that two worn down wires must have sparked in the fuel tank, exploding the whole plane (Cole 36). The NTSB also that the flammability in the central wing fuel tank, due to the hazardous mixture of air and fuel, was too high (TWA Flight 800). Based on the various tests and investigations of the crash, mechanical failure has remained one of the most accepted theories of the flight’s
Throughout history, there has been a multitude of events that have helped shape the Occupational Safety and Health doctrines that we have today. Some events have had small impacts, and others have totally reshaped how an entire industry operates. Although there are many incidents that we can talk about, we are going to focus on the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. Within this subject, we will talk about the specific events that happened, what safety standards existed and what standards were penned because of the incident, and how the existing safety standards keep a similar tragedy from happening in the current era. With all of this information, we will have a better picture of how the world of Occupational Safety and Health evolves throughout
Currently the process safety management of highly hazardous chemicals is a broad standard that covers many industries possessing chemicals above a threshold quantity. The standard does not distinguish between different industries or different chemicals. It may be advisable to adapt the standard to differentiate between industries and chemicals. This would make the standard more specific and could focus on industry specific hazard prevention, best management practices, recognized and generally accepted good engineering practices, and emergency
The Grangemouth contract involves carrying out operational, maintenance and project work on a large petrochemical contract. The hazards and risks associated with these activities are therefore diverse, and as the Texas City2 and Buncefield3 explosions showed they can have catastrophic consequences. The controls in place are suitably robust and exacting as you would expect when working on such a site. The most significant hazards associated with Ondeo's activities onsite were deemed to be working in confined spaces when hand excavating on the firemain project and the unloading of 96% sulphuric acid at the water treatment plant (WTP). A number of opportunities for improvement were identified with these activities which included: • The usage of new technologies such as hydro excavation and ground
Author, Ken Stickney, blames the BP Deepwater explosion for change in safety regulations over the past five years. Stickney describes how people and businesses make mistakes, but it is important to learn from those mistakes. Some advancements over the past few years include clearer guidelines, increased training, “and empowerment for workers who are better able to recognize when things go wrong” (Stickney 14A). Several researchers have discussed that a major role in the cause of the explosion was that the men were not knowledgeable on safety precautions and being able to distinguish when things go wrong. Workers have since been more educated before going to work on the oil rigs
In BP’s case, while the CEO called for increased risk management, he never delivered. The company operated for cheaper and easier solutions in order to save the time and less the cost. Senior BP only focus on infractions that were highly likely with lower impacts with hardly any consideration of less likely, high impact risks. Working as a global corporation, internal communication is the most critical point to monitor and ensure the proper functions and efficiency on different aspects in operations. Unfortunately, the internal checking and auditing processes were found ineffective by the employers who feared of losing their jobs for raising safety concerns.
A safety management system is a businesslike approach to safety. It is a systematic, precise and proactive process for managing safety risks. As with all management systems, a safety management system provides for goal setting, planning, and measuring performance. This is approached in Safety Policy which is one of the most important components of Safety Management System (SMS). Safety policy deals with the structure and outline of implementation of safe operations. Within other elements, the safety policy includes planning, organizing, compliance with regulations and low, documentation, and emergency preparedness and response. It is the level which upper level management must buy in and constantly assist the SMS. In the absence of management buy in and assistance, the failure of SMS is inevitable. Since employees are affected by the behavior of management, it is highly expected to observe deliberately not obeying the rules or ignoring policy which are an emulation of the management behavior. I also should not overlook to the fact that top management demonstrates the way people do their jobs because managers are the role model for all the employees in organization. From the top to the bottom, managers ‘attitudes and actions will be copied. And, employees will make managers’ beliefs and actions their own. That is why top management support is crucial for an effective SMS.
On August 18, 2015, a fire broke out in the engine room of the dredger Arco Avon. This vessel was in the process of loading sand roughly 12 miles off Great Yarmouth, UK when a fire broke out in the engine room. The fire was started when the third engineer attempted to repair a failed fuel pipe that was under pressure. This high-pressure fuel in the pipe ignited and broke out into the rest of the engine room and was then suppressed by the fixed CO2 system. The fire aboard the Arco Avon resulted in one death, Anthony Jones, the third engineer. Throughout the investigation, it was determined that there were many shortcomings within the engineering department including, lack of communication, poor risk assessment, and lack of work permits.
This report has multiple strengths. One such strength is that the report is made to be as accessible as possible, illustrated by “Acronyms and Abbreviations” section. By adding this section, readers can constantly refer back to it when they encounter an abbreviation they do not understand. The report also gives a thorough background of all subjects involved with this incident, including the company and the factory involved in the accident. Specifically, much information is given about parts of the facility, as well as the emergency response. The incident analysis itself was strong and gave insight about how this accident may have happened, along with plenty of evidence. The recommendations are strong and provide sensible strategies to avoid
Prior to the disaster, the company had been facing a financial crisis for many years because the sale of pesticides had been fallen (Joseph, Kaszniak and Long 2005, p. 544). Due to the budget cuts, many plant operators received insufficient training on operations and safety awareness (Mannan 2012, p. 2649). As shown in Figure 1, there was a decrease in the length of training programmes for plant operators from 18 months in 1975 to only one month in December 1984 (Chouhan 2005, p. 207). Therefore, with a lack of the knowledge of runaway reactions occurring in the storage tank when the accident happened, many workers could not immediately take any emergency action to lessen the risk of the MIC escape from the storage tank (Chouhan 2005, p. 207). To connect the tank with another
There is almost nothing in this world where there is no risk involved. Risk involved is a major topic of concern in everyday life more than ever before. This report gives an overview about the risks involved in everyday life and especially in the oil and gas industry.
The image as well as the operational business reputation of a corporation is critical to the survivability of the corporation in today’s business world. Today we will put our focus on one of UK’s largest multinational oils company’s. In the case with British Petroleum (BP) as it actively explores oil in 26 countries around the world, due to BP’s lack of focus on the safety issues presented in the 2004 Telos Group report coupled with the oversight and control to correct safety hazards, the Texas plant experienced a disastrous fire and explosion killing 15 workers and injuring 180 other personnel as stated by Halbert and Ingulli (2012, pg. 185) An investigation by the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board released a report in 2007 that revealed process safety leadership issues starting with senior management as well as disregarding safety concerns throughout BP. This paper will attempt to look at various details of the Critical Success Factor of British Petroleum (BP). We will then determine how these factors impact the success of the firm through project benefits, risk culture and organizational readiness. In this paper we will also provide project risk recommendations that will allow companies to plan accordingly when dealing with risk management task this way they will focus more on responsibilities, safety activities and budget. Lastly, we will create and identify checklist based on the categories of risk.