Promoting Discussions in Safety Review Activity

• Main Author: M. Nakagawa
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: AIDIC Servizi S.r.l. 2013-05-01
• Series: Chemical Engineering Transactions
• Online Access: https://www.cetjournal.it/index.php/cet/article/view/6853

Discussion from diversified viewpoints is very important for process safety review. Therefore to promote discussion is essential for improvement of process safety. Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation has been working to improve process safety by performing safety review (SR) activities. The aim of the SR activity is to improve safety of processes and operations by sharing information from a broad range of perspectives. The SR activities are joined not only by staffs who are familiar with routine operation, but also by staffs who belong to other departments. To strengthen the SR activity, SR Instructor Team was formed. The member of SR instructor team is composed of retired and senior engineers who have abundant knowledge and experience about processes and safety measures. The SR activity becomes a field where experiences, perspectives and knowledge are shared by participants. To facilitate the SR activity, HAZchart analysis is used for risk evaluation method. It facilitates process of risk evaluation from accident scenario formulation to quantitative evaluation and enables worst-case scenarios to be easily assumed. By using HAZchart analysis supporting software that is called PHA_Organizer, anyone has been able to conduct risk evaluation easily. This software was privately used at first. But it became clear that PHA_Organizer could facilitate sharing a mutual thinking process and promote discussion at a meeting. Consequently PHA_Organizer was significantly improved to make the tool even easier to use and anyone could easily conduct risk evaluations at a meeting. The main improved points are common cause specific function, minimal cut set display function and redundant system drawing function and improvement of user interface, etc. Promoting discussions in Safety Review Activity is expected by these upgrades.