LOSS PREVENTION

Insurance term – financial loss associated with an accident.

1) Identification and assessment of major hazards.

2) Control of hazards (containment, substitution, improved maintenance)
3) Control of process (i.e. prevention of hazards through automatic control, relief systems,
interlocks, alarms)
4) Limitation of the loss.

What if questions

Checklists

FTA: Fault-Tree Analysis

The fault-tree analysis is primarily a means of analyzing hazardous events after they have been
identified by other techniques such as HAZOP.

The FTA is used to estimate the likelihood of an accident by breaking it down into its contributing
sequences, each of which is separated into all its necessary events.

The sequence of events forms pathways on the fault tree, provided with logical AND and OR gates.

FMEA: Failure Mode and Effect Analysis

The failure mode and effect analysis is generally applied to a specific piece of equipment in a process
or a particularly hazardous part of a larger process.

Safety Indexes
In this procedure, a numerical fire and explosion index is calculated, based on the nature of the
process and the properties of the materials.

Safety Audits
Detailed checklists are developed that cover every aspect of health, safety, and loss prevention.

HAZOP: Hazard and Operability

Each segment is carefully examined and deviations from normal operating conditions are identified.

Guide words:

No or not—No part of the intent is achieved, and nothing else occurs (e.g., no flow).

More—quantitative increase (e.g., higher temperature).

Less—quantitative decrease (e.g., lower pressure).

As well as—qualitative increase (e.g., an impurity).

Part of—qualitative decrease (e.g., only one of two components in a mixture).

Reverse—opposite (e.g., backflow).

Other than—No part of the intent is achieved, and something completely different occurs (e.g., flow
of wrong material).

Applied to process conditions: T, P, liquid level, flowrate, composition, pH etc.

Reagent is maintained under slight positive pressure.

Not all guide words are required for every process condition.

Similar release rates could be the consequence of either event 3 (V-3 open or broken) or event 4 (V-
1 open or broken); however, the total quantity released through V-3 could be substantially reduced
over that with V-1 open or broken by closing V-2.

Of the 41 events listed in Table, event 5 (tank rupture) and event 24 (external fire) would provide
the most unsafe consequences.

The assessment should be conducted during the conceptual design phase, final design stage, and
prestart-up period as well as when the plant is in full operation.

In the conceptual-design phase, many potential hazards can be identified and significant changes or
corrections made at minimal cost.

If serious hazards are identified in the prestart-up period, it is unlikely that they can be eliminated
without significant cost or start-up delay.
Process and operating procedure changes are often made during or shortly after plant start-up. So
periodic HAZOP is required during the full operation of the plant. Average time between reviews is
about 3 years.