Risk Reduction Measures

• The best risk reduction measure is to eliminate the scenario or its impact.
• Recall the concepts of Inherently Safer Design and Hierarchy of Controls from
Chapter 10.

Minimize Eliminate, or use smaller quantities of hazardous

substances
Substitute Replace a material with a less hazardous
substance
Moderate Use less hazardous conditions, or a less
hazardous form of a material

Simplify Design facilities to eliminate unnecessary

complexity so that operating errors are less likely

Hierarchy of controls (CDC)

For example, eliminate the impact by separating occupied buildings from a potential explosion source or reduce the
impact by providing a blast resistant building.

Chapter 15 1
Risk Reduction Measures

Passive Hardware - A barrier system

that is continuously present and
provides its function without any
required action. (CCPS 2018) *Equipment
mechanical
design is
fundamental to
Active Hardware - A barrier system the inherently
safer design of a
process although
that requires some action to occur it may not fit the
definition of a
layer of
to achieve its function. All aspects protection.

of the barrier detect-decide-act

functions are achieved by
hardware or software. (CCPS 2018)

Chapter 15 2
Risk Reduction Measures - Preventative

Check valve –
allows flow in only
one direction
Pressure Relief System – provides path to safely
vent pressure. Can include pressure relief
valves, rupture disks, and other devices
Captive Key/Lock
System – prevents
movement of device
without key present

Chapter 15 3
Risk Reduction Measures - Mitigative

Fireproofing

Vapor
Firewater systems
suppression

Chapter 15 4
Risk Reduction Measures - Mitigative

Fire can be detected by flame,

smoke or heat with systems in
place to extinguish the fire.

Camera based flame detector

Infrared gas detector

Point Smoke detector
Gas detection system can
detect a discharge of
combustible or toxic gas and
take action to minimize the
leak.

Chapter 15 5
Risk Reduction Measures - Passive
 To provide secondary containment around storage vessels with
hazardous material
 Generally regulatory requirement
 Design / sizing dependent on volume
to be contained, number of tanks, etc

Chapter 15 6
 Risk Reduction Measures - Active
Double block and bleed - To ensure hazardous gas /
liquid doesn’t enter a vessel that is being worked on:
 double block and bleed procedure upstream of
vessel, involving two block valves & a smaller
valve for bleeding, per schematic below
 blanking or blinding with absolute closure of a
pipe, line or duct
Block valve - Used to block / stop flow and
isolate vessels, sub-processes, etc

 Provides uninterrupted flow when open

 Generally installed on inlets / outlets of

processing equipment to provide means
to isolate

 Typically ball or gate valves

Chapter 15 7