Your Reliability Engineering Professional Development Site
A listing in reverse chronological order of articles by:
Your team knows what Operation Within Specification (OWS) is for its product. This is the set of performance limits confirmed in the laboratory using API product standards. These limits help establish the ratings for parameters such as pressure, mechanical load, operating temperature, and other parameters found in operating manuals.
[Read more…]
I was once taught that good project management and mitigating the risk of failure was a combination of Fayol’s three pillars of planning, organising and controlling glued together by effective communication and enclosed in a bubble of morale. I was later to learn that that if one overindulges or ignores any one pillar, or fails to communicate effectively rather than just efficiently, the oftentimes thin bubble of morale may rupture. The unfortunate result is the loss of management coherence and the real possibility of project failure.
[Read more…]
Chemical industry has evolved dramatically since the first sulfuric acid manufacturing plant was established in the 18thcentury. Modern day chemical plant is an engineering marvel producing valuable chemicals necessary for the societal progress. Although safe for the most part, chemical industries have witnessed a few significant accidents in the last two decades. The Bhopal disaster marked the turning point in the history of chemical plant’s process safety. The Bhopal disaster resulted in an increased concern and anxiety among everyone safe operation of a plant. There are several landmark events that followed the 1984 Bhopal disaster:
[Read more…]
These days, you can find a slurry of memes and motivational graphics on social media alluding to the concept that you must always beat out your competition in business. But contrary to popular belief, competing with other businesses is actually quite counterproductive, especially in the post-pandemic “new normal” we face – something we never expected to be facing as we entered this new decade.
[Read more…]
Certain chemicals can pose explosion hazards due to their inherent reactivity or interaction with other chemicals or metals. A few years ago the Chemical Safety Board (CSB) had recommended regulating “Reactive Chemicals”. This begs the question – what are reactive chemicals?
[Read more…]
I realized a while back that it can be too easy to mistake ‘simple’ with ‘easy’ and I’ve been concerned that promoting a simple approach to risk management might lead people to think that this makes everything easy. Unfortunately, even though a KISS approach makes risk management easier, it doesn’t do away with the need for hard work altogether. Worst of all, it can be easy to mistake shortcuts for simplification.
[Read more…]
The presence of certain functional groups is considered an indicator of reactivity. This is the simplest possible reactivity screening method and serves as a guideline for further analysis. For example, chemicals containing the following functional groups can be considered potentially reactive:
[Read more…]
A project with a problem…not a new phenomenon and more likely than not ‘business as usual’ for most, but how do we address the problems on our projects?
Theoretically there’s the risk register and plan with a predetermined set of mitigation actions and designated owners who, although being potential scapegoats, are expected to manage risks magnificently while still dealing with the rest of their, hopefully, nonproblematic scope. Problems plague projects despite alleged prior preparation and proper planning. But it’s the way that people behave and interact that can make all the difference when resolving the problem and keeping the rest of the project on-track.
[Read more…]
While performing consequence modeling we are often required to evaluate damage to population and property from a fire.
Thermal radiation impact to humans from a fire should be based on the dosage – i.e. the intensity of exposure and the duration of exposure. Furthermore, such an impact from thermal radiation on population should consider the protection offered by clothing/buildings and the ability of a person to find a shelter from radiation.
[Read more…]
“Puttin’ wood in t’ole after ‘oss ‘as bolted“… this is actually English, it really is, and it’s a Yorkshire phrase meaning ‘shutting the gate after the horse has gone’.
How often are we wise after the fact? How often is more time and effort spent focusing on the gate rather than retrieving the horse? There is a tendency to try and find the person responsible for not closing the gate, requiring more people to check on gate closing, writing procedures for closing the gate and this is coupled with hours of pointless and misdirected discussions by every man along with their barking dogs. But what about catching the horse that now runs free and ensuring it can’t bolt again?
[Read more…]
It is estimated that there are more than 500,000 Above ground storage tanks (ASTs) in the U.S. These tanks can leak gradually (more likely) or may collapse suddenly (low probability). The loss of tank content can lead to water contamination or may lead to a fire in case of a hydrocarbon.
[Read more…]
Most of the risk assessment models I’ve discussed before use a basic formula to calculate a value for risk. By adding or multiplying values for the individual factors, you’ll get a numeric value for the risk itself. That’s going to allow you to put things into order, apply a color-code or description. That gives you enough differentiation to start a risk-based discussion or determine where you need to focus your attention and resources.
[Read more…]
Citizens often oppose chemical process facilities near their community because of potential for high consequence events. This risk aversion of society is commonly referred to as NIMBY (Not-in-my-backyard). The risk aversion is based not by taking into account annual fatalities but based on potential worst-case catastrophe. Thus the main factor influencing risk perception is catastrophic consequence potential.
[Read more…]
My contention is management many times compromises quality to mitigate budget and cost issues resulting in a major risk to the project.
How to minimize the quality risk on a project is addressed in this paper. The approach to do this is based on my 30 years of project and project risk management experience and knowledge. Let’s start with a story to illustrate my contention.
[Read more…]Guest Post by Andrew Sheves (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)
Many people have a few smoke alarms dotted around their house and, to me, these are some of the most straightforward set-it-and-forget-it risk management tools you can get. You set these up and then…nothing. You can forget about them until that annoying ‘chirp’ sound wakes you up one night, telling you to change the battery.
And most people will never hear their smoke alarm go off except for those times that their cooking gets a little out of hand.
However, if there were a fire, they’d know about it immediately and be able to react.
[Read more…]