IChemE launches process safety database

The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE), Rugby, U.K., has launched a new version of its accident database, which is intended to enable the process industries to learn from earlier mistakes.

Although the first version of the database has been available since December 1997, this new version represents the full-scale launch of a growing archive of accident reports that could prove vital in meeting forthcoming safety laws.

The database comprises accident reports across a wide range of process industries worldwide, and the new version incorporates details of lessons that can be learned from these incidents.

Most of the reports cover incidents during the past 20-30 years, although the oldest is from the 19th century. All the major accidents, such as the Piper Alpha platform explosion, are included, although many minor incidents are also included.

There are now 10,500 accidents included in the database, of which about 40% include details of lessons to be learned. The new version also include line drawings and photographs for the first time.

Impetus

Dinesh Fernando, IChemE's head of product development, said the accident database grew out of members' concerns about the repetition of mistakes cited in reports of process industry accidents.

"This is an attempt to break the accident repetition cycle," said Fernando. "If companies don't learn from the database, they are likely to repeat avoidable mistakes."

The new database is available to subscribers in compact disc format. It is intended to be used readily by engineers, and is networkable so that companies can make it avaiable on their intranet systems.

Malcolm Wilkinson, IChemE's director of engineering, said another impetus behind the creation of the accident database was that safety is increasingly a shared concern, and has now become part of good business practice.

"Our target," said Wilkinson, "was to make a valuable tool for the design, operation, and maintenance of process plants. The new version contains lots of information that has previously been unavailable to the industry."

Database details

While details of accidents are given in full, the names of the plant operators and the plants involved are often not included, because the reports incorporated in the database are actually confidential internal documents, in some cases relating to incidents still subject to litigation.

Wilkinson said the new version is also designed to support new U.K. and European Union legislation, currently being drafted, that for the first time will require companies to consider lessons learned from similar projects when they design, operate, and maintain process plants.

Fernando said the database is designed for ready access by engineers without specialist information technology skills, with accident report entries being split initially into five categories: activity, causes, equipment, consequences, and substances.

Each of these categories contains numerous sub-categories, such as start-up or upgrades, while the database can also be searched by date. For some incidents, company data have not been made available, but reports from specialist journals and newspapers have been included.

Similarly, for very recent incidents, news reports are included to give an outline description of the accident, with the aim of providing a detailed account after a full inquiry has been completed.

Database uses

Robin Turney, technical director of IChemE affiliate European Process Safety Centre, said that he saw the accident database being used during the design of new installations.

"Engineers will be able to check their ideas against past experiences," said Turney, "and eliminate hazards at the design stage. There is little excuse now for engineers not to take this approach."

He also envisions the database being used in the preparation of operating procedures for plants, for training programs, in the preparation of safety cases, and in emergency planning: "The database identifies the range of hazardous incidents that can arise."

Fernando said that the database was not yet large enough to enable the application of statistical analysis: "We would need about 50,000 incidents. This is our target. In the meantime, we are talking with further companies to expand our database.

"Previously, the use of an accident database would have been good practice, but with database searches increasingly becoming part of process industry regulation, such a tool has become a must-have."

Subscription costs range from £800/year ($1,280/year) for one user to £1,600/year ($2,560/year) for 6-10 users, while subscriptions for more than 10 users are "by arrangement."