Tom Spicer (University of Arkansas)

The Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) has published the Process Safety Beacon on a monthly basis starting in 2001. The Beacon covers process safety issues and lessons learned that can be used in many different settings, but particularly in university courses. The Beacon archive is hosted on the SACHE site and can be searched by keyword. The archive can also be searched by translated keyword for issues translated from the original English copy. Access to print-protected copies is provided to everyone via the web interface. Access to print-enabled copies is provided for any SACHE member whose membership is up to date. There are no files to download from this Product link.

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Joe Louvar (CCPS Staff Consultant)

Piper Alpha was an oil production platform in the North Sea that caught fire in 1988 resulting in 167 fatalities and the loss of the platform. The root causes of the accident included many process deficiencies which were evident before the accident but were not corrected. Many of the problems on Piper Alpha were not unique to an oil production platform because the facility’s process equipment was typical of many chemical plants including tanks, pipes, compressors, pumps, reliefs, etc. All of the problems identified on Piper Alpha could have been eliminated by the appropriate application of OSHA’s Process Safety Management regulations.

This SAChE product includes a DVD on Piper Alpha entitled "Piper Alpha - Spiral to Disaster" which was distributed to 2007 SAChE members by mail by AIChE/CCPS. The Piper Alpha DVD includes a re-creation of the events in 1988 as well as dramatic and motivational material for understanding and practicing the important concepts of chemical process safety. This DVD is an excellent tool for motivating university students and practicing engineers to be keenly aware of safe practices particularly in process settings including process hazard analysis and permitting systems.

This SAChE product also includes a brief description of the Piper Alpha accident, and a list of the actual deficiencies that contributed to this accident (downloadable document).

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Ronald J. Willey (Northeastern University)

This SACHE product provides an elementary explanation of several important properties of materials and their relationship to chemical process safety. It is intended for chemical engineering students in their second or third year of undergraduate training. It is assumed that the students have had limited industrial experience. This product can also be used for training (or retraining) of young engineers and/or plant operators.

This product includes explanations concerning:

• Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS)
• Flammability, Explosive and Toxicity Properties
• Flammability Classifications
• NFPA Stability Ratings, and
• Detailed references for more advanced information

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Ronald J. Willey (Northeastern University)

This case study of the rupture of a nitroaniline reactor demonstrates safety concepts that are especially important to both new and experienced engineers including:

• Runaway reactions need to be understood and appropriately controlled to prevent major losses.
• A Safety review is an important process for identifying potential problems and developing approaches to solve the problems.
• Redundant controls are needed in critical applications.
• Relief systems consisting of a rupture disk followed by a spring operated relief valve must be properly installed and maintained.
• Training operators and engineers to recognize the consequences of operating errors is important.
• Management decisions to override safety systems must be thoroughly thought through before implementation of such action.

The lessons of this product are very important, and they will be true and relevant forever. The PowerPoint presentation in this product includes problems (with solutions for the instructor). A pdf document provides background for the presentation.

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Marc Rothschild (Rohm and Haas)

Static electricity is a significant problem in both plant and non-industrial environments. About 13% of the ignitions of chemical fires and explosions are due to static electricity. This SACHE product covers the elementary, fundamental, and practical concepts of static electricity including static charge build-up and discharge that can be the ignition source for flammable gases and dusts. Excellent illustrations are given that will help plant designers and operators, as well as the private citizen, understand the fundamentals of static electricity. Some elementary concepts and special design techniques for preventing static charge build-up and discharge are included. The PowerPoint presentation can be used as a one-hour lecture and can be modified as desired. References are provided in the Word Document. Note that the PowerPoint lecture links to the video clip included with this product, and this link may need to be modified after the product is downloaded.

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W. B. Howard (Monsanto, retired)
J. F. Louvar (Wayne State University)

This package on Explosion Prevention Research was originally produced for SACHE university members to help them add an element of chemical process safety to their Process Design Courses and/or help professors and graduate students to:

• Understand the violence of explosions, and
• Understand the technology required to prevent explosions.

Although this product was originally designed for academic setting, it contains many concepts and/or pictures that will be very useful in training programs in an industrial environment.

A narrated movie “Venting of Low Strength Enclosures” discusses: a) damage due to non-vented explosions, b) design criteria for sizing vents, c) NFPA 68 vent equation for sizing vents, d) discussions regarding the design details of the vent panels and constraints, and e) details of experimental tests that were made to develop the design criteria for explosion vents. The movie contains many excellent pictures and video clips of explosions that illustrate the magnitude, speed, and consequences of explosions. All of the files necessary to show the narrated movie are in Venting.zip. After restoring the files and starting the Astound Player (astdplay.exe), select the file venting.asd, and click the play button to start the narrated movie.

The PowerPoint presentation with this product (venting.ppt) can be used as is or modified to fit an instructor’s requirements. The presentation has 17 slides. The slides include excellent pictures of the consequences of explosions taken from the narrated movie. The file venting.ppt includes presentation notes, and additional notes are included in venting.doc.

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