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The chemical industry is very important for the world economy and this industrial sector represents a substantial income source for developing countries. However, existing regulations on controlling atmospheric pollutants, and the enforcement of these regulations, often are insufficient in such countries. As a result, the deterioration of surrounding ecosystems and a quality decrease of the atmospheric environment can be observed. Previous works in this domain fail to generate executable and pragmatic solutions for inspection agencies due to practical challenges. In addressing these challenges, we introduce a so-called Chemical Plant Environment Protection Game (CPEP) to generate reasonable schedules of high-accuracy air quality monitoring stations (i.e., daily management plans) for inspection agencies. First, so-called Stackelberg Security Games (SSGs) in conjunction with source estimation methods are applied into this research. Second, high-accuracy air quality monitoring stations as well as gas sensor modules are modeled in the CPEP game. Third, simplified data analysis on the regularly discharging of chemical plants is utilized to construct the CPEP game. Finally, an illustrative case study is used to investigate the effectiveness of the CPEP game, and a realistic case study is conducted to illustrate how the models and algorithms being proposed in this paper, work in daily practice. Results show that playing a CPEP game can reduce operational costs of high-accuracy air quality monitoring stations. Moreover, evidence suggests that playing the game leads to more compliance from the chemical plants towards the inspection agencies. Therefore, the CPEP game is able to assist the environmental protection authorities in daily management work and reduce the potential risks of gaseous pollutants dispersion incidents.

Every company situated within a chemical cluster faces domino effect risks, whose magnitude depends on every company's own risk management strategies and on those of all others. Preventing domino effects is therefore very important to avoid catastrophes in the chemical process industry. Given that chemical companies are interlinked by domino effect accident links, there is some likelihood that even if certain companies fully invest in domino effects prevention measures, they can nonetheless experience an external domino effect caused by an accident which occurred in another chemical enterprise of the cluster. In this article a game-theoretic approach to interpret and model behaviour of chemical plants within chemical clusters while negotiating and deciding on domino effects prevention investments is employed.

Chemical plants face safety hazards and security threats that may induce catastrophic scenarios. Safety and security barriers are employed widely to protect chemical plants from accidental and intentional undesired events and mitigate consequences. Managing safety and security barriers effectively and economically is a research topic with practical significance. The analysis of undesired event scenarios, including both accidental and intentional adverse scenarios, and assessing associated safety and security barriers are critical regarding cost-efficient barrier maintenance. This study proposes a novel approach for optimizing safety and security barrier maintenance strategy considering economic constraints. This approach consists of three steps: scenario building and barrier identification, barrier modeling, and determining optimal barrier maintenance intervals. In the proposed approach, accident scenarios in terms of safety and physical security are constructed using the extended bow-tie diagrams. After associated safety and security barriers are identified, a system simulation model is developed to conduct barrier modeling based on MATLAB/Simulink simulations, in which the barrier maintenance, the impacts of human and organizational barriers, and the correlations between barriers caused by shared components are considered. Finally, a combination of cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) and genetic algorithm (GA) is employed to support the decision-making on barrier maintenance optimization. An illustrative case is employed in this study to validate the feasibility of the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Earthquakes, floods and other natural disasters can lead to serious fires, explosions and other technical disasters, called Natech events, possibly triggering domino effects in chemical industrial parks. However, current studies only look at Natech events or domino effects separately, and don't consider domino effects triggered by Natech events with multiple primary accidents and with higher order accidents. This paper presents a method aiming to obtain all possible paths and probabilities of domino effects triggered by Natech events. Firstly, our suggested method is obtained by integrating conventional assessment frameworks for Natech events and domino effects. Secondly, the method is solved by a Matlab program based on (i) the scenario matrix, (ii) the scenario escalation matrix, and (iii) the path cell array. Finally, the method is illustrated and its availability is verified by a real chemical tank farm which suffered from a flood. The results show that this method can obtain and rank all the possible paths and their probabilities. Furthermore, the cumulative probabilities of each higher order level of domino effect and each tank can be obtained for a subsequent quantitative risk assessment considering both Natech events and their resulting domino effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study is to point out the outcomes of the Seminar on the Chemical Weapon Convention and Chemical Safety and Security Management for Member States in the Asia Region held by Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in Doha, Qatar, in February 2017. The seminar was aimed at supporting chemical safety and security (CSS) management in the chemical industry in Asian countries. Overall goal was to sensitize States Parties to the new approaches that can be adopted in relation to CSS management, with a particular focus on providing assistance to small and medium‐sized enterprises. This article reflects the observations made by keynote speakers via their interaction with participants from Asian State Parties during presentations' questions & answers sessions and following workshops. The article is an attempt to highlight the challenges in security risk assessment and management of chemical facilities and discuss some new trends for further improvements. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Process Saf Prog 37: 211–220, 2018 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Security threats are becoming an increasing concern for chemical sites and related infrastructures where relevant quantities of hazardous materials are processed, stored or transported. In the present study, security related events that affected chemical and process sites, and related infrastructures, were investigated. The aim of the study is to frame a clear picture of the threats affecting the chemical and process industry, and to issue lessons learnt from past events. A database of 300 security-related accidents was developed and populated, starting from European and American sources. Threat categories that caused such events were identified and analyzed. The attack modes were investigated. Important differences were found with respect to geographical areas and industrial sectors affected. The use of explosives (both military and improvised explosive devices) is by far the more frequent attack mode, although armed attacks and arson are also frequent events and may result in an in-depth penetration of the attackers. In recent years, cyber-attacks are also posing important threats. Lessons learnt call for the implementation of a specific security management system in the chemical and process industry, aiming at the physical and cyber protection of industrial sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A database of 300 security-related accidents in the chemical industry was populated. • Threats were analyzed with respect to geographical area and industrial sector. • Cyber-attacks were found to play a significant role in recent years. • Critical infrastructures are those where hazardous materials are stored. • Lessons learnt revealed the need for a robust security management system. Security threats are becoming an increasing concern for chemical sites and related infrastructures where relevant quantities of hazardous materials are processed, stored or transported. In the present study, security related events that affected chemical and process sites, and related infrastructures, were investigated. The aim of the study is to frame a clear picture of the threats affecting the chemical and process industry, and to issue lessons learnt from past events. A database of 300 security-related accidents was developed and populated, starting from European and American sources. Threat categories that caused such events were identified and analyzed. The attack modes were investigated. Important differences were found with respect to geographical areas and industrial sectors affected. The use of explosives (both military and improvised explosive devices) is by far the more frequent attack mode, although armed attacks and arson are also frequent events and may result in an in-depth penetration of the attackers. In recent years, cyber-attacks are also posing important threats. Lessons learnt call for the implementation of a specific security management system in the chemical and process industry, aiming at the physical and cyber protection of industrial sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As large amounts of hazardous chemicals are handled in the petrochemical industries, the plants in these industries are attractive for terrorists because they can cause great losses and have important social impact. Security risk assessment is important to determine the risk level of a plant in order to take targeted measures to reduce the security risk. Based on Security Risk Factor Table (SRFT) which covers the essential elements for the security risk assessment, a weighted fuzzy Petri-net (WFPN) based security risk assessment approach is proposed in this paper. This approach can easily model different relationships between the risk factors as well as their importance, and use the analysis method of Petri-nets to perform the risk assessment. Two WFPN models of security risk assessment are established according to different relationships between the factors, and a matrix operation based security risk inference method is developed. An illustrative example is used to demonstrate the approach. The results show that correctly determining and modeling the relationships among the risk factors is important to assess the security risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several recent events raised the attention toward possible major accidents triggered by external acts of interference in industrial facilities. In particular, a growing concern is present with respect to the intentional release of dangerous substances resulting in environmental and eco-terroristic attacks. Therefore, optimal selection and allocation of preventive security measures is becoming more important for decision-makers. Despite the existence of economic models supporting the decision-making process, their applications within the chemical industry security context are relatively limited. This study describes a specific model for economic analysis and selection of physical security measures, with respect to potential environmental and eco-terroristic attacks in chemical facilities. An example of application to a relevant case study is presented to show the model capabilities. Site-specific analysis of the baseline physical security system performance allows comparing the costs of different security upgrades with the benefits related to either prospective or retrospective losses, meanwhile accounting the uncertainties related to the threat probability. Selection of the most profitable security measures within budget constraints and definition of economic indicators are the main outputs of the model, in order to support decision-making processes for allocation of security barriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes a security risk assessment and protection methodology that was developed for use in the chemical and process industries in Belgium. The method employs a risk-based approach according to design principles for object-oriented protection, using so-called Typicals. The approach is beneficial for workers in the chemical industry because of the familiarity with safety models and concepts in this particular industry. The model combines the rings-of-protection approach with generic security practices including management and procedures, security technology (e.g., CCTV, fences, and access control), and human interactions (proactive as well as reactive). The method is illustrated in a case-study where a practical protection plan was developed for an existing chemical company. This article demonstrates that the method is useful for similar chemical and process industrial activities far beyond the Belgian borders, as well as for cross-industrial security protection. In summary, this article offers an insight into how the chemical sector might protect itself on the one hand and an insight into how security risk management may be practiced on the other hand. © 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Process Saf Prog 34: 72-83, 2015 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A domino effect triggered by a natural event (a so-called Natech domino effect) represents a typical high-impact low-probability (HILP) event, which may lead to catastrophic consequences. The presence of safety barriers could have an impact on the effects by impeding propagation patterns and mitigating potential consequences. However, coordinating and maintaining safety measures to establish an effective barrier system against Natech domino effects is complicated. In this paper, the concept of what constitutes a safety barrier and the principles of barrier management are reviewed. Subsequently, the complex phenomenon of Natech domino effects is studied at the individual installation level, while the propagation pattern is explored at the system level. The application of safety barriers is discussed with the aim of coping with potential Natech domino effects. A systematic framework of barrier management is developed to establish and improve the barrier system in the whole cycle (design & construction, operation, accident, recovery & improvement) of a chemical industrial area. The challenges are discussed to highlight future study needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The presented Multi-plant Collaboration Model uses game theory to evaluate different strategic cross-plant precaution collaboration situations. The model first assumes prevention management''s perceptions as a premise to take cross-plant prevention decisions. Second, it employs information from the different plants and aggregates the data to determine possible financial collaboration benefits within the entire industrial area. By doing so, an application of the model by a suggested independent supra-plant council may enhance and realize cross-corporation precaution in chemical clusters. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Industrial sectors are nowadays extensively confronted with anti-terrorism security. Chemical plants, in particular, face the necessity for increased terrorism prevention. This article discusses organizational security measures as they relate to chemical facilities in general, and to four chemical enterprises in particular. Furthermore, a general overview (used in the chemical industry as well as in other industrial sectors) of physical security components used to fight terrorism is provided. Four security hypotheses based on professional and academic literature and on internal documents with reference to the chemical industry are validated via in-depth interviews carried out in four chemical multinationals. Furthermore, recommendations are given to consider when striving for improvement in installing and continuously improving security measures in the chemicals sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Based on literature, we identify collaboration drivers and partner features for enhancing vertical and/or horizontal collaboration in the chemicals using industries. We further develop constructs for both types of collaboration. A survey-based analysis within the largest chemical cluster worldwide was carried out to verify and to test our literature-based constructs. Using our empirically based results, we develop and propose a framework for Advancing and Stimulating Collaboration (ASC) in the chemical industry. This framework can be used to increase collaborative arrangements within the chemical industry and thereby lead to more sustainable chemical product and process flows and management practices resulting in more sustainable chemical industrial parks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two aspects are important when it comes to guaranteeing an effective and efficient security policy in a chemical industrial cluster. The first issue involves obtaining an acceptable level of collaboration between the different enterprises forming the cluster. The second topic is to ensure that an adequate level of security personnel – quantitative as well as qualitative – is present on the cluster premises. At present, to the best of the authors' knowledge, no approaches are available for enhancing cross-company collaboration concerning security topics, or for evaluating security staffing levels. This paper elaborates a novel bi-leveled approach to deal with both these important security management aspects in chemical industrial areas. A framework is elaborated for helping company indoor security management to jointly carry out security vulnerability assessments. An additional framework is suggested to guide outdoor security management collaboration. Furthermore, an evaluation instrument is proposed to set adequate security manning levels.Security Journal (2009) 22, 119–142; doi:10.1057/palgrave.sj.8350075; published online 11 August 2008 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Safety risks have become an obstacle to the sustainability of the chemical industry in China since many chemical companies were forced to close down by China's government in the past three years. This study investigates chemical safety in China in order to identify the causes of the major accidents and accompanying casualties, formulating the safety management needs to develop a sustainable chemical industry in China. First, we analyze the evolution and current status of China's chemical industry to identify possible safety issues rooted in the industry. Second, a thorough accident investigation is conducted based on official statistics and collected chemical accidents in China in the period 2004–2019. Furtherly, the main laws, regulations, guidelines, standards and measures related to chemical safety are analyzed and compared with those in Europe. According to analyses related to the chemical industry, chemical accidents and safety legislation and measures in China and Europe, the current problems with respect to chemical safety in China are discussed systematically. Based on research findings, we propose recommendations for the improvement of chemical safety so as to promote the sustainable development of the chemical industry in China. This study also provides basic data and information for future studies on the safety and sustainability of the chemical industry and major accident prevention in other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an important consideration in the chemical industry, chemical process safety has received notable attention in China. However, catastrophic chemical accidents still occur. To better understand why accidents continue to occur, this paper presented a diagnostic analysis of 14 major chemical accidents in China from 2012 to 2022 based on VOSviewer software. The authors analysed the correlation between the accident causation and their relationship with the safety management elements. The study observed that inferior process safety culture, intentional violation (rule-breaking) of procedure, inadequate safety training, and illegal operations were the most frequent causes of accidents. These causes highlighted the prominent gaps in PSM in China in the process safety culture, compliance with standards, the conduct of operations, process safety competency, and training & performance assurance. The results based on co-occurrence analysis indicated a strong correlation between these gaps in PSM. Enterprises should pay attention to collaborative management among them. These deficiencies in the enterprise's PSM system showed that the essential defects in China's chemical industry are a poor safety culture, inadequate accident investigation, inadequate training, and a lack of chemical safety personnel. The study recommended that the chemical industry establish superior process safety culture and competency for all personnel, monitor leading and lagging process safety indicators, apply inherent safety, and practice advanced safety management concepts. We hope that the findings can provide China's perspectives and strengths for global chemical safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Fatality risk assessments of toxic gas leakage considering safety interventions. • CFD simulation coupled with evacuation modeling for safety barrier evaluation. • Assessing fatality risks considering failure and response time of safety barriers. Toxic gas leakage represents a type of major process accident scenario threatening human life. Technical and non-technical safety barriers are employed to prevent toxic gas leakage accidents or mitigate the possible catastrophic consequences. Evacuation must be executed in severe toxic gas release scenarios. The performance assessment of technical safety barriers and evacuations in these accident scenarios, although very important, has never been investigated in previous studies. This paper proposes an approach integrating event tree analysis (ETA), computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation, and evacuation modeling (EM), for risk assessment of toxic gas leakage accidents in chemical plants. In the proposed approach, the spatiotemporal distribution of toxic gas is predicted by CFD simulations. A dynamic evacuation is determined by a cellular automaton (CA)-based model. Synergistic interventions resulting from technical safety barriers and evacuations are considered in the risk assessment. Considering safety barrier failures in the event tree analysis, individual fatality risks due to toxic gas leakage scenarios are calculated. For illustrative purposes, the proposed method is applied to a case of ammonia leakage. The results show that worse scenarios would be ignored without considering the failure probabilities of technical safety barriers, which can cause underestimated individual fatality risks. Timely gas detection & alarm has the potential to expedite the starting time of evacuations and thus may shorten the time that evacuees stay in the toxicity area to reduce individual fatality risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domino effects resulting in cascading events in the chemical and process industries are well known causes of severe accident scenarios. Although the threats due to domino effects are recognized since at least three decades, this is still a controversial topic when coming to its assessment. A number of different approaches are proposed in technical standards and in the scientific literature. The present contribution aims at providing a critical revision of the procedure for the identification of domino effect scenarios. An overview of current regulations for domino effect assessment is provided. The criteria resulting from the regulations are compared and discussed in the light of recent developments concerning escalation hazards and safety distance assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inherent safety design principles have been used extensively to design safer plants. However, to date their application is merely limited to technical changes in the process. An unexplored area of ISD is related to all the non-technical aspects linked to the safety of industrial plants, such as the Human and Organizational Factors, often referred to as HOFs. This study presents an Inherent Safety Decision Making framework (ISDDM), with the objective to provide a structured tool that can be easily used by industrial practitioners. The novelty of the ISDDM is the provision of a structured framework where purely technical and non-technical ISD alternatives are categorized and analyzed, to check if possible interactions exist among the alternatives proposed. To prove the usefulness of the model, a case-study addressing a carbon capture plant is carried out. This technology will play an important role in the reduction of CO 2 emission in carbon-intense industrial processes, implying a rapid scale-up of these plants in the next years, therefore justifying the analysis of this green technology. Adopting the proposed ISDDM, the improvements in terms of safety from the base case ranged from 58% to around 70% for the best design solution, while from an economic perspective, cost variations were comprised between 16% and 22%. The results of the study demonstrate that the framework can be rigorously implemented and that it provides a considerable number of additional alternatives due to the inclusion of HOFs in the analysis. In conclusion, an improved and adequate ISD is a key to environmental sustainability. [Display omitted] • The link between Inherent Safety and Human and Organizational factors is explored. • A framework for addressing technical and non-technical safety factors is proposed. • A carbon capture plant is used to demonstrate the framework's functionality. • The Safety index utilized for the carbon capture process is improved by 70%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Along with the expansion of China's chemical industry, a series of catastrophic chemical accidents have occurred, often with severe human casualties, resulting in adverse effects on the sustainable development. In line with these developments, process safety research is also developing rapidly in China. This paper aims to present insights in the progress of process safety research in China using bibliometric analysis. The results indicate that in China the most productive authors, institutions, and provinces are located in economically developed coastal areas and in areas with more universities specializing in safety science and engineering. As for the international cooperation, the most significant collaborating countries are economically developed countries or China's neighbors, and these countries have published a large number of papers important in this field. The citation analysis shows that Chinese process safety research currently still has a relatively limited international impact. The analysis of hot topics shows that there currently are very few new methods or research topics introduced in recent years, and there is still significant room for the Chinese research community to improve in some subdomains of the research field. Based on these trends and apparent shortcomings in the literature, future research directions are proposed. The results contribute to understanding the overall situation of process safety research in China, and can serve as a high-level synthesis of the research field. This information is useful for developing research and development policies and industrial strategies, and benefits the safety and sustainability of China's chemical industries. • The study applies bibliometric analysis in mapping process safety research in China. • The most influential Chinese authors, institutes, areas, and papers are identified. • National and international cooperation among authors and institutes is analyzed. • Hot topics and trends are identified using terms co-occurrence network. • Several avenues for future research are proposed based on analysis results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chemical and process facilities may be the target of external acts of interference, aimed at causing cascading events, which may escalate into severe fires, explosions or toxic dispersions. Recent accidents that occurred in European chemical facilities presented these features, showing that industry must address with the greatest urgency the need of increasing the attention to security issues. Objective, performance-based methods to verify the adequateness of the resources dedicated to the protection of assets against external attacks are needed. In the present study, a probabilistic risk analysis approach supported by a model based on Bayesian Networks is adopted to address the quantitative assessment of the attack likelihood and to incorporate the functional analysis of physical protection systems (PPS) applied the security of process and storage installations. A case study of industrial interest is analysed to exemplify the methodology, which may be adopted to evaluate the PPS in place in a given facility. The methodology also allows for a quantitative evaluation of attack success credibility and for the identification of the more critical escalation scenarios, thus supporting safety and security reviews of chemical and process facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]