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The commercialization of eco-friendly hydrogen vehicles has elicited attempts to expand hydrogen refueling stations in urban areas; however, safety measures to reduce the risk of jet fires have not been established. The RISKCURVES software was used to evaluate the individual and societal risks of hydrogen refueling stations in urban areas, and the F–N (Frequency–Number of fatalities) curve was used to compare whether the safety measures satisfied international standards. From the results of the analysis, it was found that there is a risk of explosion in the expansion of hydrogen refueling stations in urban areas, and safety measures should be considered. To lower the risk of hydrogen refueling stations, this study applied the passive and active independent protection layers (IPLs) of LOPA (Layer of Protection Analysis) and confirmed that these measures significantly reduced societal risk as well as individual risk and met international standards. In particular, such measures could effectively reduce the impact of jet fire in dispensers and tube trailers that had a high risk. Measures employing both IPL types were efficient in meeting international standard criteria; however, passive IPLs were found to have a greater risk reduction effect than active IPLs. The combination of RISKCURVES and LOPA is an appropriate risk assessment method that can reduce work time and mitigate risks through protective measures compared to existing risk assessment methods. This method can be applied to risk assessment and risk mitigation not only for hydrogen facilities, but also for hazardous materials with high fire or explosion risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This study investigates chemical accidents that occurred between January 2008 and June 2018 in South Korea. • 76.1% of chemical accidents were caused by human error in South Korea. • Large-scale enterprises experienced the largest number of industrial accidents during maintenance work. • Fire and explosion accounted for 72% of all CPI accidents, of which 32.4% were ignited by static electricity. • Chemical accidents mostly occurred in storage tanks, chemical reactors, and mixing tanks. Major accidents in the chemical process industries are relatively rare, but the resulting harm to workers, property loss, business interruption, and the environment are very serious. This study investigates chemical accidents that occurred between January 2008 and June 2018 in South Korea, and proposes ways to prevent similar accidents from occurring by analyzing the main causes of these accidents. Nine core concepts were drawn from the analyses comparing chemical accidents in South Korea: (1) current casualties by type of worker, (2) how the scale of the enterprise affects the disaster, (3) chemical accidents by type of occurrence, (4) analysis of ignition sources, (5) chemical accidents by CPI facilities, (6) human and technical error, (7) chemical accidents by work situation, (8) chemical accidents by non-compliance of process safety management (PSM) standards, and (9) chemical accidents by hazardous materials. Although there have been no recent occurrences of large chemical accidents since 2017 due to various factors, our results indicate that the past frequency of such accidents area serious concern in South Korea. Understanding the root causes of these accidents can help to prevent the recurrence of similar accidents and to strengthen preventative measures in chemical plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]