Define your terms
The Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS), an AIChE technological community, maintains its 49-webpage CCPS Process Safety Glossary, which contains helpful definitions for hundred of safety-related terms. There are even iTunes and Google app versions to download. They're all located here.
resources/glossary
Eyeful of incidents
The legendary video collection at the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board's (CSB)website contains 82 computer-animated videos detailing the most significant process safety accidents since the CSB was founded in 1990. The detailed videos provide dramatic illustrations of the causes of the incidents, how they unfolded, and some recommendations for preventing similar events in the future. The collection along with CSB's investigation updates and other materials are here.
U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board
Safety storehouse
The Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center (MKOPSC) at Texas A&M University is one of the premier locations for process safety research and education. It includes numerous research topics, publications and videos, news, course listings, events schedules and other materials.
Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center
Introduction to HazOp
This 47-minute video, "Introduction to hazard analysis using HazOp," is presented by Hal Thomas of exida, who explains the hazardous operations (HazOp) methodology in the context of the overall process safety management lifecycle. Watch the video here.
SIS and compliance articles
Two informative online articles, "Safety instrumented systems vs. process control systems" by David Yoset, and "A primer on process control safety and compliance" by Robbie Peoples, are presented by system integrator Cross Co. They each contain a wealth of information on safety topics and organizations.
LOPA crash course
An 11-minute video, "What is a LOPA? A crash course," details how to quantify high risk scenarios; rationale of accepting risks; methods to improve protection systems; and systematic decision process in seven steps with a guided example to further understanding. The course also summarizes how to distinguish between under-designed and over-designed systems to create value for companies.
March position papers
U.K.-based insurer Marsh offers position papers on process safety. Topics include pre-startup safety review, process safety performance indicators, fire pre-plans, atmospheric storage tanks, SIS trips and alarms, management of change, shift handover and process hazard analysis. They're available here. Also read Marsh's recent publication, "100 largest losses in the hydrocarbon industry."
SIS video and blog post
The 15-minute video, "What is a safety instrumented system (SIS)?," and blog entry with illustrations cover SIS construction, and how it plays a role in keeping chemical, refining and other manufacturing plants running safely. They're available here.
Fire, gas and process
This six-page whitepaper, "Integrating fire and gas (F&G) safety with process control systems," covers gas, flame and smoke detection, F&G safety controllers, and information sharing between process control systems (PCS) and F&G controllers.
