Guidelines for Managing Abnormal Situations

The book discusses why management of abnormal situations is important to process safety. The book provides guidance on practical steps to avoid or mitigate an accident or incident before it escalates into a more dangerous and costly issues which can include downtime, lost production, equipment damage, injuries, and external/ environmental damage. Through the use of case studies the book illustrates the impact these deviant occurrences can have on operating facilities.

Management principles that can be established before an issue occurs are presented while case studies are used to illustrate the impact that an abnormal situation can have on an operating facility. The impact of plant design are detailed, with separate focus points on new plant design and retrofits to existing plants. A section on writing plant procedures and plant policies so that they incorporate the principles of managing abnormal situations is also included.

Training content is provided on how to manage deviant situations, with guidance on presenting the information to specific target populations, such as front-line operators, operations managers, plant engineers, and process safety engineers. Readers are also shown tools that are currently available for recognizing and responding to abnormal situations, and actions that process safety engineers can use during Hazard Identification and Risk Analysis (HIRA).