1. History of Process Safety and
Loss Prevention in the American
Institute of Chemical Engineers
D. C. Hendershot (speaker)
T. A. Ventrone, R. F. Schwab, R. W. Ormsby,
J. A. Davenport, W. J. Bradford
American Chemical Society
National Meeting
August 28 – September 1, 2005
Washington, DC
Chemical Safety Past and Future, 1900 to 2015
CHAS 0011
2. Safety and engineering
ν A long history
ν Safety has always been an integral part of
all engineering, including chemical
engineering
ν Increasing societal expectations and
higher standards
3. An early example
“... an alteration which I think will
considerably reduce the quantity of
machinery as well as the liability to
mismanagement … in their present
complicated state they cannot be
managed by ‘fools’, therefore they must
undergo some alteration or amendment.”
- 1828, Robert Stevenson pioneering railway engineer, discussing
modifications in the design of the newly developed steam
locomotive
4. What is “Process Safety”
ν Process safety considers those aspects of
safety related to the chemical and physical
processing of materials – generally fire,
explosion, reactivity, and toxicity hazards.
ν The safety problems in the pictures are
important, but they are not really “process
safety” problems
5. Some chemical engineering history
ν 1635 – John Winthrop, Jr. opens the first
chemical plant what would become the United
States, in Boston to manufacture saltpeter
ν 1802 - E.I. du Pont bought a site on the
Brandywine River in Delaware for a powder mill
for $6,740
– Inherent safety features
– Safety rules in writing and widely circulated by 1811
6. Transcontinental Railroad – late 1860s
ν Central Pacific Railroad – Sierra Nevada mountain
cuts and tunnels through hard granite required high
power explosives such as nitroglycerine, traditional
black powder was inadequate
ν Several incidents in storage and transportation
ν In-situ manufacture of nitroglycerine at the
construction site by an English chemist, James
Howden
– Minimize the quantity of hazardous material to what was
immediately needed
– Substitute “in-situ” production for transport
7. A better solution
ν 1867 - Alfred Nobel discovers that the
stability of nitroglycerine is greatly
enhanced by absorbing it on an inert
carrier (dynamite)
8. Chemical engineering history
ν Claimants to being “the first chemical
engineer”
– George E. Davis, Manchester, England
– Albin Haller, Nancy, France
– Lewis Mills Norton, MIT, USA
– Fritz Haber, Germany
9. The first chemical engineering
university programs
ν Davis, Manchester, England, 1887 – first
formal class lectures (series of 12)
ν Norton, MIT, 1888 – “Course X” – first 4
year degree program
ν University of Pennsylvania – 1892
ν Tulane University – 1894
ν My alma mater, Lehigh University, began
granting chemical engineering degrees in
1902
10. American Institute of Chemical
Engineers
ν Founded in June 1908 in Philadelphia
ν ACS was ~30 years old and had ~ 5000
members
ν ACS formed Division of Industrial
Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
ν Initial rivalry, evolved into cooperation
and recognition of synergism
ν Safety recognized as critical, but no
separate organization within AIChE initially
11. Safety in Air, Ammonia and
Related Facilities
ν Series of incidents and problems in ammonia
plants and low temperature air separation
plants in early 1950s
ν Chemical Engineering Progress article in
November 1956 on “Safe Design and Operation
of Low Temperature Air Separation Plants”
invited interested people to discuss subject at
December AIChE meeting in Boston
ν Over 100 people turned up, had to move to a
bigger room
12. Safety in Ammonia and Related
Facilities
ν Agreed to organize symposium for
September 1957 AIChE Meeting in
Baltimore – Norton Walton of Atlantic
Refining was a key organizer
ν The 50th Safety in Ammonia Plants and
Related Facilities Symposium will be held
September 25-29, 2005 in Toronto
13. Loss Prevention Symposium
ν In early 1960s, a series of large fires and
explosions occurred in oil and
petrochemical plants
ν Symposium on Loss Prevention in the
Chemical Industry organized by Russell
Miller (Monsanto) and William Doyle
(Factory Insurance Association)
ν AIChE National Meeting, Houston, 1967
14. The first LPS paper - 1967
Case Study of Incident
Involving Acetylenic Alcohol
Fred Lorentz
Hoffman-Laroche
15. The response
“The first meeting was held at the old convention center in
Houston…the separating walls for the meeting rooms
seemed to be paper thin. The acoustics were not too
good and the air conditioning miserable. That could
have killed the whole idea right then, but the agenda
was filled with great topics by terrific speakers. The
audience must have been mesmerized, probably with
the thought that we have to continue these meetings.
Here we are some 38 years later…”
Ted Ventrone
Founding editor of Process Safety Progress
Attendee at the first Loss Prevention Symposium
16. Loss Prevention Symposium
ν The 40th Annual Loss Prevention
Symposium will be held as a part of the
2nd Annual World Congress on Process
Safety in April 2006 in Orlando
17. AIChE Safety and Health Division
ν Formed in 1979
ν Assumed responsibility for programming in
process safety areas (ammonia safety and loss
prevention)
ν Currently ~ 1000 members out of an AIChE
membership of about 35,000
ν Large fraction of membership have a primary
job function in research, process development
and design, and plant operations
18. Sharing information
ν For many years, LPS Proceedings published in a
high quality, glossy booklet format
ν In early 1980s, economic constraints forced
AIChE to stop publication of full proceedings of
Loss Prevention Symposia
ν In 1982, AIChE and the Safety and Health
Division sponsored publication of the journal
Plant/Operations Progress (subsequently
changed to Process Safety Progress) to publish
the best of the Loss Prevention papers, and
papers from other sources
19. Process Safety Progress
ν Now published by
Wiley for AIChE and
the Safety and Health
Division
ν Entire contents for
Volumes 1-24 are
available on line from
the Wiley web site
20. AIChE Safety and Health Division
ν Publishing economics permitted resumption of
Loss Prevention Proceedings in 1990s
ν Thanks to John Davenport of Industrial Risk
Insurers, ALL papers presented at all Loss
Prevention Symposia, including the years when
no formal proceedings book was published,
were preserved
ν ~ 1998 the Division approved a project to
digitize all Loss Prevention Symposium papers
21. LPS/CCPS CD
ν All papers presented at
Loss Prevention
Symposium and CCPS
Conferences through
2003
ν Currently being updated
to include 2004-2005
ν Full text searchable
22. Design Institute for Emergency
Relief Systems (DIERS)
ν Formed as an AIChE industry alliance in early 1976 by
29 companies to develop methods for design of
emergency relief systems for runaway reactions
ν Initial project complete in 1985, developed
mathematical modeling tools and analytical equipment
(Vent Sizing Package [VSP] calorimeter)
ν Continues to promote technology development and
sharing as DIERS Users Group
ν Periodic technical meetings and symposia
– AIChE National Meeting, October 30 – November 4, 2005 in
Cincinnati
23. Center for Chemical Process Safety
ν Bhopal – December 1984
ν In response, AIChE formed CCPS as
an industry alliance to promote
process safety
ν Technical focus – not intended to
promote policies or regulations
ν Initially, 13 corporate sponsors
24. The first CCPS product
ν Sold over 2000 copies
in first year (1985)
ν Second edition with
significantly expanded
content in 1992,
continues to be a
primary reference
ν Proposal for 3rd edition
in next couple of years
25. CCPS Today
ν Over 80 sponsors
ν Over 70 publications and software products related to
process safety
– For example, process safety management, risk assessment,
vapor cloud dispersion, reactivity hazards, incident
investigation, batch processing, inherently safer design, etc.
– Available on line by subscription through Knovel Corp.
ν Sponsors SACHE (Safety and Chemical Engineering
Education) to promote process safety content in
chemical engineering university curricula
ν 20 annual international conferences – all content
available on Loss Prevention/CCPS Conference CD
26. CCPS Collaborative Activities
ν Security Vulnerability Analysis (SVA) – developed
guidelines and made available on line at no charge,
close collaboration with DHS, ACC, SOCMA, API, ASME,
others.
ν Reactive Chemistry hazards – Developed “Essential
Practices for Managing Chemical Reactivity Hazards”
available for on line viewing with sponsorship by OSHA,
EPA, SOCMA, ACC, and Knovel Corporation
ν Process Safety Beacon – monthly safety messages
aimed at operating personnel, distributed electronically
free of charge
ν Safety Alerts – available for free download from CCPS
web site
ν Reactivity Management Roundtable – collaboration with
EPA and OSHA to share information on reactive
chemistry hazard management
27. Process Plant Safety Symposium
ν First held in 1992 as a local event by the South
Texas Section of AIChE in Houston
ν Participation from all over the US, and even
overseas
ν Focus more on practical, “hands on” safety
information for chemists and engineers involved
in day to day operation of plants
ν Enthusiastic response, sessions had to be
repeated because rooms filled to capacity
28.
29. Process Plant Safety Symposium
ν Continued to be held every two years, at
first by South Texas Section,
subsequently sponsored by AIChE Safety
and Health Division
ν Now part of Global Congress on Process
Safety, along with Loss Prevention
Symposium and CCPS Annual Conference
30. Global Congress on Process Safety
ν First held in April 2005 in Atlanta at AIChE
Spring National Meeting
– Loss Prevention Symposium
– CCPS Annual Conference
– Process Plant Safety Symposium
ν Nearly 100 technical papers covering all
aspects of process safety over a three
day period, mostly in 3 parallel sessions
on specific topics
31. Future plans
ν 2nd Global Congress in April 2006 in
Orlando, FL
ν As a result of attendee feedback, Process
Plant Safety Symposium frequency
increased to annual from every two years
32. What next – future challenges
ν Globalization of the chemical industry
– Establishing safety culture in developing countries
ν Continued economic pressures – need to do
more with less resources
ν Maintaining a good process safety culture and
management system at a time of frequent
mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and other
business environment changes
ν Chemical process safety in industries other than
the traditional Chemical Process Industry
(biotechnology, electronics, food,
pharmaceuticals, etc.)
33. What next – future challenges
ν Complacency
– Do some people think that process safety is a
problem which has been solved?
– Will good experience threaten the programs that are
responsible for that good experience?
ν Education and awareness in broad industry
community
– Walt Howard (Monsanto) 1984 paper in
Plant/Operations Progress “We Ain’t Farmin’ As Good
As We Know How”
– Examples – reactivity hazards, dust explosions
