Spill Prevention Through Environmental Risk Management

Enterprise EHS Software Solutions
SPILL PREVENTION THROUGH
ENVIRONMENTAL RISK
MANAGEMENT

FIND OUT MORE
REPORTING
SPILL PREVENTION PLANS
CONSTRUCTING A RISK MODEL

INTRODUCTION
REPORTING

Spill Prevention Plans are operating
procedures that prevent spills.
Your plan should control measures to prevent
spills from reaching environment
Countermeasures to contain, clean up and
mitigate effects of a spill

Why Use a Spill Prevention Plan?
Provincial, state, federal penalties
PR issues, stock price
Remediation/restoration activities

6
A SPILL PREVENTION PLAN SHOULD FORM PART OF
YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL RISK MANAGEMENT
FRAMEWORK
• Set of coordinated activities that direct an
organization’s actions in order to reduce risk
• Enables EHS professionals to proactively
identify and rank risks
• Decrease reliance upon professional
judgement

ENVIRONMENTAL RISK MANAGEMENT
RISK
ASSESSMENT
AND
TREATMENT
OPTIONS
STAKEHOLDERS
DECISION
MAKING
OPERATIONS
TO REDUCE
RISK
ENGAGE
CONCERNS
MONITOR
ACTIONSCONTEXT
RISK
CONTROL
OPTIONS
Fig 1: NERAM Benchmark Risk Management Framework

SPILL PREVENTION PLANNING
Technical/Procedural Assessment of Spill Risk

INTRODUCTION
REPORTING

COMPONENTS OF A SPILL PREVENTION
RISK ASSESSMENT
1. Hazard Identification
2. Estimating Spill Likelihood
3. Estimating Potential Spill Severity
4. Risk Analysis & Priority Ranking
5. Prevention Planning

STEP 1: HAZARD IDENTIFICATION
• Complete materials inventory
• History of organization’s spills/leaks
• Adverse effects of agents when combined
• Potential routes into environment
(storage/transportation/use)
• Potential for failures in controls/machinery
• Environmental fate

STEP 2. ESTIMATING SPILL LIKELIHOOD
• Historical weather data
• Equipment failure rates
• Preventative maintenance data
• Professional judgement
• Human error analysis

Qualitative Approach
Likelihood/Probability Description
Very unlikely Less than 1 event every 200 years
Unlikely At least 1 event every 200 years
Possible At least 1 event every 30 years
Very Possible At least 1 event every 10 years
Certain 1 or more event every year
Level Descriptor Example description
A Almost certain Is expected to occur in most circumstances
B Likely Will probably occur in most circumstances
C Possible Might occur or should occur at some time
D Unlikely Could occur at some time
E Rare May occur only in exceptional circumstances

Semi-Qualitative Approach
Weight Possiblility
Frequent (5) 1 or more events per year
Probably (4) 12 or more events per 10 years
Occasional (3) 1 or more events per 3 years
Remote (2) 1 or more events per 200 years
Improbable (1) Less than one event in 200 years

STEP 3. ESTIMATING POTENTIAL SPILL SEVERITY
• Physical and chemical characteristics of the agent
• Into which media the agent is released
(air/land/water)
• Human health/environmental threats posed by the
agent
• Professional judgement

STEP 3. ESTIMATING POTENTIAL SPILL SEVERITY
Qualitative
Impact Description
Catastrophic May cause fatalities
Severe Impacts to health (non-fatal) or
widespread injury or damage to the
environment that is difficult to
remediate
Moderate Material discomfort of localized
impacts to property or the natural
environment that can be remediated
Low Easily remediated impacts to
individual property
None No impact
Consequence
(Risk Weight)
Public Health Consequences
Catastrophic
(100)
Multiple fatalities and injuries
Major (60) Single fatality, permanent total
disability
Serious (25) Major injury, partial injury or longer
term injury
Moderate (10) Minor injury, medical aid or low
severity impairment
Minor (2) Slight injury, illness, first aid not
required
Semi-Qualitative

STEP 4. RISK ANALYSIS & PRIORITY RANKING
Likelihood x Severity = Relative Risk of a Spill
STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4

Risk Matrix:
Likelihoodofoccurrence
Certain
Very Possible
Possible
Unlikely
Very unlikely
None Low Moderate Severe Catastrophic
Impact/Adverse Effect

Risk Matrix:
Likelihood Consequences
1 Insignificant 2 Minor 3 Moderate 4 Major 5 Catastrophic
A (almost
certain)
Moderate High Very high Very high Very high
B (likely) Moderate High High Very high Very high
C (possible) Low Moderate High Very high Very high
D (unlikely) Low Low Moderate High Very high
E (rare) Low Low Moderate High High

Risk Registry Table:
Risk Score (R) Risk Level Action Required
>400 Extreme Risk Cannot tolerate – immediate action necessary
to reduce risk
100-400 High Risk Unacceptable for long-term, must implement
risk controls
30-100 Moderate Risk Undesirable, evaluate risk reduction measures
in long-term
<30 Low Risk No mitigation necessary, periodic evaluation to
maintain low level

Risk Score (R) Risk Level Action Required
>400 Extreme Risk Cannot tolerate – immediate action necessary to
reduce risk
100-400 High Risk Unacceptable for long-term, must implement risk
controls
30-100 Moderate Risk Undesirable, evaluate risk reduction measures in long-
term
<30 Low Risk No mitigation necessary, periodic evaluation to
maintain low level
RISK THRESHOLD & PRIORITIZATION
Likelihoodofoccurrence
Certain
Very Possible
Possible
Unlikely
Very unlikely
None Low Moderate Severe Catastrophic
Impact/Adverse Effect
?
?

EXAMPLE: PULP & PAPER INDUSTRY
• Sodium Hydroxide
• Receive Shipment –
Rail Tank Cars
• Sodium Hydroxide
• Tank Storage
• Effluent/Sludge
• Transportation to
Thermal Evaporators
• Effluent/Sludge
• Storage for thermal
evaporators
1 2
3 4

EXAMPLE: PULP AND PAPER INDUSTRY
1 2
3 4
X
X
X
X

TRANSPARENCY & REPEATABILITY
• Documentation is a critical component of any
Risk Assessment:
What are the Risk Assessment inputs
How are risk estimates reached?
Documented action plan per risk category

STEP 5: PREVENTION PLANNING
• Risk level and prioritization can now be fed
back into the Risk Management Framework
for prevention planning and the institution of
controls

STEP 5: PREVENTION PLANNING
• Documentation
• Preventative/Corrective Actions

PRIORITIZATION, REPORTING & TRENDING

REPORTING
• Robust and consistent benchmark for
estimating risk
• Movement away from reliance on professional
judgement and toward a repeatable,
transparent process
• Prioritization of controls and corrective
actions

This presentation was used for a webinar on spill
prevention which you can watch for free here:
http://www2.medgate.com/environmental-risk-
slideshare
WATCH THE WEBINAR

Spill Prevention Through Environmental Risk Management

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