Glossary

The collection of abbreviations/glossaries related to Process Safety for quick reference. This page will be updated frequently.


A

  • Accident: An event that can cause (or has caused) significant harm to workers, the environment, property, and the surrounding community. See Incident. [CCPS]
  • AIChE: American Institute of Chemical Engineers
  • ALARP: As Low As Reasonably Practicable. The concept that efforts to reduce risk should be continued until the incremental sacrifice (in terms of cost, time, effort, or other expenditure of resources) is grossly disproportionate to the incremental risk reduction achieved. The term As Low As Reasonably Achievable (ALARA) is often used synonymously. [CCPS]


B

  • BLEVE: Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapour Explosion, results from the sudden failure of a vessel containing liquid at a temperature well above its normal (atmospheric) boiling point. A BLEVE of flammables results in a large fire ball. [Purple Book]


C

  • CBA: Cost Benefit Analysis. Part of the management decision-making process in which the costs and benefits of each risk reduction option are compared and the most appropriate alternative is selected. [CCPS]
  • CCPS: Center for Chemical Process Safety
  • CFD: Computational Fluid Dynamics
  • CIMAH: Control of Industrial Major Accident Hazards
  • Consequence: The undesirable result of a loss event, usually measured in health and safety effects, environmental impacts, loss of property, and business interruption costs. [CCPS]
  • Consequence analysis: The analysis of the expected effects of incident outcome cases, independent of frequency or probability. [CCPS]


D

  • Deflagration: A combustion that propagates by heat and mass transfer through the un-reacted medium at a velocity less than the speed of sound. [CCPS]
  • Detonation: A release of energy caused by the propagation of a chemical reaction in which the reaction front advances into the unreacted substance at greater than sonic velocity in the unreacted material. [CCPS]
  • DOE: Departmen of Environment (Malaysia)
  • DOSH: Department of Occupational Safety and Health (Malaysia)
  • DOSO: Demonstration of Safe Operations


E

  • ERP: Emergency Reponse Plan. A written plan which addresses actions to take in case of plant fire, explosion or accidental chemical release. [CCPS]
  • Explosion: A sudden release of energy that causes a blast. [Purple Book]
  • Explosion Overpressure: Any pressure above atmospheric caused by a blast. [CCPS]
  • Event Tree: a logic diagram of success and failure combinations of events used to identify accident sequences leading to all possible consequences of a given initiating event. [Purple Book]
  • Event Tree Analysis: A method used for modeling the propagation of an initiating event through the sequence of possible incident outcomes. The event is represented graphically by a tree with branches from the initiating cause through the success or failure of independent protection layers. [CCPS]


F

  • Fault Tree Analysis: A method used to analyze graphically the failure logic of a given event, to identify various failure scenarios (called cut-sets), and to support the probabilistic estimation of the frequency of the event. [CCPS]
  • Fire: A combustion reaction accompanied by the evolution of heat, light, and flame.[CCPS]
  • Fire ball: A fire, burning rapidly enough for the burning mass to rise into the air as a cloud or ball. [Purple Book]
  • Flash fire: The combustion of a flammable vapour and air mixture in which the flame passes through the mixture at a rate less than sonic velocity so that negligible damaging overpressure is generated [Purple Book]. A fire that spreads by means of a flame front rapidly through a diffuse fuel, such as a dust, gas, or the vapors of an ignitable liquid, without the production of damaging pressure [CCPS].
  • FMEA: Failure Mode and Effect Analysis
  • Frequency: Number of occurrences of an event per unit time (e.g., 1 event in 1000 yr. = 1 x 10-3 events/yr.) [CCPS].
  • Frequency Data: The data required to generate accident and non-accident rates, the probability of a release following an accident, the range of release sizes to be considered, and the probabilities of various outcomes of release (i.e., toxic, flammable, explosive) [CCPS].
  • Frequency modeling: Development of numerical estimates of the likelihood of an event occurring [CCPS].

G

  • G

H

  • Hazard:  A chemical or physical condition with the potential of causing damage [Purple Book]. An inherent chemical or physical characteristic that has the potential for causing damage to people, property, or the environment [CCPS].
  • Hazard Analysis: The identification of undesired events that lead to the materialization of a hazard, the analysis of the mechanisms by which these undesired events could occur and usually the estimation of the consequences [CCPS].
  • HAZID: Hazard Identification. Part of the Hazards Identification and Risk Analysis (HIRA) method in which the material and energy hazards of the process, along with the siting and layout of the facility, are identified so that a risk analysis can be performed on potential incident scenarios [CCPS].
  • HAZOP: Hazard and Operability Study. A systematic qualitative technique to identify process hazards and potential operating problems using a series of guide words to study process deviations. A HAZOP is used to question every part of a process to discover what deviations from the intention of the design can occur and what their causes and consequences may be. This is done systematically by applying suitable guidewords. This is a systematic detailed review technique, for both batch and continuous plants, which can be applied to new or existing processes to identify hazards [CCPS].
  • HIRA: Hazard Identification and Risk Analysis. CCPS RBPS Element 07: This Element addresses potential scenarios of what could go wrong by identifying the hazards, evaluating their risks, and determining if additional safeguards are needed. A collective term that encompasses all activities involved in identifying hazards and evaluating risk at facilities, throughout their life cycle, to make certain that risks to employees, the public, or the environment are consistently controlled within the organization's risk tolerance [CCPS].

I

  • IChemE: Institute of Chemical Engineers (UK)
  • IOGP: International Association of Oil & Gas Producer
  • Incident: An event, or series of events, resulting in one or more undesirable consequences, such as harm to people, damage to the environment, or asset/business losses. Note: Such events include fires, explosions, releases of toxic or otherwise harmful substances, runaway reactions, etc [CCPS].
  • IR: Individual Risk, the probability that in one year a person will become a victim of an accident if the person remains permanently and unprotected in a certain location. Often (also in this report) the probability of occurrence in one year is replaced by the frequency of occurrence per year [Purple Book]. The risk to a person in the vicinity of a hazard. This includes the nature of the injury to the individual, the likelihood of the injury occurring, and the time period over which the injury might occur [CCPS].
  • IRPA: Individual Risk Per Annum
  • ITP: Information to Public

J

  • Jet fire: See jet flame [Purple Book]. A fire type resulting from the discharge of liquid, vapor, or gas into free space from an orifice, the momentum of which induces the surrounding atmosphere to mix with the discharged material [CCPS].
  • Jet flame: The combustion of material emerging from an orifice with a significant momentum. [Purple Book]

K

  • K

L

  • LOPC: Lost of Primary Containment - An unplanned or uncontrolled release of material from primary containment, including non-toxic and non-flammable materials (e.g., steam, hot condensate, nitrogen, compressed CO2 or compressed air) [CCPS].
  • LSIR: Location Specific Individual Risk

M

  • MHI: Major Hazard Installation
  • MI: Mechanical Integrity
  • MOC: Management of Change
  • MSDS: Material Safety Data Sheet

N

  • N

O

  • OP: Operating Procedure - CCPS RBPS Element 08: This Element ensures proper development, upkeep, and consistent use of the procedures required to operate the processes safely. Written, step by step instructions and information necessary to operate equipment, compiled in one document including operating instructions, process descriptions, operating limits, chemical hazards, and safety equipment requirements. [CCPS].
  • OSHA: Occupational Safety and Health Administration (US)
  • OSHA: Occupatinal Safety and Health Act 1994 [Act 514] (Malaysia)
  • OSHMS: Occupatinal Safety and Health Management System
  • Overpressure: Any pressure above atmospheric caused by a blast [CCPS].

P

  • PHA: Process Hazard Analysis
  • PLL: Potential Loss of Life
  • Pool fire: The combustion of material evaporating from a layer of liquid at the seat of the fire [Purple Book]. The combustion of material evaporating from a layer of liquid at the base of the fire [CCPS].
  • PSI: Process Safety Information - Physical, chemical, and toxicological information related to the chemicals, process, and equipment. It is used to document the configuration of a process, its characteristics, its limitations, and as data for process hazard analyses [CCPS].
  • PS: Process Safety - A disciplined framework for managing the integrity of operating systems and processes handling hazardous substances by applying good design principles, engineering, and operating practices. Note: Process Safety focuses on efforts to reduce process safety risks associated with processes handling hazardous materials and energies.  Process Safety efforts help reduce the frequency and consequences of potential incidents.  These incidents include toxic or flammable material releases (loss events), resulting in toxic effects, fires, or explosions.  The incident impact includes harm to people (injuries, fatalities), harm to the environment, property damage, production losses, and adverse business publicity [CCPS]. 
  • PSM: Process Safety Management - A management system that is focused on prevention of, preparedness for, mitigation of, response to, and restoration from catastrophic releases of chemicals or energy from a process associated with a facility [CCPS].
  • PSSR: Pre-Startup Safety Review - A systematic and thorough check of a process prior to the introduction of a highly hazardous chemical to a process. The PSSR must confirm the following: Construction and equipment are in accordance with design specifications; Safety, operating, maintenance, and emergency procedures are in place and are adequate; A process hazard analysis has been performed for new facilities and recommendations have been resolved or implemented before startup, and modified facilities meet the management of change requirements; and training of each employee involved in operating a process has been completed [CCPS].

Q

  • QRA: Quantitative Risk Assessment, the process of hazard identification followed by a numerical evaluation of effects of incidents, and consequences and probabilities, and their combination into overall measures of risk [Purple Book]. The systematic development of numerical estimates of the expected frequency and severity of potential incidents associated with a facility or operation based on engineering evaluation and mathematical techniques [CCPS].

R

  • Risk: The unwanted consequences of an activity connected with the probability of occurrence. Often (also in the Purple Book) the probability of occurrence is replaced by the frequency of occurrence [Purple Book]. A measure of human injury, environmental damage, or economic loss in terms of both the incident likelihood and the magnitude of the injury or loss. A simplified version of this relationship expresses risk as the product of the Frequency and the Consequence of an incident (i.e., Risk = Frequency x Consequence). For example, Frequency may be expressed as "events/year" and Consequence as "impact/event" (F = 1 release/year; C = 1 fatality/release; with R = 1 fatality/year for the release scenario) [CCPS].
  • Risk analysis: The estimation of scenario, process, facility and/or organizational risk by identifying potential incident scenarios, then evaluating and combining the expected frequency and impact of each scenario having a consequence of concern, then summing the scenario risks if necessary to obtain the total risk estimate for the level at which the risk analysis is being performed [CCPS].
  • Risk assessment: The process by which the results of a risk analysis (i.e., risk estimates) are used to make decisions, either through relative ranking of risk reduction strategies or through comparison with risk targets [CCPS].
  • Risk contour: Line on a map connecting points having equal risk [Purple Book].
  • Risk estimation: Combining the estimated consequences and likelihood of all incident outcomes from all selected incidents to provide a measure of risk [CCPS].
  • Risk evaluation: Comparison of results of a qualitative or quantitative risk analysis coupled with an appraisal of the significance of the results, both overall and from individual events [CCPS].
  • Risk evaluation criteria: A qualitative or quantitative expression of the level of risk that an individual or organization is willing to assume in return for the benefits obtained from the associated activity [CCPS].
  • Risk management: The systematic application of management policies, procedures, and practices to the tasks of analyzing, assessing, and controlling risk in order to protect employees, the general public, the environment, and company assets, while avoiding business interruptions. Includes decisions to use suitable engineering and administrative controls for reducing risk [CCPS].

S

  • SDS: Safety Data Sheet
  • Societal risk: The frequency (per year) that a group of at least a certain size will at one time become victims of an accident [Purple Book].
  • Source term: The release parameters (e.g. magnitude, rate, duration, orientation, temperature) that are the initial conditions for determining the consequences of the loss event for a hazardous material and/or energy release to the surroundings. For vapor dispersion modeling, it is the estimation, based on the release specification, of the actual cloud conditions of temperature, aerosol content, density, size, velocity and mass to be input into the dispersion model [CCPS].
  • Stability class: The Pasquill stability class scheme is based on time of day, wind speed, cloudiness, and sun's intensity. The six stability classes are denoted by the letters A through F, with A being very unstable, D being neutral, and F being very stable [CCPS].

T

  • T

U

  • UEL: Upper Explosive Limit. See UFL.
  • UFL: The highest concentration of a vapor or gas (the highest percentage of the substance in air) that will produce a flash of fire when an ignition source (heat, arc, or flame) is present. See also Lower Flammable Limit. At concentrations higher than the UFL, the mixture is too rich to burn. Also known as the Upper Explosive Limit (UEL) [CCPS].

V

  • VCE: Vapour Cloud Explosion - The explosion resulting from ignition of a pre-mixed cloud of flammable vapour, gas or spray with air, in which flames accelerate to sufficiently high velocities to produce significant overpressure [Purple Book]. The explosion resulting from the ignition of a cloud of flammable vapor, gas, or mist in which flame speeds accelerate to sufficiently high velocities to produce significant overpressure [CCPS].

W

  • W

X

  • X

Y

  • Y
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