Process Safety
An engineering discipline focused on preventing catastrophic failures in industrial installations by managing risks associated with hazardous materials and high-energy processes.
What is Process Safety?
Process safety is an engineering discipline concerned with identifying, assessing and controlling risks in industrial processes involving hazardous substances (toxic, flammable, explosive) or high-energy conditions (high pressure, temperature). The goal is to prevent catastrophic events - explosions, fires and toxic releases.
Process safety relies on the concept of Layers of Protection. Each layer - from process design (inherently safer design), through basic process control systems (BPCS), safety instrumented systems (SIS), to physical protective devices (safety valves, rupture discs) - independently reduces the risk of a hazardous event.
Key risk analysis methods in process safety include HAZOP (Hazard and Operability Study), LOPA (Layer of Protection Analysis) and Fault Tree Analysis (FTA). Standards such as IEC 61511 and API 754 define requirements for safety systems and process safety metrics.
Why does it matter?
Cyber-attacks on control systems can compromise the protective layers of an industrial installation. Manipulating process data, disabling alarms or changing safety controller setpoints can lead to scenarios that process safety is designed to prevent. Integrating cyber risk analysis with process risk analysis (e.g. through HAZOP with a cybersecurity lens) is becoming standard practice in modern installations.
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