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In three or four sentences, rationalize the need for evaluating black-swan events and becoming familiar with previous incident narratives and recommendations involving such events.
Chemical engineering processes are fairly complex, and ostensibly harmless deviations from regular operation can lead to a catastrophic black-swan event. Evaluating a black swan will likely yield much information on the associated process safety pitfalls and plausible measures for mitigating or precluding a recurrence of the black-swan event in the design and operation of chemical engineering processes. For example, a process vulnerable to a black-swan event may involve not one, but two or three overlooked aspects which can initiate a disaster. These simultaneous occurrences need to be considered to prevent the event from occurring. Understanding the findings of the evaluation may help establish a greater sense of vulnerability within your organization and induce operators to consider even the most unlikely, calamitous consequences of the simplest deviations from SOP’s.
Describe a general operating approach or framework which may reduce the likelihood of a black-swan event in a process operation. How should this behavior be enacted in the workplace?
Everyone working at a chemical production facility should operate with a sense of vulnerability, and fend off complacency. Operating with complacency may result in oversight of critical process safety hazards and/or pitfalls. Conversely, a sense of vulnerability will induce operators to consider even the most unlikely consequences of any change to an operating procedure. The process safety management team may maintain the sense of vulnerability with frequent seminars which provide information on process safety developments in the chemical engineering industry, a discussion of current chemical plant disasters and mistakes which have occurred in other facilities or at other companies, and afford open discussion on current operations at the facility, current pitfalls in process safety management, and measures by which to minimize/eliminate the associated risks.