Process Safety | PSM Training and Information

What is Process Safety? How can I know more about it?

What is Process Safety?

Process Safety is that part of overall safety that ensures that processes handling hazardous, toxic, flammable, explosive, pressurized materials work safely, without causing accidents and bad consequences to people, assets/equipment and the environment.

This term is mainly used only in the “process industries”, which are industries that handle and process bulk raw materials in relatively huge quantities (think chemicals manufacturing, oil and gas production, petroleum refining and similar). In these industry sectors, it is common to handle large quantities of flammable, explosive or toxic substances, often at high temperatures and pressure (or under vacuum).

What are Process Safety courses?

There is no one single Process Safety training course, because it is a subject with a wide scope. There are many areas which you need to know in order to learn process safety. These include Industrial Toxicology, Risk Assessment techniques such as HAZOP, understanding how fires and explosions happen and more. Abhisam has a separate course on each of these areas. Scroll below to see the complete list.

What is Safety?

Safety is simply defined as “freedom from harm”. It is the expectation of every human being, to have a safe environment. In order to achieve this, different means are employed. So we need to have a safe home, a safe work environment, a safe means of transport and so on. Safety by itself is a vast subject and there are various sub disciplines within it.

For example, we may reduce the risk of overflow of a day tank, by having an overflow pipeline that will divert the excess flow to another tank, located at a lower level. In this case safety is achieved purely by the right piping and the use of gravity. This can be considered an example of achieving overfill protection by mechanical means and using Process Safety principles.

When operators of this unit shown above use Personal Protection Equipment such as helmets, gloves or safety shoes, they are following principles of Occupational Safety.

What kinds of safety are employed in manufacturing plants?

In a nutshell, in a manufacturing plant, especially in the process industries such as Oil & Gas, Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals, Power generation, Nuclear and similar we achieve safety via Process Safety, Functional Safety and Occupational Safety. In case the plant or facility has materials that are flammable or explosive, then we also use principles of Hazardous Area management to ensure safety. In case the facility uses computerized Automation systems such as DCS or PLC or SCADA or a SIS, then we also need to maintain cyber security of these systems in order to ensure overall safety.

In non-process industry sectors (such as automobile manufacturing or discrete parts manufacturing some widgets), the discipline of process safety is almost non-existent (except if the industry uses equipment such as steam boilers or oil or gas fired furnaces). In these sectors, machinery safety & occupational safety are dominant. Many of the machines that are on the shop floor are operated by workers, who work  in close proximity to them. They are vulnerable to being hurt and hence modern machines have sophisticated protection mechanisms like hand protection interlocks, light curtains, high reliability emergency stop switches and so on. Machine safety using such devices is considered a part of Functional Safety.

Abhisam has online courses, workshops & consulting services on all the above areas.  On this page, we will be only discussing Functional Safety, Safety Intergity Level (SIL) and and Safety Instrumented Systems. You can explore other pages of the Abhisam site to get more information on HAZOP,  LOPA, Hazardous Area Classification, Industrial Cybersecurity, Personal Protective Equipment and similar related subjects.

Process Safety Courses Provided By Abhisam

We have the following Online Courses/E-learning courses related to Process Safety. Each of these courses consist of several modules that have text, animations & simulations, graphics, assessments, examples, real life case studies that help you become a professional. You can complete them from the comfort of your home or office or anywhere else. You can take them online over the internet (Online version). On passing the associated exam, you can get qualified as a professional, earn an electronic certificate with a unique ID number and a badge issued via Credly, that can be added to your Linked In Profile or other places online such as email signatures. This displays your qualifications and competencies to your colleagues, peers, bosses and potential employers and clients.

HAZOP (Hazard and Operability Study)

Hazard and Operability Study is a the predominant risk assessment technique used in the process industry.

The Abhisam HAZOP course also includes CHAZOP (short for Control HAZOP or Computer HAZOP), which is used to analyze Automation and Control systems in the process industry that are  DCS, PLC or SCADA or SIS.

The course consists of the following modules:

a) Basic Concepts

b) HAZOP Methodology (Part 1 and Part 2)

c)  HAZOP Types, Standards & Legal Requirements

d) Managing HAZOPs

e)  Case Study

f) Self Assessment Test.

Click for more details of the HAZOP course

HAZOP Leader

HAZOP Leader

The HAZOP Leader course is an advanced course meant for industry professionals, who wish to be certified as HAZOP Leader.

This course requires that the participant be an already experienced professional, who has either already completed and passed the HAZOP Professional Level course (see left) OR have had another equivalent formal training from any other course provider, along with sufficient experience of being a participant in HAZOP Studies. The participant also needs to have at least 5 years of industry experience after completion of a Bachelor’s degree in any Scientific, Technological  or Engineering area. The experience need not be fully in Safety.

After enrolling in the course the participant needs to complete a set of learning modules, pass the associated exam and submit an assignment that will be given as part of the course.

On successful completion, the participant gets awarded the HAZOP Leader certificate and an electronic badge.

The Certificate and Badge are lifelong and do not expire.

For more details please see the HAZOP Leader program here.

Industrial Hygiene

Industrial Hygiene Training

Industrial Hygiene deals with the anticipation, identification, evaluation and mitigation of hazards in the workplace. Industrial hygienists analyze, identify, and measure workplace hazards or stressors that can cause sickness, impaired health, or significant discomfort in workers through chemical, physical, ergonomic, or biological exposures. For most manufacturing plants or similar locations, maintaining Industrial Hygiene is essential part of compliance to legal requirements. This self learning software based training course is the easiest and fastest way to learn this subject at your own pace. This course consists of the following eight modules.

1.Introduction to Industrial Hygiene

2. Basic Concepts

3. Anticipation & Identification of Hazards

4. Evaluation of Hazards (including calculations)

5. Control of Hazards (including calculations)

6. Government Regulations

7. OSHA PSM Standard & Compliance

8. Case Study

9. Self Assessment Test

Learn more about Industrial Hygiene training now

Understanding Fires & Explosions

Understanding Fires and Explosions Training

Fires and Explosions are one of the biggest risks that face the process industry today. Understanding the mechanisms of these phenomena are essential to ensure safety.  Although fires and explosions are treated as almost similar phenomena by many, the actual mechanism of each is different. We can also have events such as deflagration, detonations and BLEVE (Boling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion). This e-learning course helps you learn all about the causes and the mechanisms of fires and explosions in this sector.

a) Introduction to Fires & Explosions

b) Basic Concepts of Fires

c) Fuels

d) Oxidizers

e) Ignition Sources

f) Explosions Mechanism (including Detonation)

e) Self Assessment Test

After completing the above modules, the learner can take the associated exam and earn a Certificate of Completion and an electronic badge via Credly. Learn more about Fires and Explosions here

Preventing Fires & Explosions

Preventing Fires Explosions Course

Once the mechanism of how Fires and Explosions take place is understood, the next step is to understand how to prevent them from taking place. Since prevention is always better than cure, especially in the process industry where a single large fire or explosion can easily bankrupt a company, this course is essential for everybody who works in the process industries, not just safety managers or HSE personnel. This course has the following modules.

1.Inerting

2. Use of flammability diagram

3. Controlling Static Electricity

4. Using Explosion protected equipment  (electrical, electronic and mechanical) & instruments

5. Ventilation

6. Sprinkler Systems

7. Designing for Fire & Explosion prevention

Note that this course can be taken only after completing the Understanding Fires & Explosions course. Learners can complete this course, pass the associated exam and earn a Certificate of Completion, as well as an electronic badge from Credly. Learn all about Fire and Explosion Prevention here

Safe Chemical Warehousing

Safe Chemical Warehousing

Warehouses are one of the most  important parts of any supply chain. Chemical Warehouses are those that are used to store hazardous, flammable or toxic chemicals.  Chemical warehouse safety goes beyond the ordinary steps that one takes to protect non toxic, non flammable or non hazardous material because a fire or explosion can result in not only damage of the stored goods, but also destroy the environment, cause injuries to people and give rise to consequential damages on a massive scale, which is disproportionately higher than the cost of goods stored. The course consists of the following modules:

a) Basic Concepts

b) Hazards

c)  Design and Product storage

d) Health Safety and Environment requirements

e)  Operations & Management

f) Legal, Security & Emergency Requirements

g) Advanced Module (only in Enterprise version)

h) Self Assessment Test

Learn more about  Chemical Warehouse Safety

What-If  Analysis

What If Analysis safety

What-If Analysis is a Risk Assessment technique used mainly in the Process Industries to carry our Process Hazard and Risk Assessment.

This technique is an alternative to carrying out a PHA using HAZOP. It is relatively easier and faster to do as compared to HAZOP. It can be adapted to a variety of processes.

 This self paced e-course has the following modules:

1.Understanding Hazards, Risks, Assessments.

2. Risk Assessment Methods.

3. What-If Analysis Methodology

4. What-If Case Study

5. Self Assessment Test

After you complete all the modules in the course, you can take the associated exam and earn a Certificate and an electronic badge that you can display online on places such as LinkedIn, for greater visibility of your skills.

More details on the What-If Analysis training course here.

Process Hazards Analysis (PHA)- Coming Soon!

PHA Training

PHA stands for Process Hazard Analysis. A PHA study can use one or more risk assessment techniques to analyze the various possible hazards in a process, with a view to mitigating them via engineering or operational controls. This self paced e-course has the following modules:

1.Hazards, Risks & Risk Assessment

2. Types of Risk Assessments methods:

Qualitative,

Semi-quantitative,

Quantitative

3. Probability Concepts

4. Basics of HAZID

5. Basics of HAZOP

6. Basics of QRA

7. Basics of LOPA

8. Basics of Bowtie Method

9. Selection Criteria for techniques

10. Self Assessment Test

This course is not yet available for sale. For more details please see here.

Layer of Protection Analysis (LOPA)

LOPA Training Course

Layer of Protection Analysis (LOPA) is a well known technique of Risk Assessment used mainly in the process industries. It can be used after HAZOP to determine the risk level of various protection layers and whether it is necessary to add any more independent layers to reduce the risk to an acceptable level. This self paced e-course has the following modules:

1.Hazards, Risks, Assessments

2. Types of Risk Assessments methods:

Qualitative,

Semi-quantitative,

Quantitative

3. Probability Concepts

4. Introduction to Layer of Protection Analysis (LOPA)

5. LOPA methodology

6. Case Study 1: Tank Truck containing Toxic and Flammable Chemical: Unloading, Storage and Transfer to Plant

  • Process Hazard Analysis
  • Hazard and Operability Study (HAZOP)
  • Estimating Consequences and Severity
  • Identifying and developing scenario
  • Identifying initiating Event and determining the frequency
  • Identifying independent protection layers
  • Estimating Risk of Scenario
  • Evaluating the risk for decisions
  • Implementation of LOPA

You can take the LOPA Training Course here.

Process Safety Training Workshops

Abhisam also conducts Instructor led Process Safety related training workshops, either at client offices and sites or other locations OR as public workshops.

Currently the following public workshops are available.

1. What-If Analysis/ SWIFT workshop

2. HAZOP Workshop.

Process Safety Blog Posts

Here are the latest Process Safety related Blog posts that you may want to read.

    1.  What-If Analysis Safety Course released.
    2. HAZOP Leader Program is now fully online.
    3. Easy Industrial Hygiene Training Course online now available.
    4. HAZOP Leader Certification Course is available as a fully online program.
    5.  HAZOP Study- The three things that you must consider
    6. What-If Training workshop conducted in India

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