CHE 4284/5292

Industrial Safety

Accident and Loss Statistics Concepts and Formulas

Safety or Loss Prevention: is the prevention of accidents by the use of appropriate technologies to identify the hazards of a chemical plant and to eliminate them before an accident occurs. Hazard: is anything with the potential for producing an accident. Risk: is the probability of a hazard resulting in an accident. Safety Programs: The implementation of a successful safety program requires several ingredients: 1. Safety knowledge, 2. Safety experience, 3. Technical competence, 4. Safety management support, 5. Commitment. Good Safety Program: is one that identifies and eliminates existing safety hazards. Outstanding Safety Program: has the management systems which prevent the existence of safety hazards. Engineering Ethics: The engineer has the responsibility to him/herself, fellow workers, colleagues, family, friends, community and the engineering profession. Engineers shall uphold and advance the integrity, honor, and dignity of the engineering profession. Accident and Loss Statistics: These are important measures of the effectiveness of Safety Programs. These statistics are valuable for determining if a process is safe or if a safety procedure is working effectively. Statistical Methods: report the number of accidents and/or fatalities for a fixed number of workers during a specific period. The Statistical Methods to be considered are: 1. OSHA Incidence Rate 2. Fatal Accident Rate (FAR) 3. Fatality Rate or deaths per person per year 1. OSHA Incidence Rate (OSHA IR): (OSHA, Occupational Safety and Health Administration) This method is dependent on the number of exposed hours. Based on cases per 100 worker year. A worker year is assumed to contain 2000 hours (50 work weeks/year x 40 hours/week) Based on 200,000 hours of worker exposure to hazard. It can be calculated based on the following equations: OSHA Incidence Rate (OSHA IR): (Based on injuries and illness) OSHA Incidence Rate (Based on injuries and illness) = Number of injuries and illnesses x 200,000 Total hours worked by all employees during period covered

OSHA Incidence Rate (OSHA IR): (Based on lost workdays) OSHA Incidence Rate (Based on lost workdays) = Number of lost workdays x 200,000 Total hours worked by all employees during period covered

CHE 4284/5292

Industrial Safety

Accident and Loss Statistics Concepts and Formulas

2. Fatal Accident Rate (FAR): This method is mostly used in the British Chemical Industry. This method is dependent on the number of exposed hours. Reports the number of fatalities based on 1000 employees working their entire lifetime. The employees are assumed to work at total of 50 years. FAR is based on 108 working hours. FAR = Number of fatalities x 108 Total hours worked by all employees during period covered

3. Fatality rate or deaths per person per year: This method is independent of the number of hours actually worked. Reports only the number of fatalities expected per person per year. Fatality Rate = Number of fatalities per year Total number of people in applicable population

TABLE 1-2: A GLOSSARY OF TERMS USED BY OSHA TO REPRESENT WORK RELATED LOSSES: OCCUPATIONAL INJURY is any injury such as a cut, fracture, sprain, amputation, etc., which results from a work accident or from an exposure involving a single incident in the work environment. OCCUPATIONAL ILLNESS of an employee is any abnormal condition or disorder, other than one resulting from an occupational injury caused by exposure to environmental factors associated with employment. It includes acute and chronic illnesses or diseases which may be caused by inhalation, absorption, ingestion, or direct contact. LOST WORKDAYS are those days which the employee would have worked but could not because of occupational injury or illness. The number of lost workdays should not include the day of injury or onset of illness. The number of days includes all days (consecutive or not) on which, because of injury or illness (1) the employee would have worked but could not or (2) the employee was assigned to a temporary job, or (3) the employee worked at a permanent job less than full time, or (4) the employee worked at a permanently assigned job but could not perform all duties normally connected with it. RECORDABLE CASES are those involving an occupational injury or occupational illness, including deaths. Not recordable are first aid cases which involve onetime treatment and subsequent observation or minor scratches, cuts, burns, splinters, etc., which do not ordinarily require medical care, even though such treatment is provided by a physician or registered professional personnel. NONFATAL CASES WITHOUT LOST WORKDAYS are cases of occupational injury or illness which did not involve fatalities or lost workdays but did result in (1) transfer to another job or termination of employment, or (2) medical treatment other than first aid, or (3) diagnosis of occupational illness, or (4) loss of consciousness, or (5) restriction of work or motion.

CHE 4284/5292

Industrial Safety

Accident and Loss Statistics Concepts and Formulas

TABLE 1-3 ACCIDENT STATISTICS FOR VARIOUS SELECTED INDUSTRIES OSHA Incidence Rate (Cases involving days away from work and deaths) 0.49 1.08 1.54 2.06 2.22 3.28 3.88 4.53 5.27 7.28

Industry Chemical Vehicle Steel Paper Coal Mining Food Construction Agricultural Meat Products Trucking

FAR (deaths/108 hours) 4.0 1.3 8 40 67 10

TABLE 1-4 FATALITY STATISTICS FOR COMMON INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITIES Activity Voluntary Activity Staying at home Traveling by Car Bicycle Air Motorcycle Canoeing Rock Climbing Smoking (20 cigarettes/day) Involuntary Activity Struck by meteorite Struck by lightning (U.K.) Fire (U.K.) Run over by vehicle 6 x 10-11 1 x 10-7 150 x 10-7 600 x 10-7 FAR (deaths/108 hours) 3 57 96 240 660 1000 4000 17 x 10-5 Fatality Rate (Deaths per person per year)

4 x 10-5 500 x 10-5

CHE 4284/5292 Industrial Safety

Accident and Loss Statistics Concepts and Formulas

Acceptable Risk: Every chemical process has a certain amount of risk associated with it. Risk cannot be eliminated entirely. Public Perceptions: The general public has great difficulty with the concept of acceptable risk. The major objection is due to the involuntary nature of acceptable risk. The public opinion and the media put a great demand concerning safety and loss prevention in the chemical plants. Nature of the Accident Process: Typical types of accidents that occur in the Chemical Plants are: fire, explosion, and toxic release.

TABLE 1-5 THREE TYPES OF CHEMICAL PLANT ACCIDENTS Type of accident Fire Explosion Toxic Release Probability of occurrence High Intermediate Low Potential for fatalities Low Intermediate High Potential for economic loss Intermediate High Low

Human Error: is frequently used to describe a cause for losses. Almost all accidents, except those caused by natural hazards, can be attributed to human error. The Accident Process: Accidents follow a three step process: Initiation: The event that starts the accident. Propagation The event or events that maintain or expand the accident. Termination The event or events that stop the accident or diminish it in size. Safety Engineering: involves eliminating the initiating step and replacing the propagation steps by termination events.

CHE 4284/5292

Industrial Safety

Accident and Loss Statistics Concepts and Formulas

TABLE 1-6 DEFEATING THE ACCIDENT PROCESS Step Initiation Desired Effect Diminish Procedure Grounding and Bonding Inerting Explosion proof electrical Guardrails and guards Maintenance procedures Hot-work permits Human factors design Process design Awareness of dangerous properties of chemicals Emergency material transfer Reduce inventories of flammables Equipment spacing and layout Nonflammable construction materials Installation of check and emergency shut-off valves Firefighting equipment and procedures Relief systems Sprinkler systems Installation of check and emergency shut-off valves

Propagation

Diminish

Termination

Increase

CHE 4284/5292

Industrial Safety

Accident and Loss Statistics Concepts and Formulas

Fatal Accident Rate (FAR): This method is mostly used in the British Chemical Industry. This method is dependent on the number of exposed hours. Reports the number of fatalities based on 1000 employees working their entire lifetime. The employees are assumed to work at total of 50 years. FAR is based on 108 working hours. Plant Total FAR: FARTOTAL = FARi
i

Individual worker FAR: FAR A = X i FARi

Where, Xi Time fraction FARi FAR of particular process unit

CHE 4284/5292

Industrial Safety

Accident and Loss Statistics Concepts and Formulas