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Studies on the probabilities and likely impacts of chains of accident (domino effect) in a fertilizer industry
Author(s) -
Khan Falsal I.,
Abbasi S. A.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
process safety progress
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.378
H-Index - 40
eISSN - 1547-5913
pISSN - 1066-8527
DOI - 10.1002/prs.680190110
Subject(s) - domino effect , hazardous waste , context (archaeology) , domino , population , engineering , order (exchange) , forensic engineering , environmental science , risk analysis (engineering) , business , waste management , geography , finance , environmental health , medicine , biochemistry , chemistry , physics , archaeology , nuclear physics , catalysis
Fertilizer industries are among the chemical process industries where hazardous chemicals are handled and accidents involving heat/mass/momentum transfer can result in explosions, fires, and toxic releases. Based on experience gained from past incidents in the fertilizer industries risk assessment tools and techniques are often employed in order to identify hazards and to forecast potential disasters. These efforts have almost always focused on single events or “stand alone” accidents. The interaction of an accident with other hazardous units with the potential to cause secondary, tertiary, or higher order accidents is seldom studied. Yet, chain of accidents have been occurring in the past and the probability of a repetition in the future constantly increases because of the proximity of industrial plants and the increasing population pressure in most countries. Consequently we have developed models and computer‐automated tools to study chain of accidents or “domino effects.” In this paper we discuss the concept of domino effect in the context of our methodologies, and present an illustrative case study of a major fertilizer industry situated near the city of Chennai(Madras, India).