Process Safety Events is an initiative by Process Safety Integrity founded on 30+ years practical experience of high-hazard facilities across a wide range of conventional and alternative industries.
At the heart of the database are Lessons which can be learned from experience e.g. Incidents, or research e.g. Information or Media. Lessons are aligned with internationally recognised Process Safety Management frameworks and can be applied through the use of technologies or Topics.
It is acknowledged that there is already a wealth of data & information available on Process Safety Incidents and this site endeavours to complement and supplement existing sources to develop accessible and usable Knowledge that can be understood & applied by specialists and non-specialists alike.
Categorisation of Lessons and is based on reports or analyses by Competent Authorities and/or Professional Bodies. Proximate or immediate causes are similarly cited from recognised sources and root causes may be found in detailed reports e.g. via the LEARN MORE hyperlink. Speculation based on news reports or similar is avoided, however they do provide information on the location/site and often the materials involved
Consequences are categorised in order of magnitude ranking rather than absolute casualty numbers as the real impact may take time to become apparent.
The site endeavours to engage as wide a spectrum of stakeholders as possible regardless or experience or location and primarily aims to inform recently qualified personnel who may become the leaders & decision-makers of the future but also acts to remind process industry “veterans” who may have forgotten previous incidents or become complacement about the lessons to be learned & applied.
Using summaries and timelines to visualise incidents should focus time-poor duty-holders attention to the potential for protection failure.
It is not uncommon to hear “… it will never happen here – because …“
- “It’s a different site, company, process or industry“
- “I’ve got protection in place“
Nevertheless by classifying incidents by materials, equipment & actvitiies there may be some common factors that relate to similar assets & activities which may be vulnerable – particularly where the presence and performance of barriers (safeguards or controls) is not assured.
- Effective – functioned as planned and stopped the next event in the incident scenario.
- Unreliable – stopped the next event in the incident sequence, but the organisation is uncertain if it will do so in the future.
- Inadequate – functioned as intended by its design (envelope), but was unable to stop the sequence of events.
- Failed – implemented, but did not function according to its intended design.
- Missing – described in the organization’s SMS or was considered an industry standard, but it was not successfully implemented.
Keeping incidents (however unrelated) in the forefront of the minds of front-line personnel should sustain a “chronic sense of unease” to improve & monitor:
- Management principles
- Equipment design
- Operating procedures
- Maintenance practices
We aim to bring context, clarity & conciseness to an industry where technology is advancing but wisdom may not be keeping up.
Disclaimer
This site is only intended to curate, collate and communicate existing information on past incidents & current media.
The data sources and publishers are considered to be credible however no liability is accepted for negative outcomes resulting from the use, misuse, interpretation or misterpretation of information from this site.
The incident database is not a comprehensive archive of all accidents, near misses or other incidents that have occurred as it is impractical to research all events in all locations from the near or distant past.
We acknowledge that errors or omissions may occur and welcome clarifications & corrections via the contact form at the bottom of this page.
Please visit our T’s & C’s and Privacy pages for further details.
Incident Databases
Accident information has been researched from various sources including the following organisations:
Process Safety knowledge has been sourced from the following organisations:
References to Individuals or Organisations does not imply endorsement of or by this website
The following sites offer ‘conventional’ incident databases, some are by subscription only:
- eMARS (EU)
- PSID (US)
- Zema (DE)
- Japanese Failure Knowledge Database (JP)
- Tukes (FI)