Mitigation of Explosion and Fire in Oil Industry and the Effect on Community

•       Mitigation of Explosion and Fire in Oil Industry and the Effect on Community

•        PAPER PRESENTED BY EVARISTUS UZAMERE, CEO OF SAFETY ENGINEERING AND FIRE CONSULTANTS (NIGERIA) LIMITED ON THE OCCASION OF THE 2012 ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF RISK ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA HELD ON THURSDAY, 1^ST  NOVEMBER 2012 AT SHERATON HOTELS AND TOWERS, LAGOS.

•       The Chairman,

•       The President and Executives of RISAN

•       Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen.

•       Fire and Explosion in Oil Industry

•       The Piper Alpha Disaster in the North Sea on July 06, 1988 had the highest death toll in the Oil and Gas Offshore Operations.  165 of the 226 on board died.  The vast majority died from smoke inhalation (109). Over $1b lost.

•       During the Gulf War in 1991, 640 wells ignited in Kuwait.  Fires raged for more than eight months, consumed 2 billion barrels of oil and cost Kuwait US$100 Billion lost. 

•       $839m was lost at a petrochemical plant in Texas October 23, 1989 by a Vapour Cloud Explosion (VCE),

•       Fire and Explosion in Oil Industry

•       On October 17, 1998 at Jesse, Nigeria, a petroleum pipeline exploded killing about 1200 villagers, some of whom were scavenging gasoline.

•       On May 16, 2008, a pipeline exploded in the community of Ijegun, a suburb north of Lagos, Nigeria. The explosion took place after a bulldozer struck an underground oil pipeline. More than 40 killed.

•       Fire and Explosion in Oil Industry

•       In major refinery losses, 47% are due to fires, 30% explosions, 15% vapour cloud, 5% mechanical breakdown and 5% other.

•       At Terminal installations, Fires account for 41% of the losses, explosions 33% and mechanical failures 13%.  The majority of losses occur at storage units.

•       Definitions

•       Mitigation - the action of reducing the severity, seriousness, or painfulness of something.

•       Risk Mitigation covers efforts taken to reduce either the probability or consequences of a threat. These may range from physical measures (protective fences) to financial measures (cash, insurance).

•       Risk is defined as a function of the probability of occurrence of an undesired event together with a measure of its adverse consequences.

•       Hazard - The potential to cause harm, including ill health or injury; damage to property, plant, products or the environment; production losses or increased liabilities.

•       ALARP - To reduce a risk to a level which is ‘as low as reasonably practicable’ involves balancing reduction in risk against the time, trouble, difficulty and cost of achieving it. This level represents the point, objectively assessed, at which the time, trouble, difficulty and cost of further reduction measures become unreasonably disproportionate to the additional risk reduction obtained.

•       Four Phases of Emergency Management

•       Mitigation – Activities taken to eliminate or reduce the probability of the event, or reduce its severity or consequences, either prior to or following a disaster/emergency.

•       Preparedness – Activities, Programs and Systems developed and implemented prior to a disaster/emergency that are used to support and enhance mitigation of, response to, and recovery from disasters/emergencies.

•       Four Phases of Emergency Management

•       Response – In disaster/emergency management applications, activities designed to address the immediate and short-term effects of the disaster/emergency.

•       Recovery – Activities and Programs designed to return conditions to a level that is acceptable to the company.

•       Legal Aspects of Mitigation

•       The Mineral Oils (Safety) Regulations require that a licensee or lessee:

•       Develop and maintain contingency procedures and measures for the safety of personnel and equipment in emergency. 

•       Carry out a comprehensive risk analysis of the project in accordance with API recommended practice, where applicable, or other internationally accepted procedures, or documented standards of the licensee or lessee.

   

•        HSE-Management System

•       Leadership and Commitment - Top-down commitment and company culture, essential to the success of the system.

•       Policy and Strategic Objectives - Corporate intentions, principles of action and aspirations with respect to health, safety and environment.

•       Organisation, Resources and Documentation - Organisation of people, resources and and documentation for sound HSE performance.

•       Evaluation and Risk Management - Identification and evaluation of HSE risks, for activities, products and services, and development of risk reduction measures.

•        HSE-Management System

•       Planning - Planning the conduct of work activities, including planning for changes and emergency response.

•       Implementation and Monitoring - Performance and monitoring of activities, and how corrective action is to be taken when necessary.

•       Auditing and Reviewing - Periodic assessments of system performance, effectiveness and fundamental suitability.

•       Fire and Explosion Hazard Management

•       Identification of the hazardous events (coarse assessment)

•       Analysis and assessment of the hazardous events (type, areas affected, magnitude of the consequences, duration, likelihood, etc.)

•       Reduction of the risks from fires and explosions through inherently safer design;

•       Design to reduce the likelihood, scale, intensity, duration and effects of each hazardous event;

•       Identification and specification of the particular prevention, detection, control and mitigation measures needed for each hazardous event.

•       Fire and Explosion Hazard Management

•       Identification of the  People, Environment or Asset exposed to potential harm.

•       Assessing the potential consequences, likelihood of loss of control and the risk  and reduction to a level as low as reasonably practicable.

•       Control – Can the causes be eliminated? What controls are needed? How effective are the controls?

•       Recovery – Can the potential consequences or effect be mitigated? What recovery measures are needed? Are recovery capabilities suitable and sufficient?

•       Strategies for Mitigation

•       The Strategies for Disaster Mitigation shall include:

•       Integration of mitigation activities into development programs at all levels, such as installing effective and functional fire alarms in buildings.

•       Comprehensive costs and benefits analysis of possible measures

•       Short, medium and long term plan to sustain activities

•       National action plan to support and empower vulnerable communities

•       Promotion of participatory planning and management of activities with vulnerable communities.

•       Early Warning System

•       Some of the major tools for disaster preparedness, prevention and mitigation shall include Early Warning System (EWS), and contingency planning.

•       Early warning systems shall be designed to alert areas, communities, households and individuals of impending or imminent significant disaster events. It shall enable vulnerable groups to take necessary steps to avoid or reduce the risk and prepare for an effective response.

•       Disaster Mitigation

•       The activities for disaster mitigation shall include:

•       Conduct orientation and sensitization, such as dangers of pipeline vandalism.

•       Facilitate and promote implementation of various insurance policies for risk transfer.

•       Build capacity and increase awareness

•       Develop public safety communications system

•       Develop Emergency Alert Systems

•       Contingency stockpiling of food and non-food necessities. 

•       Conduct training and simulation exercises

•       Conduct stakeholders meeting.

•       Explosion Hazard Management Philosophy

•       The achievement of a condition where the explosion risk for the installation is reduced to As Low As Reasonably Practicable (ALARP)

•       CONTROL is better than MITIGATION is better than EMERGENCY RESPONSE.

•       As regards systems to reduce risk, PASSIVE systems are more reliable than ACTIVE systems are more reliable than OPERATIONAL systems are more dependable than EXTERNAL systems.

•       ALARP

•       To achieve an ‘ALARP’ design with respect to explosion hazards requires:

•       The identification of all areas of the installation where there is potential for explosion events to occur;

•       The elimination of the potential for explosion events to occur, or if this is not achievable, the minimization of the frequency of explosion events and, the minimization of the consequence of explosion events

•       The implementation of a safety management system which ensures that the above goals are consistently achievable.

•       Explosion Hazard Management

•       Explosion hazard management describes the features of an effective Safety Management System, discusses the choice and management of detection, control and mitigation systems and identifies the main characteristics of the hazard discussing minimization of the consequences of residual events which lead to an explosion event.

•       lnsurance

•       Insurance has sometimes been identified as a mitigation strategy, but this is not entirely accurate. It is rather a mechanism for spreading the financial risk posed by hazards. Thus, it is a recovery preparedness measure that reimburses the policyholder for the monetary value of property that has been damaged or destroyed. 

•       Conclusion

•        Review of a Past Fire Incident