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Process and Plant Safety pp 1–9Cite as

Introduction

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Abstract

The production of the process industry (The term “process industry” comprises firms from the chemical, petrochemical, pharmaceutical and food industries as well as the production of steel, cement and the like.) often involves hazards. Their nature can be both physical and chemical. Physical hazards derive from operating conditions which may be extreme, such as very low or very high temperatures and pressures. Chemical hazards are those associated with the materials present in the process, which can be toxic, flammable, explosible, or release energy due to spontaneous (“without apparent reason” from the Latin word sponte “from its own accord”.) reactions. Indeed, it is the necessity to put the substances into a reactive state in order to enable one to produce the desired products that may lead to hazards.

Whoever demands absolute safety, ignores the law of life.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The term “process industry” comprises firms from the chemical, petrochemical, pharmaceutical and food industries as well as the production of steel, cement and the like.

  2. 2.

    “Without apparent reason” from the Latin word sponte “from its own accord”.

  3. 3.

    State of safety technology: the state of development of advanced processes, installations and procedures which permit one to take for granted the practical aptitude of a measure for avoiding accidents or limiting their consequences. When determining the state of safety technology comparable processes, installations and procedures have to be considered, which have been successfully applied in practice [4] (translated by the author).

  4. 4.

    Accident: an event such as an emission, a fire or an explosion of major impact, which leads to a disturbance of the specified operation* in a site or a plant subject to this ordinance (Author’s remark: this refers to the Major Accident Ordinance [4]), which leads immediately or at a later stage to a serious hazard or material damage within or outside the site involving one or several hazardous substances as listed in annex VI part 1 para I no. 4.

    *Specified operation is the operation for which a plant is technically designed and appropriate. Operating regimes not covered by the valid license, posterior impositions or applicable legal requirements do not belong to the specified operation. The specified operation comprises the

    • normal operation including necessary human interventions such as the taking of samples including the storage with filling, transfer and refilling procedures,

    • plant commissioning and its start-up and shut-down,

    • trial operation,

    • maintenance, inspection, repair and cleaning work as well as

    • periods of temporary stand-still [8] (translated by the author).

  5. 5.

    In the field of nuclear engineering this is referred to as “design basis accident”.

  6. 6.

    Based on probability considerations derived from the Latin word probabilis: assumable, likely, credible.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany

    Ulrich Hauptmanns

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  1. Ulrich Hauptmanns
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Correspondence to Ulrich Hauptmanns .

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Hauptmanns, U. (2015). Introduction. In: Process and Plant Safety. Springer Vieweg, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40954-7_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40954-7_1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-40953-0

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