GCRI · Engineering
Process and industrial safety engineering
Process and industrial safety engineering prevents and mitigates fires, explosions and toxic releases in industrial facilities. It addresses hazards that can affect workers, surrounding communities and connected supply chains. Advanced Industry and Robotics stewards this page for the Nexus Consortium.
01Register
Process and industrial safety engineering on the record.
The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation
- 01InstitutionThe Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI)
- 02The methodWhat process and industrial safety engineering covers
- 03Reference practiceProcess safety is codified in regulation and barrier standards
- 04In systemic risk workBarriers degrade quietly
- 05Applied inPlatforms that apply this method
- 06StewardshipWho maintains this page
- 07SourcesWhere this page’s references lead
02The method
What process and industrial safety engineering covers.
- 01
Core methods
hazard and operability studies; layer of protection analysis; consequence modelling; quantitative risk assessment; safety instrumented system design; management of change.
- 02
Data and instruments
process design documentation; incident and near-miss databases; equipment inspection records; chemical property data; alarm and control system logs.
- 03
Validation
Safety measures are verified through audits, inspection and proof testing. Incident investigations test whether barriers performed as intended.
- 04
Limits
Natural hazards triggering industrial accidents are often not considered in design. Organisational drift can erode barriers over time.
- 05
Use in risk decisions
Process safety analysis shows how industrial failures affect health, environment and supply of essential goods. It informs land use planning around hazardous sites.
03Reference practice
Process safety is codified in regulation and barrier standards.
| Reference | What it sets |
|---|---|
| EU Seveso III | Major-accident hazards |
| IEC 61511 | Safety-instrumented systems in process industries |
| CCPS risk-based process safety | Elements of process safety management |
04Process
How the process runs.
Process
Process and industrial safety engineering: Catastrophe model pipeline
Catastrophe models usually have hazard, vulnerability, exposure and financial modules, and produce loss tables, average annual loss, exceedance curves, PML and TVaR.
01 Hazard
- 01Event catalogueDataset · Model developerThe hazard module holds a large catalogue of simulated events that represents a wide range of plausible scenarios.
- 03Hazard moduleModel · Model developerFor each event the hazard module gives the local hazard intensity that the vulnerability module reads.
02 Exposure and damage
- 02ExposureDataset · Competent authorityThe exposure module houses the portfolio data, such as location-specific information.
- 04Vulnerability moduleModel · Model developerThe vulnerability module quantifies the expected damage to the exposures from an event.
03 Financial
- 05Financial moduleModel · Competent authorityThe financial module calculates losses from all event scenarios. Ground-up, gross and net losses differ as shown below.
- 06Event loss tableDataset · Competent authorityAn event loss table lists each event with its annual occurrence probability and its loss for the portfolio.
- 07Year loss tableDataset · Competent authoritySome models also sample simulated years from event losses. This outline does not describe their format.
04 Metrics
- 08Exceedance probability curvesModel · Competent authorityThe occurrence curve gives the chance that the largest loss in a year exceeds an amount. The aggregate curve does so for the sum of losses.
- 09AAL, PML and TVaRModel · Competent authorityAverage annual loss sums event probability times loss. PML is one point on the occurrence curve.
05 Use of results
- 10Use of resultsDecision · Competent authorityThe tail metrics are used when considering a portfolio’s exposure and the level of catastrophe reinsurance an insurer requires.
Outline of an external standard or method, from its public sources. It describes what the framework says, not a record of any run. It does not show that Nexus or any partner performs, certifies or approves a step. A gate is a step of the method, never a Nexus approval.
05In systemic risk work
Barriers degrade quietly.
Process safety relies on multiple barriers between a hazard and a consequence. Barriers degrade through deferred maintenance, management of change failures and normalisation of deviance. Natech events add natural hazards that can defeat several barriers at once.
- Track barrier health with leading indicators.
- Include natural hazards in hazard identification.
- Review management of change.
- Applications on Advanced Industry and Robotics and Energy Nexus.
06Applied in
Platforms that apply this method.
07Stewardship
Who maintains this page.
Advanced Industry and Robotics stewards process and industrial safety engineering: it keeps this description current and reviews how the method is applied across the platforms.
08Sources
Where this page’s references lead.
The bodies and documents this page is read against. Status and editions change; each link goes to the issuing body.
09Questions
Questions and answers.
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