(18c) Dynamic Process Safety Barriers Management at Petrobras: Challenges for Data Integration

Dynamic process safety barriers management is a systematic monitoring of the integrity and reliability of preventive and mitigating barriers, defining responsibilities, and consolidating information at all levels of the corporation – operational, tactical and strategic. This process actively and dynamically contributes to the prevention of possible accidental scenarios.

Monitoring the status of process safety barriers in industrial facilities makes it possible to act proactively to maintain their integrity and manage the risks of the facility.

In 2019, Petrobras began specifying requirements for the implementation of Dynamic Process Safety Management using the Bow Tie methodology. Throughout 2020, it carried out a market consultation (Request For Information) to identify possible suppliers of commercial software solutions to support this process. Tests were carried out to ensure the effectiveness of these software. In 2021, Petrobras carried out a bidding process to contract the software tool with implementation services. Throughout the period 2022-2023, the project has been implemented in several industrial facilities.

Some of these project implementation phases were presented at previous events (AICHE/CCPS). One of the biggest challenges of this implementation process is associated with information technology, due to the need to make Barrier Management a dynamic and updated process, integrating it with various informational databases already existing in the company.

This article presents the challenges of implementing a solution for automatic and dynamic update of process safety barriers, aiming to provide an integrated and real-time view of the state of these barriers in Petrobras facilities. The solution integrates data from 28 different systems,

with hundreds of tables and columns to be scanned and combined in order to meet dozens of degradation criteria that make up the safety barriers. It is also a challenge to seek business rules that are as standardized as possible in order to guarantee a leaner integration and simpler maintenance. The data integration strategy involves identifying primary databases, specifying technical data extraction methods, and utilizing REST services or data acquisition from information bases. The update frequency is flexible, allowing each source system to define the most suitable periodicity.

Cyber security is a central concern, with the implementation of security standards protocols that guarantee access only to authorized personnel, secure data storage, and protected data communication.

Monitoring availability and handling failures are significant challenges, with the solution providing updated information through dashboards. Failure handling follows a standardized workflow involving specialized teams. Improvement requests are registered in a corporate service management platform, evaluated, and prioritized according to established governance. System maintenance includes monitoring the lifecycle of solution components, including the 28 systems monitored within the tool.