Multiple Failures Risk Assessment

Brazil has been facing important challenges on power supply in the current decade.  Climate problems and infrastructure deficiencies lead to a sequence of outages that impacted significantly on the industry in general.  Since 2009, Brazil has had one power disruption per year. Northeast is the most affected region, suffering 5 black-outs from 2010 to 2013 and Bahia is the most impacted State in this region. Based on the historical data, Brazilian citizens might face another power outage any time in 2014.

Power outages may cause simultaneous failures on utilities supply. Those sudden disruptions are known to be immediate causes for several Process Safety Incidents. This article brings the standard implemented in Camaçari’s Industrial Complex for multiple failures risk assessment.

Camaçari’s Industrial Complex has started its operations in 1970’s. This Complex has currently 90 companies, from different businesses, including chemical, petrochemical and others. There are a total of 45,000 workers and revenues that exceed US$ 16 billion. Due to its size and complexity, comprehensive risk assessments and strong process safety management are strategic issues for all the associated industries.

Along the years, companies have been improving their risk management programs. Nowadays, it is usual to find emergency procedures and checklists for unexpected failures on utilities supply, such as steam, power or compressed air. However, only few companies have developed procedures or risk assessments to protect their process against simultaneous failures.

Multiple failures assessments bring a different approach for risk management, contributing for losses prevention, thus leading to safer operations.

Continuous improvements on Risk Management are important to elevate chemical and petrochemical companies to a higher level of commitment to Safety not only for business perpetuation, but also as a public demonstration of caring with workers, communities and Environment in general.