Natech Risk Assessment and Management

Reducing the Risk of Natural-Hazard Impact on Hazardous Installations

Elisabeth Krausmann, Ana Maria Cruz, Ernesto Salzano

• Publisher: Elsevier
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9780128038079
• eBook ISBN: 9780128038796
• Topic: Technologie et ingénierie
• Subtopic: Assurance

Natech Risk Assessment and Management: Reducing the Risk of Natural-Hazard Impact on Hazardous Installations covers the entire spectrum of issues pertinent to Natech risk assessment and management. After a thorough introduction of the topic that includes definitions of terms, authors Krausmann, Cruz, and Salzano discuss various examples of international frameworks and provide a detailed view of the implementation of Natech Risk Management in the EU and OECD. There is a dedicated chapter on natural-hazard prediction and measurement from an engineering perspective, as well as a consideration of the impact of climate change on Natech risk. The authors also discuss selected Natech accidents, including recent examples, and provide specific 'lessons learned' from each, as well as an analysis of all essential elements of Natech risk assessment, such as plant layout, substance hazards, and equipment vulnerability. The final section of the book is dedicated to the reduction of Natech risk, including structural and organizational prevention and mitigation measures, as well as early warning issues and emergency foreword planning. - Teaches chemical engineers and safety managers how to safeguard chemical processing plants and pipelines against natural disasters - Includes international regulations and explains how to conduct a natural hazards risk assessment, both of which are supported by examples and case studies - Discusses a broad range of hazards and the multidisciplinary aspects of risk assessment in a detailed and accessible style

Chapter 1

Introduction

E. Krausmann*

A.M. Cruz**

E. Salzano^†
*    European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy
^**    Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
^†    Department of Civil, Chemical, Environmental, and Materials Engineering, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

Abstract

This chapter sets the stage for the chapters that follow by introducing the topic of Natech risks, including a definition of the term, presenting the main characteristics of Natech accidents, and giving an overview of the objectives and scope of the book.

Keywords

industrial safety

hazardous industry

hazardous materials

natural-hazard triggered technological accident

Natech

In Mar. 2011 the whole world watched in shock as a tsunami slammed into a Japanese nuclear power plant, causing a nuclear meltdown and raising the spectre of nuclear contamination with potentially widespread and long-term consequences. Raging fires and explosions at oil refineries in the wake of the massive earthquake that triggered the tsunami also made global headlines. The Cabinet Office of Japan estimated losses in the order of $US 210 billion in direct damage, making the double disasters the most destructive on record.

The past years set a record in the number of natural disasters accompanied by unprecedented damage to industrial facilities and other infrastructures. In addition to the Japan twin disasters in 2011, recent major examples include Hurricane Sandy in 2012 that caused multiple hydrocarbon spills and releases of raw sewage, the damage to industrial parks during the Thai floods in 2011, or Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 that wreaked havoc on the offshore oil and gas infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico.

These events clearly demonstrated the potential for natural hazards to trigger fires, explosions, and toxic or radioactive releases at hazardous installations and other infrastructures that process, store, or transport dangerous substances. These technological “secondary effects” caused by natural hazards are also called “Natech” accidents. They are a recurring but often overlooked feature in many natural-disaster situations and have repeatedly had significant and long-term social, environmental, and economic impacts. In the immediate aftermath of a natural disaster, Natech accidents add significantly to the burden of the population already struggling to cope with the effects of the triggering natural event.

Natural hazards can cause multiple and simultaneous releases of hazardous materials over extended areas, damage or destroy safety barriers and systems, and disrupt lifelines often needed for accident prevention and mitigation. These are also the ingredients for cascading disasters. Successfully controlling a Natech accident has often turned out to be a major challenge, if not impossible, where no prior preparedness planning has taken place.

Unfortunately, experience has shown that disaster risk reduction frameworks do not fully address the issue of technological hazards in general, and Natech hazards in particular. Also, chemical-accident prevention and preparedness programs often overlook the specific aspects of Natech risk. This is compounded by the likely increase of future Natech risk due to worldwide industrialization, climate change, population growth, and community encroachment in areas subject to these kinds of hazards.

With increasing awareness of Natech risk and a growing body of research into the topic, in some countries first steps have been taken toward implementing stricter regulations for the design and operation of industrial activities in natural-hazard prone areas. Nonetheless, dedicated risk-assessment methodologies are lacking, as is guidance for industry and authorities on how to manage Natech risks in their installations and offsite. It is necessary to revisit existing expertise and practices in risk management at industrial facilities and to implement dedicated measures for Natech risk reduction where gaps are identified.

This book aims to address the entire spectrum of issues pertinent to Natech risk assessment and management in an effort to support the reduction of Natech risks. While in principle also natural-hazard triggered nuclear and radiological accidents qualify as Natech events, the book focuses on Natech risk management in the chemical industry. Nuclear risks are governed by different legislation and mature risk-assessment methodologies that allow the evaluation of natural-hazard impacts are available.

The book is also intended to serve as a reference information repository and state-of-the-art support tool for the industry user, government authorities, disaster risk reduction practitioners, and academia. In its 15 chapters, it collects modeling and assessment approaches, methodologies and tools, and presents measures to prevent Natech accidents or to mitigate their consequences.

Chapters 2–4 are introductory chapters that discuss the characteristics of Natech risk by giving detailed descriptions of selected Natech accident case studies at chemical plants, pipelines, and offshore infrastructure. This is complemented by general and natural-hazard specific lessons learned and a discussion of the treatment of Natech risk in regulatory frameworks for chemical-accident prevention and preparedness currently in force. Chapters 5 and 6 address the prediction and measurement of natural hazards from an engineering point of view and introduce the characteristics of technological hazards arising from the use of hazardous materials. Chapters 7–12 are dedicated to Natech risk assessment. They outline the general assessment process and describe the different approaches available. Examples of existing Natech risk-assessment methodologies are presented and applied to case studies. Chapters 13 and 14 focus on structural and organizational prevention and mitigation measures. These measures range from engineered safety barriers to early-warning systems and risk governance. Finally, Chapter 15 summarizes recommendations for effective Natech risk reduction and remaining gaps that need to be addressed in the future. A glossary of terms is included in the Annex.

Chapter 2

Past Natech Events

E. Krausmann*

A.M. Cruz**
^* European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy
^** Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

Abstract

Numerous past Natech accidents are testimony to the dangers that can arise when the natural and technological worlds collide. Past experience also teaches that Natech accidents can in principle be triggered by any kind of natural hazard and that it does not necessarily require a major natural-hazard event, such as a strong earthquake or a hurricane, to provoke the release of hazardous materials. In fact, Natech accidents were often caused by rain, lightning, or freeze, to name a few. This chapter provides selected examples of past Natech events to show the wide variety of natural hazard triggers and also the multitude of hazardous target infrastructures.

Keywords

Natech accident

case study

earthquake

tsunami

flood

lightning

storm

volcano

refinery

pipeline

offshore infrastructure

oil spill

Numerous past Natech accidents are testimony to the dangers that can arise when the natural and technological worlds collide. Past experience also teaches that Natech accidents can in principle be triggered by any kind of natural hazard and that it does not necessarily require a major natural-hazard event, such as a strong earthquake or a hurricane, to provoke the release of hazardous materials. In fact, Natech accidents were often caused by rain, lightning or freeze, to name a few. This chapter provides selected examples of past Natech events to show the wide variety of natural hazard triggers and also the multitude of hazardous target infrastructures.

2.1. Characteristics of Natech events

The extent and consequences of Natech accidents have often reached major proportions, indicating low levels of preparedness. The reasons are manifold and cannot be attributed to a single determining factor. The main difficulty probably stems from the fact that Natech risk reduction is fundamentally a multidisciplinary topic that cuts across traditional professional boundaries. In addition, Natech risk is still considered somewhat of an emerging risk that has only been receiving more attention after a number of recent major accidents. As a consequence, there is still a lack of dedicated knowledge on the dynamics of Natech accidents and not much guidance for industry and authorities on how to address this type of risk. This makes scenario development for planning purposes very difficult.

Another factor is the misconception that engineered and organizational protection measures implemented to prevent and mitigate the so-called conventional industrial accidents would also protect against Natech events. However, Natech accidents differ significantly from those caused by, for example, mechanical failure or human error, and therefore require targeted prevention, preparedness, and response activities.

For instance, when impacting hazardous installations, natural hazards can trigger multiple and simultaneous loss-of-containment (LOC) events over extended areas within a very short timeframe...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• List of Contributors
• About the Authors
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Past Natech Events
• Chapter 3: Lessons Learned From Natech Events
• Chapter 4: Status of Natech Risk Management
• Chapter 5: Natural Hazard Characterization
• Chapter 6: Technological Hazard Characterization
• Chapter 7: Natech Risk and Its Assessment
• Chapter 8: Qualitative and Semiquantitative Methods for Natech Risk Assessment
• Chapter 9: Quantitative Methods for Natech Risk Assessment
• Chapter 10: Case-Study Application I: RAPID-N
• Chapter 11: Case-Study Application II: ARIPAR-GIS
• Chapter 12: Case Study Application III: RISKCURVES
• Chapter 13: Reducing Natech Risk: Structural Measures
• Chapter 14: Reducing Natech Risk: Organizational Measures
• Chapter 15: Recommendations and Outlook
• Glossary
• Index