SCAP: a new methodology for safety management based on feedback from credible accident-probabilistic fault tree analysis system

As it is conventionally done, strategies for incorporating accident - preve ntion measures in any hazardous chemical process industry are developed on the basis of input from risk assessment. However, the two steps - risk asse ssment and hazard reduction (or safety) measures - are not linked interacti vely in the existing methodologies. This prevents a quantitative assessment of the impacts of safety measures on risk control. We have made an attempt to develop a methodology in which risk assessment s teps are interactively linked with implementation of safety measures. The r esultant system tells us the extent of reduction of risk by each successive safety measure. It also tells based on sophisticated maximum credible acci dent analysis (MCAA) and probabilistic fault tree analysis (PFTA) whether a given unit can ever be made 'safe'. The application of the methodology has been illustrated with a case study. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rig hts reserved.