제  목 : CHEMICAL AND HAZARDOUS INSTALLATION DIVISION RESEARCH STRATEGY
  일  자 : 1998년 09월
  제공처 : Internet

     CHEMICAL AND HAZARDOUS INSTALLATION DIVISION RESEARCH STRATEGY
     : 1998 and beyond.
     ==============================================================

   SUMMARIES OF TOPIC AREAS AND RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

     Engineering
     Control Systems
     Pipelines
     Explosion
     Fire
     Human Factors
     Occupational Health
     Risk Theory
     Source terms and Dispersion

  General forward

 I am pleased to introduce this first issue of CHID's Research Strategy. Its
 purpose is to give a clear statement of the Division's research needs and
 priorities in the medium term. This strategy will inform decisions made on new
 research proposals from 1 April 1998 and will provide a basis for CHID's
 future research plans and for the annual bid for research funding.

 CHID shares HSE's commitment to value for money and quality in the research it
 commissions. This means optimising collaboration with others; in HSE, in
 Government and elsewhere. This document is designed to support that process.

 I expect this document to help strengthen the scientific and technical base
 which underpins all of CHID's activities and to help us maintain and improve
 the good working relationships we already enjoy with others active in this
 field.

 Dr Paul Davies
 Head of the Chemical and Hazardous Installations Division

 INTRODUCTION (July 1998)

 This research strategy is intended to ensure that CHID's research activities
 help to deliver its overall aims and objectives over the next three to five
 years. It will be reviewed annually by CHID's DMB to take account of new
 information and new needs. The strategy, and its successors, will form the
 basis of CHID's future research plans; it will be used to justify future
 research projects and help decide priorities across a broadly based research
 programme. Clear links will be maintained between this strategy, CHID's
 Strategic Plan and future Unit and Divisional Operating Plans.

 The strategy addresses those CHID Science and Technology (S＆T) needs which can
 currently be foreseen and which are amenable to formal research projects. It
 does not seek to identify those S＆T needs which we expect to satisfy either
 through our own activities or through the provision of support by HSL or the
 Framework Agreement.

 This document is targeted primarily at CHID staff who may wish to initiate,
 commission or manage research projects; it is also aimed at CHID's line
 managers who will need to make decisions on which research proposals to
 support.

 CHID is not alone in commissioning research relevant to the chemical and gas
 industries. Other parts of HSE e.g. DST, HD and FOD all have related interests
 and, historically, have led on some of the research. To ensure HSE achieves
 best value for money from research into chemical hazards, we must clearly
 state CHID's research needs and reach agreement with those Directorates on how
 best to meet those needs.

 This strategy is also intended to give external stakeholders the opportunity
 to comment on CHID's research plans and, where appropriate, to influence or
 collaborate in CHID's research activities.

 In seeking to deliver against this strategy, CHID staff are encouraged to make
 appropriate use of the wide range of funding and collaborative opportunities
 that exist outside HSE. To this end we will work with other interested parties
 (e.g. research establishments, academia, consultancies, industry, Government
 Departments and Agencies etc.) in this country and abroad to develop research
 proposals to meet our defined needs in the most cost-effective way.

 [HSE Research background]

 The aims of the Health and Safety Commission and Executive (HSC/E), whose
 existence and functions derive from the Health and Safety at Work Act etc.
 1974, are to protect the health, safety and welfare of employees, and to
 safeguard others, principally the public, who may be exposed to risks from
 industrial activity.

 HSC/E's MISSION STATEMENT: to ensure that risks to people's health and safety
 from work activities are properly controlled.

 To fulfil this role HSE requires Science and Technology (S＆T) to provide a
 sound independent understanding of what underlies the risks, and the means to
 assess and control them.

 HSC/E's S＆T MISSION STATEMENT: The Health and Safety Commission and Executive
 apply science and technology in support of their mission to ensure that risks
 to people's health and safety from the entire range of industrial activity are
 properly controlled. They control in effect a large part of the national store
 of hazard experience and ensure that this is continually augmented, clarified
 and updated as technology advances and they challenge poor practice on this
 basis. The relevant risks arise from uses of technology, and those risks which
 concern people most, are often from new technologies. A practical, scientific
 and foreseeing understanding of the risks enables regulatory intervention to
 be well judged in terms of reasonable practicability, so that economic and
 social benefits of better health and safety performance can be realised at
 reasonable cost to industry.

  [HSE'S Mainstream research programme]

 The Mainstream Programme is a portfolio of projects dealing with occupational
 health and safety topics across the whole range of HSC/E's responsibilities,
 excluding nuclear industry specific issues. The major aim of the programme is
 to set up an integrated programme of projects which address both the specific
 and generic investigation of hazards to health and safety and the short term
 reactive needs, for example to support risk assessment and investigations of
 specific accidents or incidents. Specific areas of interest, current
 activities, broader topic based issues and future research priorities in the
 overall S＆T research Programme are described in the publication

      "Mainstream Research Market"

 (1), published annually by HSE.

 HSE's policy, technical and operational work leads to the identification of
 needs and ideas for research which are taken forward by HSE Divisions and
 Directorates as customers in consultation with subject research groups (SRGs).
 SRGs draw together all interested parties in a particular subject area across
 HSE, and at times experts from outside HSE, to exchange information and
 identify common priorities. Four portfolio research groups (PRGs) oversee the
 work of the SRGs. These are Health, Engineering, Behavioural and Social
 Science and Major Hazards and Risk Assessment. These four bodies provide full
 coverage of HSE's research interests.

 [Reference]

      (1) Mainstream Research Market 1997/8, HSE Books, ISBN 0-7176-1086-1

 CHID research programme ROAMEF statement

 This ROAMEF statement summarises the research programme of the Chemical and
 Hazardous Installations Division (CHID). It forms an integral part of the
 overall HSE approach to research in the context of its wider duties, and is to
 be considered alongside HSC/E's Science and Technology (S＆T) Mission Statement
 and the ROAMEF statements relating to:
 HSE's Mainstream Research Programme the four Portfolio Research Groups and
 their Subject Research Groups individual research projects.

 Rationale

 HSC/E's mission is to ensure that risks to people's health and safety from
 work activities are properly controlled. It is supported by the HSC/E S＆T
 mission statement which aims to ensure that the economic and social benefits
 of improved health and safety are obtained at reasonable cost and that this
 depends on a practical, scientific and foreseeing understanding of the risks
 involved.

 CHID exists to apply HSE's mission in the chemical and hazardous installations
 sector of industry. The programme of research undertaken by CHID is concerned
 with achieving that mission through the application of scientific knowledge to
 the manufacture, handling, storage and transport of chemicals (including
 natural gas and explosives). In particular, CHID commissions research to
 assist in the preparation of practical guidance to industry, to help its
 Inspectors judge what is reasonably practicable in risk management and to aid
 its own work of assessing hazards and risks and providing advice to others.

 Objectives

 The overall objective of CHID's research programme is to ensure that all of
 CHID's activities are underpinned by sound science, and specifically: to
 further develop in pipelines risk assessment; to develop ways of "mining"
 safety reports for core data on the adequacy of technical standards applied by
 industry; to enable us to link risk assessments to site-specific operational
 standards and ensure the production of appropriate guidance on technical
 standards; to improve our understanding of risk perception, particularly in
 relation to major hazards; to improve the integration of management and
 organisational factors into our assessment procedures; to develop methods for
 integrating human factors elements into risk control; to investigate and
 encourage the development of inherently safer approaches to technological
 risk; to maintain robust, fit-for-purpose methodologies for assessing hazards
 and risks around hazardous installations.

 Appraisal

 We shall maintain effective communications with PRGs and SRGs through
 membership of relevant groups. We will discuss common research interests with
 other parts of HSE and make conscious decisions and agree on areas on which we
 shall concentrate, and what we can leave to others. We shall involve external
 stakeholders, as appropriate, in the development of our research plans.

 We shall prepare a Divisional Research Strategy to explain our research
 priorities. This will be made available for discussion with other interested
 Divisions and Directorates within HSE, with HSE's PRGs and with selected
 external stakeholders.

 The Divisional Research Strategy, together with the relevant objectives of the
 CHID research programme and appropriate consultation with SRGs, will be used
 as the basis for assessing individual research proposals within its scope.

 Monitoring

 The Divisional Management Board (DMB) will review the volume and balance of
 research within CHID's research programme and consider the amount of work
 commissioned against its specific research objectives. The outcome of this
 review will feed into any necessary revision of the Divisional Research
 Strategy.

 Evaluation

 CHID's Research Co-ordinator will ensure that post-project evaluation forms
 are completed promptly and returned to RSU for compilation. Any lessons to be
 learned from the conduct or management of specific projects will be
 disseminated to CHID staff by the Research Co-ordinator.

 SRGs are required to identify any coherent programmes of research which are
 suitable for central evaluation. For any programme selected which involves
 CHID projects, the relevant CHID staff will provide information on request to
 allow for effective evaluation.

 Feedback

 CHID research Project Officers are responsible for the dissemination of
 relevant research findings within HSE and for initiating the subsequent use of
 those findings within CHID. CHID Units will be responsible for reporting on
 how research results are subsequently used.


 CHID research programme

 The Chemical ＆ Hazardous Installations Division (CHID) of HSE has a research
 programme that is structured around 7 broad topic areas; these topics are
 intended to include all aspects of CHID research. Within each of these topic
 areas, research strategies and research objectives have been identified. The
 topic areas are as follows:

      i) Engineering (including mechanical engineering, reliability, pressure
      systems, control systems and pipelines)
      ii) Explosion (including all explosion phenomena and effects, ignition
      sources, explosives and exothermic reactions),
      iii) Fire (including thermal radiation effects),
      iv) Human Factors (including management and organisational factors in
      safety, human performance, risk perception and communication and
      emergency planning and management),
      v) Occupational Health (including occupational hygiene, ergonomics,
      chemical, physical and biological risks),
      vi) Risk Theory (including computational risk assessment methods, cost
      benefit analysis and development of criteria),
      vii) Source Terms and Dispersion (including fluid dynamics and gas
      dispersion modelling).

 Each of these topics cover work carried out across the division, and as such,
 may include work undertaken in a number of the units within CHID. The topics
 are broadly, and intentionally, aligned with the system of SRGs and PRGs in
 place within HSE but will operate in a less formal way, as networks of
 interested CHID staff co-ordinated by the topic lead. This system is designed
 to aid appropriate participation by CHID staff in the work of the PRGs and
 SRGs and to ensure that CHID's research needs and strategies can easily be
 taken into account by PRG/SRG strategies.

 The research topic system is intended to help communication on research across
 the Division. There will inevitably be some overlap of interests and care will
 be needed to avoid the creation of artificial barriers between topics. New
 topics may be created from time to time, as existing topics develop (e.g. in
 the future, engineering could be split along the lines of the various
 engineering SRGs), but not at the cost of losing the breadth of coverage and
 the ability to compare priorities across the whole topic.

 In order to maintain and develop the credibility of CHID as a regulatory
 authority, it is important that the division should remain at the forefront of
 science and technology. To achieve this, the programme of research and
 development outlined in this document has been produced. Whilst most of the
 Division's research needs can be identified in advance, the use of the
 strategy must remain sufficiently flexible to allow rapid changes in
 priorities, for example when new information needs become apparent during
 accident investigations. The overall aims are to develop solutions to current
 and future problems and to enable these solutions to be codified in the form
 of practical guidance to industry, and in addition to support CHID's own work
 of assessing and regulating the chemical, explosives and related industries.

 The research strategies formulated for each topic have been developed by topic
 leads in the light of a series of key drivers, either imminent or anticipated,
 and these are outlined below.

 COMAH: the Control of Major Accident Hazards regulations will implement the
 Seveso II Directive in early 1999. These regulations will introduce new
 challenges to duty-holders and to HSE/EA (acting as the joint Competent
 Authority); the need for the CA to identify domino-effect potential at
 chemical complexes, the need to test and demonstrate the adequacy of off-site
 emergency plans, the need to demonstrate the safe operation of installations
 and to assess the evidence submitted.

 MSER: the Manufacturing and Storage of Explosives regulations will replace the
 major part of the Explosives Act in 1999; work is required to up-date
 consequence models for explosives incidents, to quantify the risks surrounding
 explosives sites and to provide the basis for both statutory rules and advice
 for duty-holders.

 PSR: The Pipelines Safety regulations 1996 introduced a completely new regime
 for the regulation of pipeline risks in Great Britain. The inclusion of the
 National Transmission System and technical developments in the pipelines field
 bring new issues to the fore, which require research, assessment, information
 and guidance. In addition, the possibility of a future EC Directive on
 pipelines safety brings with it the need for sound scientific and technical
 information to underpin any UK negotiating stance; the provision of such
 information will be a task for CHID.

 Good Health is Good Business: CHID is committed to playing its part in this
 HSE-wide initiative and will commission research, where necessary to
 investigate potential health problems in the chemical and related industries
 and to provide guidance to industry.

 SMEs: CHID has a role in HSC's strategy for supporting small firms and may
 need research to address the specific problems encountered with small and
 medium sized enterprises within the chemical sector, e.g. small firework and
 chemical companies.

 Foresight: CHID needs to be prepared for what industry may be doing in the
 longer-term future. We will need to identify the health and safety
 consequences of new technologies, to work with others (in HSE, industry and
 the Foresight Panels) to influence developments to ensure health and safety is
 taken into account at an early stage and to help formulate solutions and
 guidance where problems are identified.

 Land-use planning: CHID needs to ensure that its LUP advice is always based on
 sound science and defensible methodologies in the face of constant scientific
 and technical developments. The COMAH regulations will bring new requirements;
 new sites coming into HSE's LUP regime, environmental assessments etc. and
 CHID will need to provide most of HSE's technical expertise. CHID will also
 play a major part in the forthcoming review of HSE's role in LUP.

 Operational Research: in the face of so many technical, legislative and
 administrative changes, CHID will need to develop new ways of working to
 ensure it achieves its objectives efficiently. We will need to compare hazards
 and risks across the range of the Division's responsibilities, to develop
 better means of securing compliance and of communicating our message to all
 our external stakeholders.

 This research strategy addresses issues which we believe will be important
 over the next 3 - 5 years and which are amenable to research and so will
 provide us with the basis for developing our annual S＆T plans. It should help
 to ensure that CHID's functions are underpinned by up-to-date, sound, science
 and technology and that CHID's actions are demonstrably targeted, transparent,
 consistent and proportionate.

 The level of detail in the respective topic strategies varies considerably.
 This is due to the different levels of maturity of these topics within HSE's
 overall research programme and the way in which some technological problems
 are more specific than others to the scope of CHID's activities.

 Over the years, HSE's specialist staff have sponsored significant research
 programmes in relation to the chemical and related industries, on topics such
 as fire, explosion, risk theory, source terms and dispersion. In these topics,
 CHID has a clear idea of the specific research needed to fill current gaps in
 knowledge and can describe those needs in detail.

 In the engineering and occupational health topics, many of CHID's research
 needs are virtually indistinguishable from those of other parts of HSE. Here,
 the needs are primarily related to identifying the relevance of this "general"
 research to the industries regulated by CHID.

 In the human factors field, many behavioural, management and organisational
 issues are of particular relevance to the chemical and related industries but
 CHID, HSE and indeed the wider health and safety research community are only
 just beginning to address them. This is a topic in which much basic work
 remains to be done.

 The summaries of individual research strategies for each topic are given in
 Section 2 of this document, along with the key research objectives.

 Prioritisation

 CHID needs to prioritise its research work, in common with its other
 activities, where there is a risk of demand outstripping the resources
 available. In this case demand is made up of two components, new projects and
 ongoing spend from existing projects. Prioritisation provides a way of
 deciding what must be done and what can be dropped in such circumstances. It
 enables CHID to focus its research on the most important issues and allocate
 its resources to best effect in a way that is transparent to its own staff.

 Research prioritisation takes different forms. The development of a top-down
 research strategy involves decisions on the work areas, or topics: where
 research is to be concentrated and the relationship with the business
 priorities. In broad terms, the research must be directed towards the
 Division's business needs, with the research priorities reflecting the
 priorities of the CHID Strategic Plan and plan of work. These broad principles
 provide direction to CHID staff involved in the medium to long term planning
 of the Division's research activities.

 In most cases, specific CHID units will have clear responsibilities for
 commissioning research on given subjects. Each Unit should prioritise their
 proposals in accordance with the above principles before submitting them, in
 the Autumn, for inclusion in the divisional outline research plan. Delivery
 will be against the Unit plan of work. In the event of a subsequent shortfall
 in resources, the priorities identified at the planning stage will be used to
 inform judgements on which proposals should proceed and which should be
 postponed or abandoned. The following additional factors may be taken into
 account when deciding on priorities for research plans:

      importance to HSC/E's published strategy and priorities
      importance to the subject area
      importance of the results to policy, S＆T capability or enforcement
      support from one particular HSE Division (importance to its Divisional
      objectives)
      support from more than one HSE Division
      interest or potential collaboration from industry, other Government
      Departments or others
      size of group whose health and safety will benefit from the project
      severity of the health and safety problem to individuals affected
      Importance to public or political concerns over the health and safety
      issues
      directness of the application of results
      likelihood of the successful outcome of the project
      likely cost-effectiveness of project
      links to other research projects

 [ SUMMARIES OF TOPIC AREAS AND RESEARCH OBJECTIVES]

 Engineering

 Containment of dangerous substances is a fundamental principle in the
 prevention of major accidents on chemical plants and other types of hazardous
 installations. Containment is provided by vessels used for the processing or
 storage of dangerous substances, and by associated pipework, valves, flanged
 joints, etc. The initial integrity of containment relies heavily on the use of
 design standards. CHID will continue to monitor, and where appropriate
 support, research work undertaken to support standards development. Especially
 in evaluating the effects of reducing empiricism and in risk based design
 methods.

 Measures taken to ensure the continuing integrity of containment are also of
 critical importance to the safety of chemical and hazardous installations.
 Recent HSE research in this area, lead by DST, includes the use of
 non-invasive inspection methods and a major programme of work to assess the
 effectiveness of non-destructive testing. This generic work has been driven by
 the increasing use of risk based design methods and fitness-for-purpose
 assessments of flawed structures for continued operation. There is a need for
 CHID to consider the implications of recent developments in this area, with
 particular emphasis on the adequacy and limitations of the various techniques.
 There is also a need for CHID to continually review and develop an improved
 understanding of failure mechanisms leading to loss of containment, such as
 stress corrosion cracking, fatigue, joint seal failure, etc..

 Certain sectors of the chemical and petroleum industry are adopting risk based
 inspection (RBI) methods to target inspection activity and in certain cases to
 justify increasing the periods between inspections. There is a need for CHID
 to consider the safety implications of these new techniques and to develop
 guidance. There is also a need for CHID to review the technical progress made
 with established inspection techniques, such as acoustic emission.

 Inadequate maintenance may have a significant effect on the safety of an
 installation. This issue was highlighted in the HSE report of a major incident
 at Associated Octel in 1994. There is a need for CHID to monitor and review
 new maintenance techniques, including risk based methods. There is also a need
 for CHID to develop systems for assessing the effectiveness of maintenance
 strategies adopted by industry.

 HSE reports of the major incidents at Texaco Milford Haven in 1994 and at
 Hickson and Welch in 1992, highlighted the need to consider the design and
 location of buildings and structures to withstand the effects of fire and
 explosion. CHID will need to review existing knowledge in this area and to
 encourage developments where appropriate.

 The emerging technical assessment criteria for COMAH safety reports require
 operators to demonstrate that adequate safety and reliability has been built
 into the design, construction, operation and maintenance of their
 establishments. CHID will need to develop it's engineering research programme
 to support COMAH safety report assessment.

 CHID has a long standing and continuing need to obtain, analyse and collate
 reliability and failure rate data for items such as vessels, pipework, valves,
 pumps flanges, etc. This information is used in risk assessments, specifically
 for land use planning casework, and in the wider context of risk reduction
 measures. Current or recently completed work includes failure rate data for
 ISO tank containers, pipework, pressure vessels and chlorine road tankers.
 Plans for future research are aimed at reviewing and updating existing data,
 extending the range of plant items covered, improving the traceability of data
 used and addressing plant specific factors which may affect failure rates.

 Research objectives

 ENG 1 To monitor, and where appropriate support, work undertaken by HSE and
 industry to develop design, manufacturing and construction standards for
 containment structures.

 ENG 2 To review the implications for major hazard installations of
 developments in non-invasive inspection of process vessels, storage vessels
 and pipework and to develop an improved understanding of plant failure
 mechanisms.

 ENG 3 To survey the current approaches used by industry for the inspection of
 chemicals and hazardous installations and to develop tools for assessing their
 adequacy.

 ENG 4 To survey the current maintenance standards and strategies adopted for
 chemicals and hazardous installations.

 ENG 5 To review the need for research work into the design of buildings and
 structures to withstand fire and blast and to encourage any necessary
 developments.

 ENG 6 To collect, analyse and collate failure data applicable to structures
 used for the containment of dangerous substances.

 ENG 7 To review and update current plant failure data and to expand the range
 of plant items covered.

 ENG 8 To develop a means by which the influence of plant specific factors
 (e.g. management and human factors) on plant failure rates can be addressed.

 ENG 9 To review the traceability of available failure rate data and to develop
 a suitable quality system.

 ENG 10 To survey the current strategies and procedures adopted for chemicals
 and hazardous installations to complete plant modifications and develop
 minimum enforceable guidelines.

 ENG 11 To develop clear guidelines in respect of the use of emergency
 isolation methods on chemical process plant, particularly remote operated
 shut-off valves, to prevent the loss of process control developing into a
 major incident.

 Control systems

 Control systems are found on virtually all process plant, and have evolved
 from the relatively crude devices of a few decades ago, to complex systems
 using multiple inputs to control many outputs. Earlier generations of control
 system could be categorised as 'providing a safety function' or not, and were
 often backed up by a more robust protective device e.g. a safety valve. The
 current trend is towards reduced emissions, and this, coupled with plant
 safety and economic considerations, e.g. plant costs and product quality etc.,
 has put greater demands on the control systems.

 Both generic and industry specific research into control systems has been
 commissioned by DST's Technology Division, and the generic standards for
 safety related control systems have received considerable input from that
 quarter. It is envisaged that CHID research in this area will build on those
 foundations, and there will be continuing consultation between the two
 Divisions.

 CHID assists industry to determine whether control systems, either proposed or
 in place, are good enough to provide the level of risk reduction expected of
 them. CHID needs to have intelligence about both new technologies, in order to
 assess whether they are appropriate for risk reduction on process plants, and
 what types of control system are being used in the industry. Both CHID and the
 industry need information about best engineering practices, such as in the
 field of data management, operator display design or the more general aspects
 of control room ergonomics.

 Finally, assessors from both industry and CHID need tools to help them assess
 the control systems for which they have responsibility.

 Research objectives

 CS 1 To determine the efficiency of control systems to provide the risk
 reduction for which they are employed.

 CS 2 To gather information on new technologies and assess their influence on
 risk reduction.

 CS 3 To assess the implications to control systems of the 'millennium
 problem'.

 CS 4 To survey and assess the available information in order to identify best
 engineering practices.

 CS 5 To develop tools that may be used to assess the control systems that are
 in place.

 Pipelines

 The enforcement of the Pipelines Safety Regulations 1996 is the responsibility
 of CHID and covers pipelines located both on land and offshore. The
 regulations are closely allied to Gas Safety and Offshore Safety Case
 Regulations. PSR96 provides for the safe design, construction, operation,
 inspection, repair/maintenance and eventual abandonment of pipelines. Such a
 broad scope places heavy demands on the information needs of the Inspectorate,
 thereby increasing the amount of research required. These needs are further
 increased in assessing issues related to the implementation of other new
 rules, regulations and standards, such as the new DNV Rules offshore, and is
 particularly true in light of HSE's new non-prescriptive, goal-setting
 approach to regulation.

 Many pipeline operators recognise the potential advantages to be achieved by
 extending the use of their existing assets. This may include the desire to
 operate pipelines beyond their original design specifications and life. This
 raises many areas of uncertainty as to the how the integrity of the system may
 be assessed and managed. Research will be necessary to collate and provide
 access to information which can be used to assess and reach judgements on any
 proposed asset usage that may influence the safety of such systems.

 The introduction of new or innovative technology to the design operation of
 pipelines can lead to uncertainty in so far as the changes may take the system
 beyond the guidelines established by existing codes, procedures and
 legislation. It is necessary to be able to assess the implications of the
 application of new technologies and, if necessary, use the findings of such
 investigations to assist in the development of new guidance, codes, standards,
 procedures and development of risk reduction and assessment techniques.

 There are many areas within the operations of pipelines for which there is a
 real possibility of reduction in the associated risks. In such cases there may
 be requirements to improve operating procedures and the management of
 integrity, to employ new techniques or to undertake improved assessments of
 the residual risks. There is a need for data and information that can be
 utilised in delivering these risk reductions.

 New and existing materials that are used for construction are subject to
 continuous development. Issues of concern include the characterisation of the
 properties and behaviour of the material to fulfil their duties in
 application, the engineering problems associated with joining pipes by welding
 or mechanical means, the testing and validating of the materials, and the
 effects of in-service ageing.

 Research objectives

 PIP 1 To investigate and monitor the management of integrity of ageing systems
 and systems operating beyond their designed lifetime.

 PIP 2 To assess the safety implications of system upgrades, ageing systems and
 systems operating beyond their design life or criteria.

 PIP 3 To assess the safety and whole life integrity implications of the
 application of new technology to inherent safety by design, and in
 construction, operation, inspection surveillance and maintenance of pipelines.

 PIP 4 To apply the findings from the use of new technology to new guidance,
 codes and standards and assessment methods.

 PIP 5 To provide technical support to underpin enforcement of the new
 non-prescriptive, goal-setting regulations.

 PIP 6 To provide technical information and support for the reduction of risk
 for existing operating pipeline systems.

 PIP 7 To investigate and monitor the application of, and the technology
 associated with, modified and new materials for use with pipelines and other
 pressure systems.

 PIP 8 Investigate, and produce guidance on, pipeline safety and integrity
 topics.


 Explosion

 This CHID topic area covers all aspects of explosion, i.e. not only the
 hazards posed by the storage, manufacture and use of explosives, but also
 explosions resulting from, inter alia, the ignition and explosion of vapour
 clouds, gas explosions and the loss of control of reaction processes resulting
 in runaway reactions.

 The manufacture, storage, transport and use of explosives and unstable and
 highly reactive materials pose a special threat within the area of explosion
 hazards. Assessing the risks and consequences of manufacturing and handling of
 explosives and energetic substances provides the information required to
 produce improved guidance and underpin enforcement activities in this area.
 Current risk assessment projects include the handling of small quantities of
 propellants and the effects of temperature on the sensitivity of materials. In
 addition, work, such as characterising the behaviour of fireworks is required
 in response to accidents and incidents.

 The focus of research work is often determined by changes in regulations and
 directives. The Manufacture and Storage of Explosives Regulations (MSER) will
 bring about changes to the licensing regime which will guide the objectives of
 CHID research. Current projects include the assessment of risks from
 explosions in steel magazines and the effects of small quantities of "shooters
 powders" in buildings. Similarly, the requirements to comply with the COMAH
 directive, which, for the first time, includes explosives in major hazards
 legislation, will increase the scope of information required. The
 ever-increasing regulatory framework will also widen to incorporate, amongst
 others, both the UN scheme for the transport of explosives and the development
 of CEN standards for explosives. Each of these are likely to broaden the
 research within the explosion topic.

 Explosives are not exempt from the advances of technology, with new techniques
 for their preparation and use being developed. For instance, the introduction
 of on-site mixing of explosives and the handling of vehicle air bags present
 hazards that do not fall into existing categories. There is therefore a
 continuous need to procure information on these materials to enable guidance
 to be formulated for the industry.

 In the chemical manufacturing and gas sectors, vapour cloud explosions may
 cause considerable damage due to the overpressures and impulses produced. The
 effects of the explosions are often assessed using the TNT Equivalence model,
 but increasingly, the TNO multi-energy method (MEM) is being used in
 preference. With MEM, the damage or injury imposed is calculated by comparing
 the overpressure created by the vapour cloud explosion with those recorded for
 other explosion sources (e.g. condensed explosives or wartime bombs). Guidance
 for implementation of MEM is currently being researched.

 Failure to control adequately the operating conditions of chemical reactors
 may result in the runaway of exothermic chemical processes. The consequence
 may be a catastrophic failure of the reactor, with the resulting explosion
 causing considerable damage. To reduce the risk presented by possible runaway
 reactions, assessment of both the reaction hazards (e.g. by undertaking
 calorimetric assessment of the chemical reaction) and the control systems
 should be undertaken. However, the reliability of such assessments and the
 effects of any process intensification on the validity of initial assessments,
 have not been fully established. There is therefore a requirement for research
 into these assessment methods. In addition, the mitigation techniques that are
 currently widely used by industry, such as reactor venting to the environment,
 are likely to become unacceptable as new regulations which limit environmental
 impact are introduced. There will be an increasing need to investigate
 alternative techniques, such as total confinement of reactants, inhibitor
 injection and quenching, which may be more appropriate in future years.

 Research ojectives

 EXP 1 To complete assessments of the hazards associated with the manufacture,
 transport and handling of new technology materials with explosive properties.

 EXP 2 To promote the application of risk assessment and technological
 understanding to standard setting and enforcement activities in the explosives
 sector.

 EXP 3 To support the modernisation and simplification of the regulatory
 framework for explosives, including European and other International Work.

 EXP 4 To produce tools to facilitate the investigations of explosive materials
 by inspectors.

 EXP 5 To assess and monitor the risks associated with sites manufacturing and
 handling explosives.

 EXP 6 To survey and assess the use of explosives, in particular where new
 technologies are employed.

 EXP 7 Improve the characterisation of explosions, including prediction of
 source overpressure, impulse and variation as a function of distance and the
 importance of shielding and focusing effects.

 EXP 8 To validate explosion models developed using experiments.

 EXP 9 To review the existing methods of assessing reaction hazards (e.g.
 calorimetry methods).

 EXP 10 To assess existing mitigation techniques for runaway reactions.

 EXP 11 To investigate alternative mitigation techniques that may be employed.

 EXP 12 To assess the effect of changes in operating conditions that increase
 the chemical inventory of a reactor system.

 Fire

 The potential of fire to cause major accidents at chemical and other hazardous
 installations has been demonstrated on many occasions in the past. Fire is not
 only hazardous directly, but can affect adjacent plant and equipment, leading
 to an escalation of any incident due to a release of further hazardous
 substances. Research on fire falls into four broad areas. There is a need to
 understand and, therefore, be able to predict:-

      i) the geometry of fires and their thermal effects;
      ii) the response of persons exposed to thermal radiation and fire
      engulfment;
      iii) the response of structures exposed to thermal radiation and fire
      engulfment;
      iv) the combustion processes that might lead to toxic combustion products
      and/or uptake of toxic materials into a fire plume, and its subsequent
      behaviour.

 The knowledge gained might be in the form of practical experiments into fire
 phenomena or mathematical models which might be used to make predictions.
 There is a synergy between these two aspects of research.

 Improving the knowledge of fire phenomena allows a better appreciation of the
 hazards and risks involved in particular cases and can form the basis for
 improved system design and preventative and mitigatory measures. Inherently
 safer designs are encouraged, and application of the ALARP principle is
 easier, with a clearer appreciation of the risks.

 With the forthcoming COMAH regulations requiring the production of safety
 reports which demonstrate the application of safety measures, CHID will need
 to be assured that numerical models used in such reports are soundly based. In
 addition, CHID requires models for its own use in giving Land Use Planning
 advice to Local Authorities. Collation of experimental data at different
 scales is needed to give mathematical modellers the raw material for
 validation of their models. Collation will also identify gaps where further
 work is required.

 Reasearch objectives

 FIR 1 To evaluate the efficacy of water spray protection against butane jet
 fires impinging on storage vessels.

 FIR 2 To investigate the use of Computational Fluid Dynamics to model the jet
 flame engulfment of an LPG tank.

 FIR 3 To develop an LPG tank heat-up computation code.

 FIR 4 To review BLEVE fireball models.

 FIR 5 To develop a revised HSE BLEVE fireball model.

 FIR 6 Validation and implementation of a vapour cloud fire model.

 FIR 7 To review existing flash fire models.

 FIR 8 To develop a new flash fire model and to validate this by experiment.

 FIR 9 To review combustion processes/toxic emissions from warehouse fires.

 Human factors

 The need to include human factors in any assessment of operational systems has
 been identified by inspectors for some time. However, there is only limited
 information on how these can be assessed and even less that is specific to the
 chemical industry. There is therefore a clear need to undertake work in this
 area. Information is required that will enable the important human factors
 issues for the chemical industry to be identified, inspection methods to be
 developed and benchmarks, by which inspectors can assess what they find, to be
 set.

 Assessing the safety culture of a company is important when considering how
 highly regarded health and safety issues are and how likely they are to be
 followed by employees e.g. it reflects the likely effectiveness of any safety
 procedures that are in place. An inspector must be able to assess the safety
 culture and understand its impact in the place of work. In an overall view, it
 is necessary to be able to identify features that produce effective safety
 culture and those that cause poor cultures.

 Guidance on inspection techniques is given in guides to inspectors. Audits on
 safety management systems have been used increasingly by CHID inspectors,
 particularly at major hazard sites. An audit assesses how well top level
 management manage health and safety in using systems for controlling risks
 (which are referred to by inspectors as risk control systems) to achieve a
 safe working environment. Examples of risk control systems include process
 design, operating procedures and planned maintenance and within each of these
 the effect of human factors need to be assessed.

 It is thought that the information from an audit can also be used to assess
 the safety culture of an organisation. Also the relative importance of human
 factors issues need to be considered for each risk control system. It is
 important therefore to develop suitable methodologies to enable this to be
 done.

 One of the new requirements of the proposed COMAH regulations will be for
 off-site emergency plans to be tested regularly. CHID needs to develop a view
 on what will constitute an adequate test and provide further guidance and
 assessment methods for inspectors on this activity.

 Although progress has been made in ergonomics and human reliability there are
 other areas that we need to exploit such as the development of safety
 attitudes and culture within an organisation, the perception of risk and the
 effects of these on the health and behaviour of employees and the public. The
 application of information in these areas could significantly improve HSE's
 overall effectiveness, impact and penetration.

 Research objectives

 HF 1 To review the current position across HSE divisions regarding human
 factors and the underlying safety cultures of companies that affect these, and
 to identify gaps in the information available, which are relevant to CHID's
 sector of work.

 HF 2 To identify gaps in the skills and knowledge of inspectors on human
 factors and to fill the information gap by the development of an inspection
 methodology e.g. by identifying the importance of human factors influence in
 the implementation of Risk Control Systems; and, where key features affecting
 human factors are missing, how best to implement changes to rectify the
 situation.

 HF 3 To develop benchmarks (with industry, as appropriate) on human factors
 topics.

 HF 4 To develop methods to assess the understanding of safety culture.

 HF 5 To produce guidelines that enable key strengths and weaknesses of safety
 cultures to be identified.

 HF 6 To be able to assist inspectors to interpret observations noted in terms
 of the safety culture of an organisation.

 HF 7 To develop assessment methodologies for the testing of emergency plans
 and for emergency management during chemical incidents.

 HF 8 To identify and benchmark the standards necessary for the selection,
 training and competence of operators for roles under high stress conditions.

 HF 9 To identify the implications for health and safety in the CHID sector
 industries and its regulation of changes in work patterns, e.g. delayering,
 multiskilling, teamworking, joint ventures and contractorisation.

 HF 10 To identify and benchmark the approach in the CHID sector industries to

      (a) the design of safety critical procedures and instructions to minimise
      human error;
      (b) reducing the violations of safety critical procedures; and
      (c) the involvement of the workforce in designing procedures and
      instructions.

 HF 11 To identify the extent to which CHID sector industries use root cause
 analysis of accidents, including the contribution of human error, and
 establish good sector practice.

 HF 12 To identify the factors most likely to lead to amplification or
 attenuation of perceptions of health and safety risks e.g. the role of the
 media, responsible care programme etc.

 HF 13 To identify what constitutes best practice in risk communication and how
 the principles can be used most effectively to promote health and safety so as
 to influence employee behaviour.

 HF 14 To identify the link between risk taking and risk perception and how to
 influence risk taking behaviour.

 HF 15 To identify how to communicate scientific knowledge to influence
 behaviour.

 Occupational health

 The Chemical sector exhibits most of the health risks found in industry and
 therefore the research carried out by all of HSE is usually applicable to
 CHID. In recognition of this, CHID plays a considerable part in contributing
 information, advice and ideas towards research activities led by other
 Divisions.

 The sector is the main provider of chemicals for use. Therefore, CHID has a
 particular interest in "supply" issues, such as the correct identification of
 health risks from chemicals and the adequate labelling and provision of
 information in data sheets. There will be requirements to carry out research
 into the effectiveness of the supply system in preventing exposure to toxic
 substances.

 The Chemical sector is required to provide information on new and existing
 substances and, although the analysis of this information is carried out by
 Health Directorate, the consequences of any proposals will have an impact on
 CHID's approach to health risks.

 Currently, there are only broad estimates of the ill health issues in the
 chemicals industry and arrangements are being made to investigate the
 availability of more accurate information from health surveillance records
 kept by employers. The quantification of health risk is important to enable
 benchmarks to be set for continuous improvement.

 There is concern in all sectors of the prevalence of occupational stress. For
 CHID, this is particularly relevant for stress created by the operation of
 major hazard installations at times of failure, with the possible additional
 factor of post trauma stress disorder. This acute form of stress may be in
 addition to chronic stress arising from general working conditions such as
 work overload, long hours, lack of support etc. There may also be the
 opportunity for CHID to work jointly with individual companies to identify
 activities which are likely to impose occupational stress on people at work.

 With relation to the explosives sector, consideration is being given to
 evaluate the health risks from pesticide pyrotechnics, theatrical effects and
 other fireworks, as well as from exposure to nitro-glycerine and ethylene
 glycol dinitrate.

 CHID assesses the hazards and risks of potential releases of large quantities
 of dangerous substances in major industrial accidents, yet there remains a
 dearth of reliable data on the effects of some of these substances in the
 quantities and conditions predicted. We need to acquire, or encourage the
 acquisition of, more scientifically robust toxicity data to increase our
 knowledge and understanding of the wider health effects, on workers and the
 general public, arising from potential exposures to chemicals released during
 major industrial accidents.

 Research objectives

 OH 1 To identify and evaluate health risks which are specific to the Chemical
 sector and evaluate control measures.

 OH 2 To continue identifying health risk from chemicals and provide
 information for product labelling and data sheets.

 OH 3 To obtain more information about cost effective solutions to occupational
 health control in the Chemicals Sector and to undertake research to identify
 and report on case studies.

 OH