ten process safety maxims
TRANSCRIPT
Ten Process Safety Maxims
Compiled by Dr. Paul Baybutt
Primatech Inc.
www.primatech.com
Past performance is no guarantee of future success
Successful facility operation for many years without a major accident does not demonstrate tolerable risk
If you think safety is expensive, try an accident
Trevor Kletz
Absence of the evidence of risk is not evidence of the absence of risk
UK Health and Safety Executive
Almost all accidents are wholly or partially caused by human failure
Even equipment failures fundamentally are attributable to human errors
Listing human error as the cause of an accident is about as helpful as listing gravity as the cause of a fall
It may be true, but it does not lead to constructive action
Trevor Kletz
Fear of harm ought to be proportional not merely to the gravity of the harm
But also to the probability of the event
Antoine Arnauld
People who are risk averse make choices based on the consequences of an outcome without regard to the probability involved
People who are foolhardy make choices based on the probability of an outcome without regard to its consequences
P. L. Berstein
Conducting a hazard analysis for a process is much cheaper than paying for an accident
Hazard analysis studies cost thousands of dollars
Accidents cost millions of dollars
It is necessary for us to learn from the mistakes of others
You will not live long enough to make them all yourself
Hyman G. Rickover
Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety
William Shakespeare
For free materials on process safety:
notes.primatech.com/ss1