(127a) Process Safety and Chemical Security -- the Need for Company Specific Risk Criteria

Risk criteria are an essential component in both qualitative and quantitative risk analysis methods, and are used to identify where additional investment in people, time, and capital are warranted to manage risk to an acceptable level. Most large, global chemical/ petrochemical companies have defined risk criteria for safety and security that align with international regulations and guidelines, and/ or the risk appetite (or ?acceptance criteria?) of the company as a whole. The benefit of defined risk criteria is that these companies can evaluate operations consistently, and invest resources where truly justified.

It is often the smaller, localized companies that have not taken a holistic approach to risk management. This often results in PHAs, QRAs, and SVAs that are conducted with ad-hoc risk criteria. Ultimately leading to poor risk management decisions:

? Conservative estimate of risk leading to unjustified spending on safety or security upgrades; or

? Unidentified issues and unknown company exposures.

This paper provides and overview of how a company can develop their own safety and security risk criteria. It includes a review of accepted international guidelines, differences in safety and security analyses, and a process for ensuring your risk criteria are in alignment with that of your organization.