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    The chemical industry long has been concerned about the safety of its operations and the risks both within the plant gate and beyond. Dealing with safety issues can involve sophisticated techniques for hazard analysis and prescriptive measures for plant design and operation. It also can involve rethinking a process to make it inherently safer. It demands an understanding of tradeoffs and nuances.

    Articles

    Quiz that tests knowledge of process safety incidents
    Understanding what caused catastrophes will help mitigate future safety events. Test your knowledge.
    Shutterstock
    Standard operating procedures binder
    Despite their critical importance, procedural developments often receive scant attention, leading to fatal accidents.
    NASA/Canva
    Podcast: Lessons Learned from the Challenger Disaster
    NASA normalized foam strikes over time, turning "lessons of failure into memories of success."
    Process Safety: AI and Machine Learning Transform Compliance, But Humans Still Key
    Risk assessment should still be a manual process, but AI can streamline data collection to enable sound engineering judgments.

    News

    Braskem
    Braskem Maceio
    Jonathan Katz
    July 2, 2025
    Residents of Maceió are seeking to hold the petrochemical giant's European operations liable for profiting from mining activities that caused neighborhood subsidence.
    CSB
    CSB video still
    Amanda Joshi
    June 24, 2025
    The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board is investigating two toxic gas releases at Austin Powder sites, while a new video emphasizes the financial and operational...
    Shutterstock
    Homepage of the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB), an independent federal agency charged with investigating industrial chemical accidents.
    Jonathan Katz
    June 11, 2025
    Industry experts warn that eliminating the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board would remove a crucial tool for preventing plant disasters, despite the agency's modest...
    U.S. Chemical Safety Board
    CSB Optima Bell Safety Video
    Amanda Joshi
    May 28, 2025
    CSB urges stronger regulations after a 2020 chemical explosion at a West Virginia toll facility killed one and caused over $33 million in damage.

    Shutterstock
    Podcast: Lessons Learned from Boeing’s 737 MAX Crisis
    Traci Purdum
    March 5, 2024
    Boeing was known for its engineering excellence until a focus on profitability took over. Properly documenting management of change and recognizing weak signals could have prevented...
    Shutterstock
    Podcast: Inherently Safer Design
    Traci Purdum
    Feb. 13, 2024
    Eliminate, substitute or minimize hazards to save lives and the environment.
    Avoid Common Pitfalls of Risk Perception Via Statistics, Storytelling
    Traci Purdum
    Dec. 19, 2023
    This episode discusses the challenges of intuitively understanding uncertainty and likelihoods in risk assessments. It also stresses the need for storytelling and stakeholder ...
    Ep 53 Cover
    Traci Purdum
    Oct. 4, 2023
    There is no such thing as zero risk, but we can take more effective approaches to minimize the potential for those risks to be realized.