Principles and Management of Information Process for Integrated Management of Fire Safety at SEVESO Sites

Principles and Management of Information Process for Integrated Management of Fire Safety at SEVESO Sites

Van Buren, A.

Ale, B.J.M. (promotor)

Technology, Policy and Management

Management

2014-01-27

After a chemical incident with severe consequences had occurred in the small village called Seveso in Italy in 1976, the first SEVESO directive was introduced in 1982 to protect the environment in member states of the European Union. The Directive has since been updated several times. SEVESO III will be effective from June the first 2015. The Directive expects operators of SEVESO sites to comply with the provisions in this Directive. The goal of the Directive is to prevent major incidents and to mitigate the effects of incidents that cannot be prevented. Nevertheless major incidents at these high risk sites keep occurring and it seems therefore logical to learn why these incidents occur. Is it: – because operators of these sites do not apply the provisions of the Directive as intended and/or, – because there is a conscious lack of compliance with the Directive which is not identified by the competent authority and/or, – because it is impossible to establish the desired level of fire safety with the provisions described in the Directive. The research for this thesis addresses these three aspects from various angles. The findings were used to define additional requirements for the next version of the Directive while recommendations were made for adjustments of existing guidance documents that were published to support the implementation of the Directive. The SEVESO directive has to be implemented by all member states of the European Community. An early observation during the research was that no options could be found to train as an industrial fire safety engineer at universities in the EU at the level required for these high risk sites. Perhaps this is also the reason that no previous research into industrial fire safety aspects at an academic level could be found, as such studies are often carried out at universities or in association with universities. This leaves stakeholders in industrial fire safety, lessons learned from previous incidents as well as other information in the public domain, to help identify and control these risks as anticipated in the SEVESO directive. Two studies for this thesis, one concerning heated storage of hydrocarbons in vertical storage tanks and another where the findings of the investigation into the causes of the Buncefield incident were reviewed, showed that operators and competent authorities are not keen to use lessons learned from previous accidents when assessing the risks of anticipated and existing activities at SEVESO sites. It was identified in the early stages of the research that many stakeholders with different backgrounds and qualifications are involved in establishing industrial fire safety. It was also established that fire safety can only be accomplished and maintained by going through a complex process. Complex processes can be successfully managed when the responsible organisation meets specific criteria and has the necessary tools in place. Although the elements of the Safety Management System required under the SEVESO directive are very important, they need to be stretched further before operators can control the complex fire safety aspects of these sites. Operators need to adopt specific principles for managing their SEVESO site if they want to be in control of their fire risks. Companies that have these principles securely implemented can be qualified as High Reliability Organisations (HROs). So far five principles were used by K.H. Roberts (1990) and Weick and Sutcliffe (2007: page 9-17) and others to describe HR Os. Two more principles were identified as conditional requirements in this research to secure effective management of the fire risks at SEVESO sites. They are principle 6. Facilitating Communication between Stakeholders and principle 7: Management and Exchange of Information. Access to reliable information is a precondition to establish integrated fire safety. SEVESO sites therefore have to incorporate the position of Information Manager in their organisation. This person is responsible for management and exchange of fire safety related information. He also takes on the role of the site’s fire safety Mediator who facilitates communication between the various stakeholders. The effectiveness of these seven principles HR Os was reviewed using three case studies concerning: the implementation of biofuels, the fire safety concept of large pool fires and the Buncefield incident. These case studies illustrated the potential benefits for the site’s fire safety when SEVESO establishments are operated by seven principles HROs. It is therefore recommended to make it a mandatory requirement in the SEVESO directive for operators to become seven principles HROs. Additional options to adjust the SEVESO directive and associated existing guidance documents to control fire safety at these sites more effectively in the future, were also identified through case studies and translated into recommendations. The research also showed that some risks have long been identified but finding effective measures to control these risks require extensive research and funding. A recommendation was made on how this research in the future could be organised and funded on a non-profit basis.

SEVESO
fire safety

https://doi.org/10.4233/uuid:93c83b42-33f6-42b1-88f4-8166f2a2e9ef

2014-01-27

9789059728141

Institutional Repository

doctoral thesis

(c) 2014 Van Buren, A.