A PRACTICAL SAFETY ANALYSIS SYSTEM FOR HAZARDS CONTROL

In any hazardous operation, safety is of paramount importance. By contributing to accident avoidance, proper or safety measures can result in increased production and reduced operating expense. In contrast, are artificially imposed restrictions are often an actual handicap. Thus, there is a need for methods to evaluate suggested safety measures and to arrive at optimum safety procedures. A practical, easy to use safety analysis system for the quantitative characterization of the risk inherent in a hazardous situation and for a quantitative evaluation of proposed safety procedures is described in this report. The system is based on comparison of circumstances in a given situation with those for reference situations. The analysis can be performed either algebraically or graphically by using nomographs and provides both numerical values and descriptive terms that are meaningful to personnel in safety, operations, and management. The nomographs also provide written documentation of the analysis. Sample calculations relating to the explosions industry are included, but the methods apply equally well to all hazardous situations.