The feasibility of encouraging inherently safer production in industrial firms

Inherent Safety is generally recognised as an important concept in the design of chemical plants. It is, however, often regarded as the sole province of engineers. Inspired by the successful development in the last decade from cleaner technology towards Cleaner Production, we explored in this research the feasibility of what we call Inherently Safer Production. Four pilot cases were carried out, two in the Netherlands and two in Greece; three in existing plants, one at the design stage. A methodology to generate inherently safer technological options was developed and tested. In all four cases, a number of options for inherently safer production were identified, while more traditional safety options were also identified. The great majority of options was shown to have pay back times of less than 2 years. Overall, 25% of the options were implemented during the project. In existing plants, the option generation process can be organised as a collective learning and inspiring effort. This can be of considerable value on its own, apart from the implementation of the (technological) options identified. We conclude that Inherently Safer Production is a feasible concept, that it has great potential for simultaneous improvement of safety and economic performance, and that it deserves to be further developed. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.