Commentary on Keynote Lectures and Papers presented

at the Conference

Before describing in brief the various sessions, a few

points are in order:

† After the conference, all the authors were asked to

intimate if they wished their papers to be peer reviewed

for possible publication in this special issue. About 50%

responded in the affirmative. The papers published are

those accepted after peer review and the required

revision, if any.

† The commentary covers all the papers presented at the

conference. Those published in this special issue are

identified in bold in the commentary. The rest of the

papers are available at the conference website www.iitk.

ac.in/che/jpg/bhopal2.htm

The post-lunch session on the first day, December 1, had

keynote lectures by renowned scientists from around the

world. Prof. Sam Mannan (USA), Director, Mary Kay

O’Connor Process Safety Centre (MKOPSC) at Texas

A&M University, talked of the vast impact the Bhopal

disaster has had on process safety globally and pointed

directions for the future towards the aim of zero accident.

He stated that the progress towards improvements in safety

performance can be measured only by a reduction in

occupational injuries, illness and fatalities. Challenges such

as sharing of lessons learned, risk migration, changing

workforce, etc. are to be faced as we move toward

globalization and other complexities. MKOPSC is known

worldwide for its pioneering research in many aspects of

process safety. Prof. Rolf Eckhoff (Norway) talked of dust

explosion research status and future trends. He emphasized

the use of inherently safer processes, systematic education

and training of personnel, etc. While the dust explosions are

as common as the gas related explosions, most in the public

have only a limited idea about them. Ms Carolyn Merritt

(USA), talked on the ‘Organizational Safety Culture Issues’,

and told what the space shuttle disaster could teach

the chemical industry to make it safer. She expressed her

concern that a repeat of the Bhopal tragedy at some other

place may still be possible unless safety culture is improved.

She also affirmed that every accident is preventable.

0950-4230/$ - see front matter q 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/j.jlp.2005.07.027

Dr Alain Dorison (France) spoke about the 2001 explosion

in Toulouse where a huge amount of ammonium nitrate had

suddenly exploded, killing dozens in and around the large

factory. This has resulted in new laws in France that call for

greater participation by the community in decision

making about the siting and operation of hazardous plants.

Mr C M Pietersen (Holland) talked about the current and

future trends in industrial safety. Industry has difficulty in

learning the correct lessons from accidents. The pressure put

on industry by the regulatory bodies responsible for labour

and community safety has resulted in improvements in

process industries’ safety. His talk presented a bright

future for the industry. He was amongst the first ones to

be invited to India to discuss process safety after the Bhopal

disaster. The renowned Supreme Court of India lawyer

Mr M C Mehta (India) presented his views on the effects of

the Bhopal disaster on laws and jurisprudence in India. He

has been a crusader in getting many laws enacted with

regards to the environment and safety in India.

This session was followed by a panel discussion

‘Towards Zero Accident—Which Way?’ It was chaired by

Prof. Sam Mannan (USA). The other members were

Mr Sathyu Sarangi (India), Mr Karl Strassle (Switzerland),

Prof. M. Tamura (Japan) and Dr Angela Summers (USA).

The panelists gave their views on the topic and a spirited

discussion followed from the floor. The points raised were:

Whether all accidents are preventable? Whether we can

achieve zero accident? Whether new techniques, standards,

concepts and instruments are required to achieve the aim?

Based upon vast experience of a large number of

participants, the following consensus and recommendations

were arrived at: All Accidents are preventable. Focusing on

‘zero accident’ goal will make all stakeholders work harder

to progress towards it. For this, we need to strictly follow

industry standards; need technical expertise to make

informed decisions, understand the processes well and

keep nearby communities informed, promote safety edu-

cation in universities, promote safety training at all levels in

industry and learn from past accidents. If followed, these

will make the process industry significantly safer, accep-

table and probably respectable too, and move it towards the

goal of zero accident.

Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 18 (2005) 200–204

www.elsevier.com/locate/jlp

Editorial / Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 18 (2005) 200–204 201

The panel discussion was followed by a viewing of the

latest video ‘Bhopal—The Search for Justice’, produced by

White Pine Pictures and National Film Board of Canada

under license by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It

was released only the previous week in North America. It

brought out vividly the sufferings and the current status of

the over 120,000 victims in Bhopal. This, along with other

videos produced on the accident and a feature film ‘Bhopal

Express”, by Mahesh Mathai were screened for the

participants and the public at the IIT Kanpur auditorium

on December 2 and 3. A large number of people from all

strata of life viewed them.

The second day, December 2, started with the second set

of keynote lectures. The session was presided by

Ms Carolyn Merritt (USA) and Mr C.M. Pietersen

(Holland). Prof. Markku Hurme, et al. (Finland)

emphasized the use of inherently safer concepts right from

the conceptual stage to the production stage by use of lower

temperatures and pressures, less hazardous chemicals and in

lesser amounts. They emphasized that the most crucial thing

in process design is getting the fundamentals right as early

as possible. Prof. Konrad Hungerbuhler, et al. (Switzerland)

emphasized that not only safety but environment and worker

health aspects too must be considered right at the early

stages of a new process. Dr Gilles Dusserre, et al. (France)

discussed their phenomenal work on the use of water spray

in containing the release of toxic gases with application on

release of chlorine as an example. Taking cognizance of the

criticism that the multinational corporations sometimes

export unsafe plants to the developing world, Dr David

Edwards (UK) exhorted them to export safer plants and

discussed how it would make the process industry more

respectful and profitable as well. He said that the risks

increase more than linearly with the on-going capacity

increases of the plants in the developing countries which are

less able to cope with the increased hazards.

The conference then broke into parallel sessions, nine of

which were run on the second day and three on the third and

last day of the conference followed by a closing (summing-

up) session.

In the Ist Parallel Session, ‘Bhopal Gas Tragedy’, chaired

by Dr V.R. Dhara (USA) and Dr X. Li (Japan), Prof. J.K.

Gehlawat (India) narrated his experience of the MIC leak in

Bhopal since he was at a hotel about 1 km away from the

Union Carbide plant that fateful night. He could guide the

hotel in tackling the problem so that none of the guests was

adversely affected. He emphasized that operators’ prepared-

ness and proper design and functioning of safety systems are

needed to move towards the aim of zero accident in process

industry. Prof. S. Sriramachari (India) and Prof. S. K. Jain

(India) were connected with the multifold research

programmes setup by the Indian Council of Medical

Research in the wake of the disaster. Prof. Sriramachari

presented the salient pathological findings of hundreds of

autopsies. The kinds of highly abnormal and unexpected

pathological changes found are proof enough of the

agonizing deaths that most of the victims must have had.

Prof. Jain talked about the recurrent respiratory illness and

disability amongst the victims. He stated that the most

affected organs were the lungs, eyes, gastro-intestinal tract

and musculoskeletal. Dr S. Aquilla, et al. (UK), a member

of the erstwhile International Medical Commission on

Bhopal (IMCB), spelt out the immense medical problems

created by the gas tragedy. They suggested inclusion of

social, cultural and economic situations of the victims while

studying their health aspects. The results so obtained might

affect public policy, emergency preparedness and emer-

gency medicine. Prof. G.D. Agrawal, et al. (India) presented

data on mercury poisoning of the underground water by the

hazardous chemicals left behind by Union Carbide. These

are affecting inhabitants living in the vicinity of the plant

and dependant on that water. The effect of the disaster on

teaching, research and regulations related to process safety,

as evidenced by the publications internationally, was the

subject matter of Dr Sanjeev Saraf’s presentation. He

emphasized that the process industry has faired well since

the tragedy, and promises to be a stable economy in the

future. Dr V. Raman Dhara (USA) described his plans to

simulate the Bhopal disaster in Nevada, USA to learn more

about it. He thought that it would provide valuable scientific

information on the disaster and help in prevention and

management of future disasters. US Department of Energy

will be the likely partner in carrying out the work if funding

becomes available.

The IInd Parallel Session ‘Safety Instrumented System

and Site Security’, chaired by Dr H.H. West (USA) and

Dr M. Nifuku (Japan) saw Dr Angella Summers (USA)

discuss the problem of realistic prediction of instrumented

system performance and its resolution. She also described in

details the new global standards (IEC 61511) on safety-

instrumented systems and how it drives all the layers of

protection in the management of safety. In the same context,

Mr Dinesh Govind (Qatar) discussed implementation of

safety-instrumented systems in practice. He gave an

interesting case study of a high integrity pressure protection

system on a gas pipeline. He stated that the exact

prescription of safety measures would depend upon specific

situation on hand. Mr B.P. Singh, et al. (India) talked about

reactive distillation control using MTBE as a case study. A

Naphtali–Sandholm method based simulator has been

developed for steady state solutions to reactive distillation

columns. Also SVD analysis was used for obtaining

sensitive tray locations for temperature sensors and

composition analyzers. Mr Hans-Joachim Uth (Germany)

and Mr S. Bajpai, et al. (India) talked about security

concerns in chemical industry, especially after the 9/11

attacks in New York. They emphasized steps for protection

against terrorists’ attacks or their entry by force. Mr Uth

emphasized that the state has a responsibility to prevent

terrorist attacks. For this, necessary information about the

hazards posed by an industry must be obtained from

the company. It should be disclosed to the public except in

Editorial / Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 18 (2005) 200–204202

case of security related situations. Mr Bajpai discussed the

steps involved in assessing a security risk: threat analysis,

vulnerability analysis, security ountermeasures and

emergency response. A case study of a fertilizer plant was

also presented.

The IIIrd Parallel Session ‘Inherent Safety and Process

Intensification’, chaired by Prof. Ron Willey (USA) and

Dr Ashok Sachdev (USA) had most of the world’s experts

on inherent safety in attendance. Dr F.I. Khan, et al.

(Canada) talked about the I2SI index for quantitative

assessment of inherent safety and related costs at an early

stage of process development. They used three acrylic acid

production methods to demonstrate the applicability and

efficacy of I2SI index. Prof. Markkiu Hurme, et al.

(Finland) compared the various indices of inherent safety

(PIIS, ISI, iSafe) in process concept evaluation by applying

them to different methods of manufacture of methyl

methacrylate as a case study. Acceptance of a practical

index will result in greatly enhanced use of the inherent

safety concept. Dr Shailesh Shah, et al. (Switzerland)

presented their work on a new SREST method for the early

assessment of hazards in chemical processes. It is a

hierarchical approach that reveals the degree of non-ideality

of chemical processes with regards to safety, health and

environmental aspects of different layers. A case study was

also cited. Dr Rajagopalan Srinivasan (Singapore) explored

the above topic further by discussing the advantages and

disadvantages of software that automatically perform a

safety analysis of a process. Mr S.V. Sivakumar, et al.

(India) summarised the latest developments in process

intensification alongwith their work on Higee designs. They

stated that the results obtained were quite encouraging and

process equipment miniaturization was achievable in the

near future.

The IVth Parallel Session ‘Country Framework’ chaired

by Prof. Alain Dorison (France) and Prof. A.S. Markowski

(Poland) brought forth the regulations developed by many

countries as a result of the Bhopal tragedy. Prof. Jean-Paul

Lacoursiere (Canada) talked about the federal regulation of

environmental emergencies under the Canadian Environ-

mental Protection Act, and the Quebec Civil Protection Act

designed to identify and manage risks. He also discussed

potential regulations at the municipal level. Prof. A.S.

Markowski (Poland) mentioned that Poland had adopted

the revised European COMAH Directive, Seveso II, in

2003. A survey carried out to determine if it improved safety

performance brought forth more positive comments than

negative. These comments have helped improve Polish

legislation as well as education and training in related areas.

Prof. Koji Nishikawa (Japan) presented a brief history of

Japanese process safety and the related legislations as they

developed during the last quarter of the 20th century.

Prof. Ron Willey, et al. (USA) reviewed the major

legislative, academic and industrial changes initiated in

the area of process safety after the Bhopal tragedy, their

influence on saving lives and on improving living conditions

in communities surrounding the chemical complexes in the

US. Mr Karl Strassle (Switzerland) gave a major insurance

company’s view. He presented several state-of-the-art

methods for process safety, product safety and general

safety behaviour. He stated that the target of the insurance

risk engineering was to strengthen the prevention of

accidents in cooperation with the chemical industry.

Mr James Belke, et al. (USA) referred to the post Bhopal

and post 9/11 transformations, their measurable effects and

future efforts needed to improve chemical accident

prevention and response in the US. They stated that

amongst the important laws and regulations enacted in the

US were the Emergency Planning and Community Right to

Know Act, and the Clean Air Act Amendments. After 9/11,

the security aspects have also become important.

Mr Karthikeyen (India) discussed the changes in safety

and environmental legislation and process safety manage-

ment in India and his views on way ahead in the future. It

turned out that many laws are similar in several countries.

Implementation and enforcement are likely to be different in

different countries.

The Vth Parallel Session ‘Reactive Chemicals—1’ was

chaired by Dr Sanjeev Saraf (USA) and Prof. Paul Amyotte

(Canada). Reactive chemicals are very hazardous and the

consequences of any incident involving them can be

devastating. For example, MIC released in Bhopal is a

highly reactive chemical. The consequences of its release in

December 1984 in Bhopal are all too well known.

Dr Atsumi Miyake, et al. (Japan) discussed the evaluation

of hazards when organic peroxides (PO) are mixed with

other chemicals. Mixing ratio and the stirring speed should

be taken into account for evaluation of mixing hazards.

Experimental results with seven POs mixed with different

substances were presented. Mr G. Francis Arulanandam,

et al. (Saudi Arabia) talked about the magnitude of risks in

the formation of polymer lumps during process upsets and

how to eliminate the associated hazards posed by

hydrocarbon entrapped in them. Prof. Mannan, et al.

(USA) presented how at MKOPSC the experimental and

computational methods work in tandem to guide further

tests. In these the properties at the molecular level are

determined using the quantum method, a new approach in

the field of process safety. This helps in expediting the

hazard assessment of reactive chemicals. Dr Maria

Papadaki, et al. (UK) presented their work on runaway

reactions using excess hydrogen peroxide during the

N-oxidation of alkylpyridines under close and open

conditions. Under certain conditions, the production of

gases was so rapid that the high pressure produced

suppressed the evaporation of liquid. The results are being

applied to obtain inherently safer designs. They also talked

about the use of isoperibolic calorimetry to determine the

detrimental effect of excess HCl on the decomposition of

0-Nitrobenzoyl Chloride. A runaway reaction could result.

The VIth Parallel Session ‘Risk Assessment and

Management—I’ was chaired by Prof. Michael Pegg

Editorial / Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 18 (2005) 200–204 203

(Canada) and Prof. Raj Srinivasan (Singapore). Risk

Assessment is central to process safety. Prof. Harry West,

et al., talked about the Management of Change and risks

associated with not doing it right. MOC is one of

14 elements of PSM of OSHA. However, procedural

changes, organisational changes and changes in the

computer control system are not universally considered

within the scope of the MOC programme. Dr G. Madhu

(India) talked of quantitative risk assessment and safety

studies related to a short pipeline (15 km) to carry

hydrocarbons. Dr H.N. Mathurkar, et al. (India) presented

a similar study for a cross-country pipeline designed to carry

natural gas. Prof. Chin-Min Shu, et al. (Taiwan) talked

about the benefits of risk-based inspection of pipelines

instead of following API 570, which may lead to over

inspection in some cases and under inspection in others.

Case studies were cited too. Their procedure assumed that

20% of the equipment represented 90% of the risks at any

plant. Prof. B. Fabino, et al. (Italy) discussed the risk

analysis in road transportation of hazardous goods based

upon route features and population exposed. The topic is

very important since in Italy 80% of goods are transported

by road. Dr Oliver Salvi, et al. (France) discussed the new

laws enacted in France which make the involvement of local

people mandatory in any decision making related to risk

reduction in hazardous industry in their neighbourhood.

In the VIIth Parallel Session ‘Fire Safety and Law’

chaired by Prof. Rolf Eckhoff (Norway) and Mr Dinesh

Govind (Qatar), Prof. J.M. Buchlin (Brussels) discussed

elaborate experiments using water spray curtains for

thermal shielding of tanks from fire from a nearby tank.

The sprays can be coming down vertically in front of the

tank or can be hitting the tank. Prof. J.P. Bigot, et al.

(France) discussed their experiments on the behaviour of

flashing liquids from a crack in containment vessel. It

depends on whether the crack is a long one or an orifice

type. They found that some large droplets always

existed while most were small. The large droplets fell

near the crack or orifice while the small ones were carried

far. Mr R.C. Pula, et al. (Canada) considered the daunting

problem of fire consequence models on offshore platforms

by doing QRA and have proposed revision of the existing

model. A comparative performance against non-offshore

fire models and a sensitive analysis of these models were

also presented. Dr Patrick Bonnet, et al. (France) described

experiments on large-scale release of LPG to model the

release of flashing liquids encountered in realistic industrial

environment. The experiments provided new insights that

will help in the development of the requisite models. These

experiments were conducted as part of a Europen

atmospheric dispersion research project. Mr Sanat Kapoor

(India) presented his views on how law can help prevent

catastrophes. He concentrated on liability laws enacted after

the Bhopal disaster.

The VIIIth Parallel Session ‘Reactive Chemicals—2’

was chaired by Dr Maria Papadaki (UK). Dr Xinrui Li,

et al. (Japan) presented their work on the use of spherical

and conventional Dewar to study the early stages of

runaway reactions under adiabatic conditions and concluded

that the spherical one better simulated the actual situation. It

could be used to investigate the SADT value of an unstable

material. They also talked about the kinetics of thermal

decomposition of liquid organic peroxides using isothermal

calorimetry. Dr K. Koike, et al. (Japan) brought out the fact

that highly concentrated ozone has explosion potential and

studied its explosive properties under different conditions

leading up to pure ozone using a closed system with an

electric spark device. The minimum ignition energy was

found to be dependant on ozone concentration and pressure.

Dr Michie Naito, et al. (Japan) presented their work on

autoxidation of dimethyl ether (DME) on prolonged

exposure to air. ARC was used to investigate the thermal

stability of DME and di isopropyl ether under various

conditions. DME is to be used as substitute energy for oil

and LNG in Japan. Mr Dennis Hendershot, et al. (USA)

gave the practical perspective from industry’s viewpoint

and told how some of the reactive chemical incidents could

have been prevented if the process safety professionals and

reactive chemistry experts had the knowledge required to

anticipate the incidents and then could have designed

systems and procedures to effectively prevent them.

The IXth Parallel Session ‘Risk Assessment and

Management—II’ was chaired by Dr Yuji Wada (Japan)

and Mr Sukumar Nair (India). Dr J.J. Horng, et al.

(Taiwan) investigated 15 manufacturers who use chlorine in

operations located in the middle region of Taiwan to

determine the effects on the nearby communities. The

consequence analysis used three different methods to

determine the worst-case scenarios and alternate release

scenarios to study the effects on vulnerable zone by different

active and passive mitigation systems. Dr M. Abaspour,

et al. (Iran) presented the working of an elaborate city-wide

gas monitoring system installed in Tehran as a part of city

safety system. It consists of several local networks and a

central network which automatically alerts the concerned

group to act. Dr Z. Radonjic, et al. (Canada) compared four

models that predict contaminant concentration in air due to

industrial emissions and found that three of them under-

predicted the values. Mr D.G. DiMattia, et al. (Canada)

looked at the human error probabilities on offshore

platforms during emergency operations. They considered

stress, complexity, training, experience, event factors and

atmospheric factors in their analysis. Dr David Edwards

(UK) looked at the relationship between mismanagement of

information and process safety. The mismanagement can

lead to severe accidents. He looked at the potential

applications of the principle of knowledge management

and the balanced scorecard in evaluating SIM performance.

Prof. P. Bragatto, et al. (Italy) discussed the use of

Ranganathan Classification Scheme, devised originally for

libraries, for classifying process plant safety reports for easy

handling by the competent authority.

Editorial / Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 18 (2005) 200–204204

The Third (and last) Day

The Xth Parallel Session ‘Dispersion Analysis’ was

chaired by Dr Oliver Salvi (France) and Dr A.R. Khan

(Kuwait). Prof. J.P. Gupta (India) presented the concept of

diluting any toxic gas release with abundant amount of air to

bring the toxic concentration below the harm limit.

Applicability of this concept would need to be evaluated

for each case. In cases where it is applicable, it is expected

to be a cheaper option than others. Air could be supplied by

industrial fans or hoses/ ducts. Prof. J.M. Buchlin,

et al.(Brussels) described their work on heavy gas

dispersion using chlorine and carbon dioxide as the test

gases. Water curtain is accepted as a simple method to

mitigate the consequences of such releases. Laboratory tests

and field test data were used in CFD calculations to develop

a model to evaluate the dispersion factor of a water curtain

with respect to its configuration. Dr Remy Bouet, et al.

(France) described large-scale ammonia release exper-

iments (up to 3.5 tons) where approx. 200 sensors down

wind measured the concentration for a distance up to

2 km. Aim was to improve a 2-phase release model.

Dr S. Alhajraf, et al. (Kuwait) presented their dispersion

model for ground level concentration of gaseous release that

could help an emergency team in combating the situation.

Release of LPG in downtown was simulated. Mr Brian

Kolodji (USA), a former consultant to the Union Carbide,

disputed the sabotage theory of accident put out by Union

Carbide. He described as to how many of the earlier

decisions by the management actually lead to the disaster.

The XIth Parallel Session ‘Accident Investigation and

Databases’ was chaired by Prof. Jean-Paul Lacoursiere

(Canada) and Mr G. Francis (Saudi Arabia). Mr R.K.

Gangopadhyay, et al. (India) discussed the failure of a

valve in a chlorine bullet during degassing and how the

emergency was handled. Dr Ashok Sachdev, et al. (USA)

presented the case of an explosion in the mono-nitro toluene

still. Investigations revealed the collection of foulants over

years to have caused the runaway reaction. Mr Yigal Riezel

(Israel) gave details of an explosion in gas-oil fixed roof

storage tank. Entry of hydrogen was found to be the cause.

A similar accident had happened 15 years earlier but

apparently no sustained lessons were learned. Mr Giby

Joseph, et al. (USA) told of the stellar role the US Chemical

Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) plays in

investigating the accidents in USA. Their analysis showed

that the systemic problems identified at Bhopal still cause

most of the accidents. Dr Yuji Wada, et al. (Japan) described

the accident database developed in Japan based upon fire,

explosion, poisoning and leakage data. This database can be

searched in many ways. It can also produce thermal analysis

data. Mr M. Surianarayanan et al. (India) described the

accident database developed for accidents in India. It covers

events from near miss to major accidents.

The XIIth Parallel Session ‘Company and Community

Framework’ was chaired by Dr G. Madhu (India). The

company perspective of Grasim Industries, part of the

multinational Birla Group, was well presented by Mr S.S.

Pipara (India). That group is aiming at Zero (accident,

pollution, losses, breakdown, defects, customer com-

plaints). They are doing it by promoting HSE culture,

conducting awareness and training programmes and use of

cleaner technologies. The role that local communities can

and must play was the theme of separate studies presented

by Mr Timothy Gablehouse (USA), Dr Sukumaran Nair

(India) and Mr Kasru Susilo, et al. (Indonesia).

Mr Gablehouse stated that a well-informed community is

of immense help when an accident does occur. Training the

public in emergency handling and sharing information with

them makes them a responsible partner in the success of

emergency plans. Dr Nair stated that the public view of risks

should be seriously considered and addressed by the

management. This will build confidence in the public

about the company’s ability in risk mitigation and

handling of emergency situations. Mr Susilo talked at

length about the highly favourable experience in Indonesia

of implementation of UNEP’s APELL programme (Aware-

ness and Preparedness for Emergencies at Local Level).

The communities became quite aware of the possible

emergencies and how to handle them. Dr K.P.

Mohammed, et al. (India) covered the important topic of

education on safety to engineers. The education modules

produced by their group were found to be very effective as

evaluated by testing the pre-training and post-training

knowledge of the participants.

This concluded the formal presentations of the papers.

Summaries of Concluding Session, Post-conference tour of

Bhopal and Post-conference developments have been

presented in another article.

J.P. Gupta*

Department of Chemical Engineering,

Indian Institute of Technology,

Kanpur 208 016, India.

E-mail address: jpg@iitk.ac.in

* Tel.: C91 512 2597629; fax: C91 512 2590104.