Safety and Loss Prevention
50 Years on from Flixborough
In 1974 a disaster at a chemical plant at Flixborough (North Lincolnshire, UK) proved a turning point in the way many chemical engineers, regulators and some industries approached process safety. The incident holds lessons for modern engineers on topics including competency and professional standards, inherent safety in design and management of change.
To remember the disaster 50 years on, a series of articles were published by IChemE, several by members of the Safety & Loss Prevention Special Interest Group. Those published in The Chemical Engineer (TCE) magazine are available below.
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Lessons for Mangagers and Engineers Today
Robin Turney says the lessons learned from the disaster are still as relevant now as they were in 1974.
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'Legislation has been Transformed, Organisations not so much'
Trish Kerin speaks to safety consultant Andrew Hopkins to find out how the safety culture at Flixborough would meet today’s standards.
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How Management of Change Failures Contributed to the Disaster
Richard Mundy reflects on the Court of Inquiry’s findings relating to what we now call management of change (MOC), a concept that was not widely appreciated in 1974, and discusses modern MOC good practices and common pitfalls.
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Viewpoint: Safety is a Team Sport
A massive gap that wasn’t filled, key players in the wrong positions and no one taking overall responsibility. Flixborough was an own goal waiting to happen, argues Trish Kerin.
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Remembering Flixborough: by someone who wasn't alive in 1974
In the engineering industry, it is often asked if major incidents could ever happen again. Early-career engineer Martin Wardrope says it is important we still think they can.
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Application of Inherent Safety Principles to Plant Design
Steven Murphy and Graham Ackroyd look at how applying Trevor Kletz’s concept of inherent safety avoids rather than controls hazards.
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