Dynamic risk management: a contemporary approach to process safety management

• Risk-based process safety management is now an accepted approach by the industry.
• Dynamic risk assessment is important to ensure continuous safety improvement.
• Dynamic risk assessment incorporates new evidence to update risk.
• A strong safety culture is required for a successful dynamic risk management.

Process accidents in the early 1980s have drawn process safety into the main stream. In the 1990s, risk-based approaches were developed to bring safety into design as well as economic considerations. In the 2000s, the inherent safety approach began to be practiced on a limited basis, and process safety evolution made significant progress. As process systems continue to become more complex and operations move into remote and harsh environments, traditional risk analysis may no longer be sufficient. Dynamic risk assessment is the basis for the next generation of risk and management approaches that help to enable safer complex process systems operating in extreme environments. This article investigates the main contributions in the area of dynamic risk assessment. Then, an overall framework for dynamic risk management of process facilities is proposed.