Limitations of Inherent Safety Techniques Application: A Case Study

The present study is motivated by the many accidents in process plants that could be avoided or at least attenuated by inherent safety philosophy. The objective of this article is to understand the real constraints to Inherent Safety Philosophy (ISF) application. It contemplated an evaluation of the limitations and difficulties of applying the inherent safety techniques to process plants based on a specific case study in which some the potential risks to the plant were evaluated and some modifications were advised instead. From this case study, it was possible to extrapolate to a generic case in a representative manner. The greatest difficulties encountered when applying ISF were mapped. The real limitations of using ISF in process plants were related to organizational, technical and economic aspects. The consequently, to focus on finding solutions for them