1. Concepts of Engineering Jared Korab
Safety
Concepts of Engineering
Jared Korab

2. Writing Prompt 10/31/16
Why is it important for an engineer to think about safety?

3. Writing Prompt 11/01/16
Should people be punished for breaking personal safety rules? Why or why not?
(example: wearing PPE, seatbelt)

4. Writing Prompt 11/02/16
If two people break the same safety rule in similar situations, but only one of them results in the death of an innocent person, should they receive the same punishment? why?

5. What is Safety?
From google:
the condition of being protected from or unlikely to cause danger, risk, or injury.
"they should leave for their own safety"

6. Types of Safety Personal Safety Preventing personal injury
Common minor accidents
Rules like “wear gloves & goggles” or “use guardrail”
Process Safety
Preventing fires, explosions, contamination
Rare catastrophes
Rules like “shut down the reactor at this temperature”

7. OSHA
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is the main federal agency charged with the enforcement of safety and health legislation.

8. Personal Safety Common Rules:
Wear safety gear / Tie up long hair / No open toed shoes
Don’t run or play around / Do pay attention to teacher
Watch your step / Don’t place bags on the ground
Know the location of emergency exits / fire extinguishers
Only use a machine/tool after you learn how to use it

9. Personal protective equipment (PPE)
Protective clothing, helmets, goggles, or other garments or equipment designed to protect the wearer's body from injury or infection.
Required at labs / worksites

10. Types of Hazards

11. Types of Hazards Continued

12. Types of Safety Personal Safety Preventing personal injury
Common minor accidents
Rules like “wear gloves & goggles” or “use guardrail”
Process Safety
Preventing fires, explosions, contamination
Rare catastrophes
Rules like “shut down the reactor at this temperature”

13. Process Safety Common Rules/Practices:
Follow checklist of steps in a process
Someone always supervises (temperature, pressure, etc)
Having multiple sensors / alarms / fail-safes
Routine drills / maintenance checks
Have good communication
Emergency shut off switches/valves & back ups
Know the plan for when something goes wrong

14. Safety Engineering
Safety engineering is an engineering discipline which assures that engineered systems provide acceptable levels of safety.
Two main goals:
Prevent failures
Make failures as safe as possible (fail-safe)

15. Fail-Safe
A fail-safe is a design feature or practice that in the event of a specific type of failure, inherently responds in a way that will cause no or minimal harm to other equipment, the environment or to people.
Example: If a reactor is supposed to operate at 300 psi and it will explode at 500 psi, have a relief valve that will automatically open and release the contents to a safe area if the pressure reaches 400 psi.

16. Texas City Refinery Explosion (March 23, 2005)
15 dead, 170 injured, refinery severely damaged
Very old refinery (1934) that had not been well maintained. Failed many maintenance checks but problems were never actually fixed.
One day enough equipment and sensors failed so that too much liquid went into the tower without anyone noticing - eventually caused large vapor cloud of hydrocarbons & explosion.

17. Bhopal (India) Disaster (December 2-3, 1984)
World’s Worst Industrial Disaster
A Pesticide Plant released a cloud of Methyl isocyanate (very toxic) that was exposed to over 500,000 people. At least 3,700 deaths and 3,900 severe injuries.
Exact cause is debated, there were many equipment failures and manager mistakes leading up to the disaster.

18. Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster (Jan 28, 1986)
The Space Shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after launch, killing 7.
It was caused by failure of the O-Rings that sealed the Solid Rocket Booster segments. It was a known problem and discussed heavily, but was not fixed, it was just treated as a minor issue to get to later.

19. Chernobyl Disaster (April 26, 1986)
31 direct deaths, thousands affected by fallout
worst nuclear power plant accident in history
During a test, design flaws and failure to follow the procedures correctly resulted in an uncontrolled reaction and meltdown.

20. Tacoma Narrows Bridge Collapse (Nov 7, 1940)
3rd longest suspension bridge in the world collapsed due to 40mph winds only 4 months after being built.
It was observed to move in the wind during construction but efforts to stop the movement failed, eventually leading up to the collapse.
Only death was a dog named Tubby (owner escaped car after crashing due to shaking bridge)

21. RMS Titanic (April 15, 1912)
Largest ship in the world sinks on maiden voyage after hitting an iceberg
Of 2,224 aboard, over 1,500 die.

22. Tenerife Airport Disaster (March 27, 1977)
Two Boeing 747s crashed on the runway, killing 583
Deadliest Accident in Aviation History

23. St. Francis Dam Collapse & Flood (March 12, 1928)
The St. Francis Dam was built to provide a water storage reservoir for the city of Los Angeles. During construction and the few years it was operational, cracks in the dam occasionally appeared but were not deemed dangerous.
One night the dam catastrophically collapsed and sent a massive flood wave that killed at least 425.

24. Halifax Explosion (December 6, 1917)
Halifax Harbor, Nova Scotia, Canada
2000 Dead, 9000 injured
The SS Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship laden with high explosives, collided with the Norwegian vessel SS Imo, and a fire ignited the explosives. It was the largest man- made explosion before atomic weapons.

25. Engineering Disaster Report - Due Fri / Mon
Groups of 3 - 4
Make a Powerpoint presentation & have each member talk for 1-2 minutes
Overall presentation should last minutes
Presentation should include:
Introduction / Backstory
How the Disaster Happened
How it could have been prevented
What consequences / impact did the event have, if any
Have about 1 or 2 slides per minute