1.4   SAFETY AND RELIABILITY OF PRODUCTION SYSTEMS

A network on process safety - SAFETYNET

Network overview

In the field of process safety the European Union can build on a strong tradition in research and technological development. In this tradition a lot of research projects are funded either by the Commission in different research programmes like Brite-Euram, Standards Measurement & Testing and Environment or by national research programmes. The focus of the R&D is to improve safety and reduce accident risks, by ensuring a safe operation of process plants or production facilities. According to this research the state-of-the-art at European level is very high. For example the organisations participating in this proposal have carried and still are carrying out more than 150 research projects in the field of process safety.

The network tasks as identified in the workplan are designed to fulfill the following objectives:

• transfer of results of European research on process safety to the relevant industrial community, especially to small- and medium-size enterprises, in order to reduce the time between development of technologies and the practical and commercial implementation;
• exchange of experiences and methodologies related to process safety between different types of industry;
• demonstration of the application of research results and know-how to industrial needs and removing barriers for access to research and test facilities.

The focus of the network will be on safe operations for product plants and production facilities in relation to hazard identification and accident prevention.

European dimension

and partnership

Risks of technical failure are present all over Europe. Therefore, the prevention of accidents is a European problem and has to be solved at a European level. For this reason the consortium includes 34 organisations from fifteen European countries. Trough the composition of the consortium all countries and languages of the EU are considered.

The global approach of the network is likely to influence both manufacturing and the application of safety relevant processes. A better understanding of the possibility of dangerous situations can help to reduce the total number of accidents or mitigate their consequences all over Europe. If the number of accidents will be decreased by the measurements of the network only by 1%, the yearly costs caused by accidents will be decreased more than 2.5 Mio ECU. The most important impact of the project will therefore be the impact on industrial safety.

The participating organisations are chosen in such a way that the network has a multidisciplinary impact, bringing together industry from different sectors with similar problems, research organisations with a lot of experience in research, authorities working as multiplier of the deliverables and SMEs that never participated in European project but are interested in results and future co-operation.

The consortium consists of 14 national focal points and 20 additional national partners.

Potential applications

The transfer of research results to industry, especially to SMEs, is necessary in order to get rid of trade barriers within the Community. The evaluation of statistical data referring to accidents during the handling and storage of hazardous materials shows that over 90% happened in SMEs. As a result of an investigation on user request by these SMEs it could be shown that there is a lack of knowledge about the possibilities of dangerous situations. On the other hand there is a very good knowledge about the normal operation of the production process.

Nevertheless process safety is such a huge topic that one network cannot work on all areas with visible success. Therefore the network will concentrate on the areas of highest industrial risks. These have been identified as the areas related to the safe operation of process plants and production facilities and the areas related to the prevention of frequently-occurring accidents.

Furthermore a successful network covering this huge topic should enable industrial enterprises of all European countries to be either suppliers of information or multipliers of results.

In this way it will be possible to reduce the time lapse between research and the practical use of results and to stimulate further development and adoption of technologies.

Further details on the network operation and activities are available at the following Internet address:

http://www.safetynet.de/

Contract Brite-Euram Nr: BRRT-CT98-5062

EC Contribution

921 375 ECU

Starting Date

1 October 1998

Closing Date

30 September 2001


Duration

36 months

EC scientific officer

Hans HARTMANN PEDERSEN
Fax: +32-2-295 80 46

Coordinator

Prosicht GmbH

Wilhelmstr. 2
59067 Hamm
Nordrhein-Westfalen
Germany
Dirk Oberhagemann
Tel.: +49-2381-271 484
Fax: +49-2381-271 485
E-mail: ober@prosicht.com

Aib - Vinçotte Inter - Bruxelles (BE)
Akzo Nobel Central Research BV - Deventer (NL)
Christian Michelsen Research AS - Fantoft (NO)
Conratec Srl - Arcore (IT)
Danisco Ingredients Ltd - Braband (DK)
DSM Nv - Geleen (NL)
Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Mulhouse - Mulhouse (FR)
Empresa Nacional de Electricidad S.A - Madrid (ES)
Essilor International S.A. - Charenton Le Pont (FR)
Europex Vzw - Kontich (BE)
Explosion Safety Systems - Dublin (IE)
Farchemia S.R.L. - Treviglio (IT)
Ferring AB - Malmö (SE)
Fraunhöfer - Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V. - Pfinztal (DE)
Hôpital St - Louis - Paris (FR)
Inburex GmbH - Hamm (DE)
Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel & des Risques - Verneuil en Halatte (FR)
Instituto Superior Tecnico - Lisbon (PT)
Instituto Tecnologico Para Europa Comunitária - Lisbon (PT)
Intressentföreningen för Processäkerrhet - Grindsjon (SE)
Laboratorio Oficial Jose Maria de Madariaga - Madrid (ES)
National Centre For Scientific Research `Demokritos' - Ag. Paraskevi (GR)
Rhone Poulenc Industrialisation SA - Decines Charpieu (FR)
Riso National Laboratory - Roskilde (DK)
Shell International Chemicals B.V. - Amsterdam (NL)
Stichting Industrial Loss Prevention - Rijswijk (NL)
Svenska Brandförsvarsförenigen - Malmö (SE)
Teagasc - Agriculture & Food Dvlp Authority - Fermoy (IE)
Technical Research Centre of Finland - Manufacturing Technology - Tampere (FI)
Technische Universität Graz - Graz (AT)
TNO Prins Maurits Laboratory - Rijswijk (NL)
VTU - Engineering Linz Plannings und Beratungsgesellschaft - Linz (AT)
Zeneca Ltd - Manchester (GB)