VAIRO T.

The safety aspects of pipelines conveying hazardous materials are not included neither under the umbrella of Seveso Directives aiming at preventing major accidents at industrial facilities, nor in other EU legislation such as the Pressure Equipment Directive (PED). A review of relevant past accidents can provide statistical evidence on the...

The safety aspects of pipelines conveying hazardous materials are included neither under the umbrella of Seveso Directives aiming at preventing major accidents at industrial facilities, nor in other EU legislations, such as the Pressure Equipment Directive (PED). Starting from evidence that in the last decades the international natural gas...

The purpose of this work is to outline a framework for assessing the resilience of a petrochemical storage plant, through the construction of a dynamic hierarchical Bayesian network. The BN approach allows keeping memory of the states, in order to manage the actual safety and reliability evidences during the petrol transfer operation from...

When dealing with maintenance in the ship's engine room, the space available around machinery and systems plays an important role. A proper clearance is usually indicated by the system supplier to perform maintenance operations. This space depends on the items dimensions, the kind of intervention and on the human operator, to avoid...

As amply known, ozone concentration in the coastal area of study is well relevant in connection with photochemical smog, due to high levels of solar radiation and temperature values and possible photochemical oxidation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the presence of nitrogen oxides (NOx). In this paper, a framework for predicting ozone...

In case of accidental gaseous releases, the detailed analysis of rather complicated situations (partial confinement, irregular shapes, unsteady-state) usually requires the use of sophisticated integral models and/or CFD calculations, but when conservative results are enough, especially in preliminary hazard assessment, analytical models can be...

The paper discusses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Italian chemical and process industries, where Directive 2012/18/EU Seveso III, for the control of Major Accident Hazard (MAH), is enforced. The Safety Management System (SMS) for the control of MAH, which has been mandatory for 20 years in Italian Seveso Establishments, has been...

As widely acknowledged, learning from accidents represents one of the main source of knowledge for future loss prevention. An effective investigation may help enhancing the process of continuous improvement of the safety management system. Recently, during a pipeline batching operation between two storage facilities of the same corporation, a...

In the present paper, a methodological framework to move from risk assessment to resilience assessment is described. In order to demonstrate the practical capability of the outlined methodology reference is made to a LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) bunker activity for a cruise ship. The focal point to assess the resilience of a system is the...

The focus of the present paper is the development of a resilience framework suitable to be applied in assessing the safety of ship LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) bunkering process. Ship propulsion considering LNG as a possible fuel (with dual fuel marine engines installed on board) has favored important discussions about the LNG supply chain and...

In recent years, also in connection with Covid‐19 pandemics and enforced restrictions, there has been the formation of large industrial corporations gathering separate companies with similar, sometimes complementary production profiles. This evolving trend has brought usually positive economic effects; however, it has also created some...

According to the Seveso Directives, the risk assessment is crucial for an effective control of major accident hazard. Nevertheless, the complexity of many Seveso sites, due to human, technical and organizational factors makes recognized common practices limited because of their intrinsic static nature. In this paper, a dynamic approach for risk...

Identification of an oil spill is essential to evaluate the potential spread and float from the source to coastal terrains, and their continued monitoring is essential for managing the environmental protection actions to confine the pollution and avoid further damage. The SAR sensor is perceived as the most significant remote sensing apparatus...

This study is focused on the development of a Bayesian network for air quality assessment and aims at offering a pragmatic and scientifically credible approach to modelling complex systems where substantial uncertainties exist. In particular, the main object is the prediction of the occurrence of suitable conditions for the stagnation of...

Mitigation associated with oil spill events in sea environment depends largely on the design and implementation of adequate contingency plans, which should incorporate the simulation of the spill dispersion patterns and the characterization of marine and coastal areas that could be affected. This paper is focused on the development of an actual...

This paper concerns the design and development of a dynamic risk assessment tool, and the determination of a dynamic indicator of the safety level. The DYN-RISK system is intended to be a predictive decision-making tool, which provides a constantly updated risk, based on the ongoing operations, for the whole plant and all the components. The...

With rising concerns about the amount of pollutant emissions generated by shipping and the consequent pressure to curb the environmental impact of shipping activities, fuel cells are expected to take an important role in ship propulsion. In particular, Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs) are envisaged to provide high electrical efficiency and offer...

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This paper addresses the issue of "ageing", which for over a decade has been recognised as one the most relevant causes of accidents in chemical and oil industries. The EU Legislation explicitly mentions to manage ageing in the Directive Seveso III. Following the implementation of the Directive in national legislations, regulators had a few...

In the present era, the spread of cyber-physical systems in the framework of the so-called Industry 4.0, is leading towards a complete automation of industrial processes, which are increasingly decentralized, smart, and require fewer and fewer frontline personnel. The risk assessment process is certainly not excluded from the revolution, and in...

Machine Learning tools to enhance systems' resilience received an increased impetus driven by energy transition, climate change and digitalization, but critical challenges on system requirement definition and reliability of learning processes need to be addressed. This study proposes a systematic framework based on system engineering and...

As amply acknowledged, operational errors can be identified as one of the most common cause of plant equipment deterioration, consequently the operational control exerts a determining role in managing and slowing down the effects of aging and enhancing safety. Given the ongoing trend towards advanced sensors and real-Time performance...