Title: Process system resilience: from risk management to business continuity and sustainability

Authors: Prerna Jain; Hans J. Pasman; M. Sam Mannan

Addresses: Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-3122, USA ' Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-3122, USA ' Deceased; formerly of: Texas A&M University, USA

Abstract: In general, by competition, energy efficiency, reduced staff, etc. process safety and risk management challenges have increased with a heavier focus of public perception on risks globally. This has necessitated exploring tools for transition from the narrower to a broader approach with goals of business continuity and sustainability for risk management. The application of resilience engineering is being explored for considering the dynamics of socio-technical aspects. This paper presents the systems-based resilience approach for risk management in the process industry and provides a description of process system architecture, functional requirements, and life cycle stages. This paper introduces the process resilience analysis framework (PRAF) and its four aspects. As an example, the 2012 Chevron Richmond Refinery incident is reviewed, and relationship is established between resilience and sustainability. The conclusion is drawn that using PRAF strengthens the resilience capabilities of a process system to foster business continuity and sustainability.

Keywords: process resilience analysis framework; PRAF; system resilience; business continuity; sustainability; process safety; risk management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBCRM.2020.105615

International Journal of Business Continuity and Risk Management, 2020 Vol.10 No.1, pp.47 - 66

Received: 10 Sep 2018
Accepted: 20 Mar 2019
Published online: 06 Mar 2020 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article