Determining performance shaping factors to assess human error in the emergency response team in chemical process industries: a case study.

Objectives. Human error (HE) plays a crucial role in the occurrence of accidents in chemical process industries (CPIs). Emergency response team (ERT) members are predisposed to HEs due to the nature of their work. The HE potential is influenced by the performance shaping factors (PSFs). Managing PSFs can diminish the human error probability (HEP) and consequently increase the emergency response success chance. This article aimed to determine the PSFs for ERT members in CPIs. Methods. First, an initial list of PSFs was searched and classified within human reliability analysis methods and studies. Then, an expert panel of the emergency management system was utilized to identify, classify and weight the initial PSFs. The fuzzy Delphi method and content analysis technique were applied to summarize and categorize the PSFs. Results. The results of the study showed that 11 PSFs had greater impacts on the ERT members' error potential. Findings revealed that stress and physiological stressors, competency, and team and organization were the three most important PSFs. Conclusion. The most important and relevant PSFs can be effectively used in accurate HE assessment of ERT members in CPIs.

Comparison of COD removal from pharmaceutical wastewater by electrocoagulation, photoelectrocoagulation, peroxi-electrocoagulation and peroxi-photoelectrocoagulation processes.

This work makes a comparison between electrocoagulation (EC), photoelectrocoagulation, peroxi-electrocoagulation and peroxi-photoelectrocoagulation processes to investigate the removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD) from pharmaceutical wastewater. The effects of operational parameters such as initial pH, current density, applied voltage, amount of hydrogen peroxide and electrolysis time on COD removal efficiency were investigated and the optimum operating range for each of these operating variables was experimentally determined. In electrocoagulation process, the optimum values of pH and voltage were determined to be 7 and 40 V, respectively. Desired pH and hydrogen peroxide concentration in the Fenton-based processes were found to be 3 and 300 mg/L, respectively. The amounts of COD, pH, electrical conductivity, temperature and total dissolved solids (TDS) were on-line monitored. Results indicated that under the optimum operating range for each process, the COD removal efficiency was in order of peroxi-electrocoagulation > peroxi-photoelectrocoagulation > photoelectrocoagulation>electrocoagulation. Finally, a kinetic study was carried out using the linear pseudo-second-order model and results showed that the pseudo-second-order equation provided the best correlation for the COD removal rate.