Risk-based analysis is the acknowledged tool of choice for decision-making in areas that include process safety management and hazard analysis. Many practitioners are reluctant to use fully quantitative tools, however, because of the perception that these tools cost more in effort than they can pay back in benefits. This paper briefly introduces a fully quantitative risk-based decision analysis tool set and considers the financial and safety-related benefits it can provide. Risk-based analysis can show you how to safely maximize your return on maintenance and capital improvement investments by precisely risk-ranking assets and scheduling inspections and replacements such that they contribute most to net present value. Further analysis can help you design the most cost-effective inspection strategies for the selected equipment. Safety benefits develop in two ways. Most equipment failures and personnel injuries are associated with upset or abnormal operating conditions, which include startup and shutdown. Therefore, safety improvements tend to improve reliability and reliability improvements tend to improve safety. Therefore, optimized equipment life management contributes indirectly to safety. There appears to be a direct safety benefit as well. Using some informal analysis and "historical fiction" based upon information that has been collected about more than 1000 petroleum and chemical facility incidents, we suggest that, contrary to popular belief, an economic focus will almost always produce a more strict inspection regime than will a "pure" safety focus.
