Optimizing the life cycle safety, health and environment impact of new projects

Too often the approach to the concept selection for a process development is based on the operational safety risks with little attempt made to address the health and environmental issues. This paper directs the reader towards the total 'holistic' and integrated SHE (safety, health and environment) approach from concept to demolition for any process project. It draws on the approach developed for the offshore oil and gas industry and shows that the methodology can be transferred to the chemical /pharmaceutical industry provided there is a conscious attempt to use the tools already available. The existing experience shows that the tools developed for the offshore oil and gas industry, with the inherent risk criteria can be a powerful tool for choosing the best overall SHE-based project. The final analysis for the offshore industry shows that the decisions are mostly dictated by the,operational phase' of the project cycle. However the abandonment of an offshore installation does have many significant SHE issues. The paper shows that the 'holistic' approach to SHE developed for the offshore oil and gas industry can be transferred to the onshore chemical industry. It is therefore a challenge to others to develop the models such that the optimized SHE can be achieved for the onshore process industry.