Fundamentals of safety-conscious computer-aided process design - Introduction

The paper discusses the fundamentals on which the methodology of safety-conscious conceptual process design should be built. The concepts of process and safety are explicated by verbal definitions and formalized as an object hierarchy. The association of safety with process structural properties through relationships between lower level concepts is examined in detail. The lower level concepts related to safety are the probability that control will be lost and the consequence of this event. The central lower level concepts related to process structure are phenomenon, material, boundary, and interaction. The use of safety balance in process design is also illustrated.