Process Safety Risk Analysis Techniques for the Electronics Industry

VanOmmeren, James
(Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., Allentown, PA)

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The Electronics Industry; including semiconductor fabs, chip manufacturing factories, fiber-optic cable plants, R&D facilities, etc.; utilizes many hazardous substances in the development and production of their end products. These hazardous substances, regulated as “Hazardous Production Materials” (HPMs), consist primarily of process gases and liquid chemicals. The HPMs often possess multiple physical, health, and/or environmental related hazards. Therefore, the shipping, delivery, storage, and/or usage of HPMs within the Electronics industry provides an inherent level of risk to employees, contractors, visitors, neighbors, community, and the environment that should be properly evaluated and managed. This presentation will discuss the concepts of process safety, hazardous consequences, and risk as they relate to the Electronics Industry. Traditional qualitative hazard evaluation techniques (What-If, How Can, Safety Checklist, HAZOP, and FMEA) will be reviewed along with the benefits and drawbacks of each method. Enhancements to these techniques will be discussed that permit relative ranking of identified hazards and their measurement against established corporate risk targets. Finally, advanced risk analysis techniques (Fault Tree Analysis, Consequence Studies, Qualitative Risk Screening, and Quantitative Risk Analyses) will be presented along with guidelines on their recommended usage for Electronics companies and suppliers. These advanced techniques will also be discussed as they pertain to current regulatory requirements and future regulatory trends.

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