امید کلات پور

One of the most important challenges that is considered in process industries to improve performance and increase productivity is the optimization of the incident command system. Incident Command System (Incident Command System) is a standard approach to control and coordinate the management of incidents in the scene. The present study aims to evaluate and prioritize the factors affecting the effectiveness of the Incident Command System (ICS) using AHP and DEMATEL methods in Iran's process industries.

In this research, firstly, a questionnaire was compiled and designed using the AHP method in order to weight the criteria and prioritize them, and a questionnaire was designed using the Dematel method in order to determine the effectiveness and mutual influence of the criteria and sub-criteria. And then the questionnaires were completed by 15 incident commanders and process industry safety officials and crisis management activists working in the oil and petrochemical industry.

AHP analysis ranked ‘command’ highest with a standard weight of 0.256. DEMATEL results showed ‘command’ as the most influential (standard weight of 10.59), effective (11.9), and interactive (21.96) indicator. ‘Standardization’ (1.35) and ‘professionalism’ (1.19) emerged as causal factors, while ‘command’ (-0.50), ‘planning/organizational structure’ (-1), ‘facilities and resources’ (-0.18), and ‘disability index’ were responsive indicators.

Both AHP and DEMATEL methods highlight the significant impact of asset command on the success of ICS in Iran’s process industries. This version maintains the original content’s integrity while meeting the word count requirement.

Industrial firefighting (IFF) constitutes a high-risk occupation within the domain of process industries. Firefighting teams serve as the operational component of the incident command team. This study aims to assess the alignment of physical fitness assessments conducted in selected Iranian process industrial firefighting settings and to scrutinize the extent of compliance with The U.S. National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) requirements by analyzing the resultant percentages of similarity in test outcomes.

A cross-sectional observational study was undertaken across 14 Iranian process companies, encompassing two refinery companies and 12 petrochemical companies, employing a census sampling approach. The study’s benchmark was NFPA1582-2018. Data analysis was performed utilizing SPSS 27 software. This investigation focused on assessing the percentage of essential parallels within five distinct groups, along with their corresponding sub-components, in alignment with the tests and elements stipulated in the NFPA standard.

Most of the selected companies (58%) lacked a cohesive program or established standard to assess the fitness of their firefighting personnel. Among the subset of companies (42%) that did employ an evaluation standard, in the majority of instances, a minimal proportion (less than 20%) underwent individualized assessments in line with the components outlined in NFPA 1582-2018 for physical fitness evaluation tests.

Given that 58% of the surveyed process companies in this study lacked a cohesive fitness assessment program and 42% demonstrated limited compliance with NFPA 1582-2018 in the assessed components, this issue underscores the critical need to evaluate the components quality and conduct a technical needs assessment. Developing adaptable and suitable components aligned with the work conditions prevalent in the process industry becomes imperative. Additionally, there must be existed a legal mandate for the pertinent ministry to implement an integrated framework. This scenario necessitates that process companies reevaluate their approaches concerning the selection and oversight of their firefighting personnel.

Emergency evacuation planning is one of the most central protective measures in emergency situations. Determination of the emergency muster points is one of the principal requirements of emergency evacuation planning. In this regard, this study aimed to represent a framework for determining emergency muster points in process industries.

After examining various texts, the effective criteria for determining emergency muster points were identified, and the relative weight of each criterion was calculated using the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) method. Finally, the fuzzy technique for order preference by the similarity of an ideal solution (FTOPSIS) method was utilized to prioritize and determine optimal emergency muster points.

According to the calculations by the FAHP method, from the total 12 criteria surveyed in this study, the first eight criteria from any factors with the highest weight were introduced as the most significant factors. The criteria of external factors affected relative weights, dis-tances from the hazard centers, prevailing wind conditions, nature of probable scenarios, and the presence of vulnerable groups. On the other hand, the criteria of internal factors included the potential impact of the accident, easy accessibility, visibility, and monitoring, as well as travel time.

Identification and evaluation of emergency muster points shall be made based on distances from the hazard centers, prevailing wind conditions, nature of probable scenarios, presence of vulnerable groups, the potential impact of the accident, easy accessibility, visibility, and monitoring, as well as travel time.

Standard operating procedures (SOPs) are always considered a guide for performing tasks in industries. The present study aimed to identify the effective factors in increasing the usability of safety SOPs.

In this observational-analytical study, guidelines, books, and studies in the SOPs were used to identify factors that improve their usability. These factors were assigned to four main groups. A Delphi study was conducted to investigate and ensure the effectiveness of these factors. Data analysis, including validity and reliability, was performed in SPSS software (version 22).

In this study, which aimed to design and develop a tool for increasing the usability of SOP, 22 factors were identified and categorized into four main groups. After the Delphi study, the content validity ratio (CVR) for the designed instrument was 0.83, the content validity index (CVI) was calculated at 0.955, and Cronbach's alpha coefficient was obtained at 0.819.

In this study, 22 factors in four main groups were identified to be effective in increasing the usability of safety SOPs. Their effectiveness was evaluated and proven. According to this study, all procedures in the industry should be developed in a specific framework, their applicability should be examined in a specific period of time, and if necessary, they should be reviewed and amended.

One of the essential and critical elements for efficient and effective management of emergencies is anticipation and identification of possible types of emergencies. As such, a framework for anticipating and identifying emergencies was designed and tested in two process industries in the form of a case study.

At first, methods for identifying emergency preparedness and their evaluation criteria were extracted and prioritized with a two-stage fuzzy approach. A fuzzy inference system was then used to calculate the weight of the experts’ opinions. To prioritize the methods, the inputs related to the second fuzzy system were estimated and the final score of the methods was calculated by entering the mentioned variables into the fuzzy system.

The findings pertaining to the final ranking of the methods indicated that, “list of catastrophic accidents and near-misses of the organization’s lifespan”, “MIMAH” and “risk assessment and management” had the highest scores among the identified methods with the final scores of 0.754, 0.750 and 0.725, respectively.

Using this approach will help in more accurate identification of potential emergencies. Consequently, this will lead to the prevention of imposed damages caused by the situation as well as making the wrong investments by eliminating low-priority emergencies.

Oxygen-generating central plays a vital role in the continuous performance of hospitals. Any leakage or failure in this section can not only endanger the health and safety of patients but also cause fire and explosion. Probabilistic risk assessment is a useful tool for identifying the main root causes of leakage in oxygen-generating central. This study aimed at risk assessment of an oxygen-generating central in a hospital in Hamadan using fuzzy sets theory and Bayesian networks.

First, all root causes supposed to contribute to oxygen leakage from any part of the oxygen-generating central were identified, and based on them a fault tree analysis (FTA) was constructed. Then, the FTA was mapped in a BN. The failure probability of root causes was calculated using fuzzy sets theory and experts’ opinions. Belief updating based on BN was utilized for subsequent analyses.

According to this study, ignorance of labels on the oxygen generation and distribution system is the most important root cause leading to oxygen leakage. Moreover, removing masks from patient’s faces is the main cause of oxygen leakage in patient rooms. Once leakage occurred, the presence of an ignition source can lead to fire or explosion.

oxygen leakage can create considerable risks in hospitals. All staff should be provided with sufficient training regarding hazards of oxygen-generating and distributing systems and oxygen leakage. Particular attention should be paid to such leakages and their adverse consequence in emergency planning and hospital crisis management.

Risk-taking is a personality trait which plays a part in the occurrence of work-related accidents. For this reason, people who are highly risk-taking whose decision might cause accident should not be employed in critical situations. The purpose of this survey was to design and verify the validity of the risk tolerance questionnaire, suitable for control room operators, through examining the event related potential (ERP).
At first, the questions were selected from reliable scientific resources based on the conceptual model. The questions of the initial questionnaire were selected based on face validity, and then the questionnaire was filled out by 178 control room operators. At the next step, the best questions of the questionnaire were extracted using exploratory factor analysis (EFA). In terms of reliability, 42 individuals of the study group refilled in the questionnaire again after three months as a test-retest. The ERPs were assessed using electroencephalography along with Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). The correlation coefficient calculated between the ERPs, and risky behaviors, and questionnaire scores.
One factor and 13 questions were identified as the best questions regarding EFA. Cronbach's alpha was 0.91. The Spearman correlation coefficient was calculated between the questionnaire score and risk-taking behavior as well as between the questionnaire score and P300, which was 0.38 (P = 0.01, η2 = 0.70) and 0.63 (P = 0.01, η2 = 0.99), respectively.
The Operator control Room Risk-Taking (ORTQ) questionnaire consists of 13 questions which can be used as an appropriate tool to assess the risk-taking trait in control room operators and also for research purposes. This questionnaire has got three personality dimensions including risk-taking nature, impulsivity and venturesomeness.

Emergencies are unforeseen and unpredictable situations. In these situations, people’s performance is affected by various factors that cause stress. People’s performance in such situations can also affect human error probability. The purpose of this study was to evaluate human error in emergency situations based on the fuzzy CREAM and Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP).

This descriptive-analytical study was performed in a petrochemical industry in Markazi province in 2019. The FAHP was used to prioritize emergency situations. To evaluate human error in these conditions, the weights of Common Performance Conditions (CPC) was determined using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. Human error probability was calculated using a fuzzy CREAM method in the most important emergency situations.

The results of the FAHP showed that “Hydrogen leak from the cylinder joints in the olefin unit” was the most important emergency. The highest relative weight was related to crew collaboration quality (0.06) in the emergency situation.

This method can also be used to identify the important factors in human error occurrence and high weighted CPCs and plan to control them.

In process industries, some of the primary events may result in secondary events in an industrial unit called the domino effect. Since refinery storage tanks are always at risk of fire and explosion, quantitative risk assessment is important in determining the severity and outcome of an accident, taking into account the effects of dominoes on the main industry, neighbors, and society and can play an important role in risk management. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to quantitatively evaluate the risk of condensate storage tanks taking into account the domino effect.

The technique used in this study was Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA), the analysis of the consequences of which was performed using PHAST (7.22) after setting goals, studying the process, identifying hazards and scenarios. Then, to determine the extent of the domino effects of the escalation vectors were matched against the threshold, and after screening, the overall vulnerability of the repositories for mapping individual risk levels was calculated.

In the leakage scenario, after considering the domino effects, the risk contour 10-4 to about 250 meters and the risk contour 10-5 to about 400 meters increased. Also in the catastrophic rupture scenario, the radius of risk contour of the 10-5 increased to100 m after considering the domino effects up to around damage tank.

As can be deduced from the results, using this method can give a clear picture of the consequences of chain events and the probability of damage to nearby employees, equipment and neighbors, which is very important in risk, emergency and crisis management.

The most important demand of people in disasters is health and the provision of coordinated, integrated, continuous, and accessible health services. Effective disaster management depends on anticipating and identifying disaster problems and considering the necessary facilities. The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety status and functional, structural, and non-structural preparedness of health centers in disasters.

This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in 49 health centers of Hamadan in 2021. To collect data, standard interviews, observation, and checklist methods were used based on disaster risk assessment guidelines in the health care network system. These checklists examine the safety status of health centers in three areas of functional preparedness, structural safety, and non-structural safety. The average functional preparedness, structural and non-structural, is considered a safety score, and health centers are in one of the levels of "low" safety (0-50), "moderate" safety (50-70), and "optimal" safety (70-100).

According to the results in the health centers of Hamadan city, the level of functional preparedness is 56.23%, the level of non-structural safety, structural safety, and total safety are 63.96, 89.39, and 75.13%, respectively.

According to the findings of this study, the level of non-structural and structural safety of health centers in Hamadan was at an acceptable level that can be improved, however, the level of functional preparedness was assessed at a moderate level. This could be due to a lack of coherent organization, disaster risk management, adequate budget, and knowledge.

Since emergencies are often unpredictable, organizations need to be prepared to overcome the threats. In addition to emergency teams, coordination and preparedness also is very important in responding to emergencies. This study aimed to use social network analysis to improve the performance of an emergency management system in the petrochemical industry. The studied emergency was hydrogen leak from the cylinder joints in the olefin unit. Social Network Analysis (SNA) was used to evaluate the emergency team’s response. To collect the required information, emergency scenarios, questionnaires, and interviews with experts and specialists were used. Gephi software version 0.9.1 was used to analyze the social network data of this study. The findings of this study indicate a high disruption between members and low network density, the network density index was 0.108 which represents a significant gap between the members and the low coherence of the network. Meaning that only 10.8% of all possible connections between members of emergency management members were established. Low density leads to inconsistency and leads to lack of cooperation and poor performance in emergency management. The average degree showed that the manager of operations was the most influence on the network. The social network analysis approach helps managers and decision makers identify the strengths and weaknesses of an emergency response team, and focus on the interactions and relationships between teams and, as well as their coordination. Also, to achieve optimal coordination in emergency response, it is necessary to consider specific plans and instructions, and identification the tasks.

Firefighting is a difficult and dangerous job. This job requires decision-making and speed of action in critical situations. Such conditions increase the probability of human error in the firefighting activities. Setting up fire apparatus as the first step of emergency response is associated with high criticality. The purpose of this study is identification and assessment the risk of human error while setting up and operating fire apparatus.

This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed in 2019. Tasks related to the operation of industrial firefighting apparatus were studied and analyzed by Hierarchical Task Analysis. Then, human errors in the operation of fire apparatus were identified and analyzed using the systematic human error reduction and prediction approach (SHERPA). Finally, appropriate prevention solutions were proposed to reduce the risk of errors.

A total of 480 errors were detected for 130 tasks as 49.58% of them were action errors, 39.17% check type, 10.42% communication and 0.83% were selective errors and no retried error was observed. According to the results of risk assessment, 8.33% of the errors were unacceptable, 24.17% were undesirable, and 48.33% were acceptable risks but need to be revised and 19.17% acceptable without the need for revision.

The process of operating fire apparatus can be associated with human errors and prevent successful firefighting operations. Therefore, these errors should be identified and controlled using appropriate methods.

Oxygen central is one of the vital parts of the hospital that is responsible for supplying oxygen. The occurrence of any defect can result in fatality and finansial damage. Therefore, effective risk analysis is very importance in preventing and mitigating such potential accidents.The purpose of this study was to analyze the scenarios of accidents in the oxygen central unit of the hospital using FTA and LOPA methods.

In the first step, probable errors in oxygen leakage were identified and then FTA was plotted and semi-quantitative LOPA method was used for risk analysis. Finally, control measures to reduce oxygen leakage were predicted.

Results

The results of the study show that the most important accident scenarios include oxygen Release, explosion and fire. The independent protective layers in the oxygen storage and production tanks are suitable. Use of IPLs can significantly reduce risk.  The most important cause of leakage in the patientchr('39')s room was due to the mask being removed from the respiratory area or the lack of fit with the patientchr('39')s face.

The results of this study showed that the independent protective layers in central oxygen are sufficient to prevent oxygen leakage. But it is also necessary to use an oxygen sensor in the patientchr('39')s room and alarms to increase the oxygen concentration to reduce the risk of oxygen leakage in the environment. It should also be periodic training to all employees and maneuver in the crisis management measures should be considered Hospital

Petrochemical industry is one of the most accident-prone industries, and most accidents in this industry are related to human factors. The principles of Lean production are one of the approaches used to improve the production situation. Various studies have shown that implementing Lean production improves the safety and ergonomics. In this study, the principles of Lean production were used to reduce human error and improve response in emergencies.

  The basic CREAM method was used to evaluate human errors. In order to select Lean production tools appropriate to the emergency response tasks, the opinions of the 20-member panel of specialists and experts, including industry managers, HSE officials, and university professors, were used. For examining the impact of Lean production principles on reducing human error in emergencies, 6 months after the implementation of Lean production interventions, human error was re-examined. Evaluation of human errors after Lean production interventions was also performed by basic CREAM method.

The results of the evaluation of human errors before and after the implementation of Lean production interventions showed that the level of control mode of the three sub-tasks improved from the tactical control mode to the strategic control mode. The most probable human error was in evacuate sub-task.

The results of this study showed that the implementation of those interventions that in addition to improving the level of safety, can improve organizational productivity, is more accepted by industry management.

Managing the emergency situation is a big challenge for the process industries. Training has a substantial role the quality and success of the emergency response. Disasters regularly have devastating effects on the worldchr('39')s populations. The potential of high human casualties, heavy financial burden, environmental damage, and negative impacts on corporate reputation, highlights the importance of proper emergency management. Investigation of major industrial accidents demonstrates that organization’s unpreparedness for emergency conditions can noticeably increase consequences of an accident. Emergency management means establishing, training, and practicing plans and programs that reduce the vulnerability of the organizations to critical conditions, and help organizations to overcome these conditions more effectively with minimal costs and losses. Effective emergency management requires proper planning to increase the software and hardware readiness of the organization for critical situations. Planning processes, theoretical and practical training (maneuvers) are of key importance in software preparation. Each of the three processes of planning, training, and practicing (maneuvering) has a decisive role in the success or failure of an emergency response. In the planning phase, the most likely event scenarios should be identified, their consequences evaluated and accordingly, guidelines and procedures should be developed to deal with emergencies. In the later phases, these programs are trained and strive to enhance the preparedness of individuals and operation units for dealing with emergencies by holding maneuvers. It should be noted that practicing maneuvers are also a form of training that attempt to convey and understand concepts more effectively by simulating real emergencies. The review of past events indicates that the lack of proper educational system or ineffective training is one of the major reasons for people’s inability to respond appropriately to emergencies. For example, analysis of the explosion incident at the Texaco refinery in 1994 showed that inadequate training of staff to prepare for emergencies was one of the main causes of the accident. Lack of proper and adequate knowledge of the accident and consequently failure of the response team to act in the accident can aggravate the accident and result in life and financial losses. The quality of an organization’s response to emergencies highly depends on the quality and quantity of pre-programmed and implemented training. If emergency response training programs are presented properly, responding personnel will be able to collaborate effectively and will be ensured of response team’s health. Research shows that courses tailored to individual’s responsibilities have a major impact on promoting their preparedness for confronting emergencies. Also understanding and ability to implement a skill is highly dependent on pre-provided training. The roles and responsibilities of different levels of staffs, in emergencies, vary from each other and partly have a distinct nature. Therefore, people at different levels of an organization need different training at emergency management. The issue of crisis management training and how to deal with relevant emergencies is of particular importance in the processed industries and especially in the petrochemical industry that dealt with toxic substances. One of the standards that systematically addresses the essential training required by emergency response teams is the HAZWOPER standard. Given the above, it should be further emphasized the key importance of systematic training in the emergency readiness phase. Despite the importance of this issue, few research studies have been conducted to determine the educational needs of emergency response groups. In this study, it is attempted to identify the operational criticality of each scenario by identifying and analyzing emergency scenarios and extracted its training needs and compared it to the HAZWOPER standard. This study aims at determining the training needs of the emergency response team using task criticality analysis and comparing the determined requirements to the HAZWOPER standard.

the present study was conducted in Bouali Sina Petrochemical co. in 2018 as a cross sectional research. This study aimed to determine the training needs of the emergency response team using Swezey Task Criticality Analysis. First, a team of eight experts from the company’s safety and crisis management was formed and four final scenarios were selected by examining the list of pre-identified emergency scenarios. The criteria for selecting these scenarios were considered as probability of emergence, probable consequences, and the level of readiness of the organization to deal with these scenarios. Selected scenarios also attempted to cover a wide range of different kinds of possible events. Then, for each of the final scenarios selected, the tasks of the response team members were identified using the Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA) technique. HTA is introduced by Kirwan as the most powerful task analysis technique that is one of the applications of this technique to determine the training needs needed to perform a task. After performing the HTA, criticality analysis was performed for the scenario response tasks. According to the Swezey Criticality Analysis method, tasks are divided into three levels of low, medium and high criticality. Tasks with low criticality level are tasks in which the occurrence of errors or improper performance has a negligible negative effect on successful mission accomplishment. Tasks with medium criticality level are tasks in which the occurrence of errors or improper performance has moderate consequences and may jeopardize the successful execution of the mission. Tasks with High criticality level are tasks that any errors or improper performance to perform will certainly lead to the failure of the entire mission. After training the Criticality Analysis method, the information of the hierarchical analysis of the Emergency Response Tasks graphically was provided to 77 personnel of the Emergency Response Team. The study group was selected based on the census method and from all the emergency response personnel team in three shifts. The group was asked to determine the criticality of the analyzed tasks at three levels of low, medium, and high through using Swezey criticality analysis method. After collecting the opinions of the study group and averaging the given scores, the criticality status of each task was analyzed. Then, according to the results, the sub-tasks were identified with high criticality level. After this stage, the most critical tasks were classified. In other words, the number of critical tasks for each emergency post was determined. Next, the list of high-critical tasks along with the job titles for those tasks were made available to previous experts and specialist and they were asked to list the essential training needs to perform each critical task safely and effectively. By gathering and summarizing the comments, a list of training needs of the critical task respondents was compiled. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect and record expert’s opinions. The identified training needs were compared with the HAZWOPER training requirements to determine the degree of overlap. To this end, the responders with critical duties were classified into five levels according to the HAZWOPER standard. The HAZWOPER standard defines essential training for the five levels of emergency responders, including the Incident Commander (IC), Hazardous Materials Specialist, Hazardous Materials Technician, First Responder Operations Level, and First Responder Awareness Level. Finally, the proposed training needs of each responder level were compared with their corresponding responder level in the HAZWOPER standard.

The four final emergency scenarios selected by experts were: atmospheric tank rim seal fire, synthesized reactor fire, H2S compressor leak, and hydrogen compressor fire. Forty-four tasks were identified as critical tasks involving twelve responders. Responders with critical duties were classified into five levels according to the HAZWOPER standard: Incident Commander, Hazardous Materials Specialist (Safety Expert), Hazardous Materials Technician (Firefighter and Fire Officer), First Responder Operations Level (head of shift operations, operation shift supervisor, and head of feed preparation units) and First Responder Awareness Level (senior security officer, security patrol, and ambulance driver). Investigating educational needs in different phases of crisis management showed that about 24% of suggested training needs by the expert team were related to the planning phase, 76% were associated to the operational phase and there were no suggested training need for recovery phase. These measures were 25, 56.25 and 18.75 percent for HAZWOPER, accordingly. Results revealed that approximately 72% of HAZWOPER requirements were covered in the suggested courses titles. Also, 52% of recommended trainings were complementary to the HAZWOPER requirements. Also, about 28% of the HAZWOPER requirements in the proposed training needs of this study were not recommended. The most educational requirement in the present study belonged to emergency group of hazardous materials technician, and in the HAWOPER standard, the group of hazardous materials specialist. Also, the lowest training requirements in both groups were related to the first responder awareness level.

the results of this study show that the determination of the educational needs of emergency response teams, based on the criticality level of their tasks and considering the levels of their responders and their specialized fields, can be very useful for effective performance and enhancing the capabilities of emergency response teams.

Increasing the civil incidents including residential fires is a consequence of population growth and development of cities. Residential fire is one of the most important scenarios requiring fast response. Fire response operation encompass various and serious risks for responding team members. Therefore, the present study looks for determining the critical tasks of fire operation response for structural fire scenario through using Task and Training Requirements Analysis (TTRAM).

the present study was conducted in municipal firefighting of Hamadan. Among various operational scenarios, the structural fire scenario was selected for further analysis through expert opinions. The selected scenario was analyzed in details by Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA). The final selected task were assessed regarding skill decay, practice effectiveness, task sensitivity and teamwork level.

Among 126 task for structural fire scenario, 54 tasks encompass the most skill decay potential and 71 tasks include the highest level of team supporting activities. Considering the sensitivity and teamwork level, 9 tasks had the highest levels of vulnerabilities. Securing the incident scene in coordination with other organization showed the highest vulnerability level. 

Due to variety of scenarios and tasks for fire departments, some duties possess higher levels of skill decay potential. Therefore, it is necessary to identify, analyze and manage those activities through a systematic approach.

The most common way of transporting hazardous materials in many countries, including Iran, is road transport. This increases the risk of exposure to these materials. Hence, the assessment of the consequences of exposure can help to manage the transportation of these materials. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the health consequences of accidents in road transport of chemicals.

In this study, a fuzzy inference system was designed and implemented. The system has three input parameters: "The concentration of released chemicals", "The degree of vulnerability of the exposed community" and "The toxicity of the released material". The output of this system expresses the degree of exposure severity coefficient. This coefficient demonstrates the severity of the damage to individuals in the exposure of chemicals.

Due to the release of chlorine gas in the target area, the radii affected were divided into two low risk areas (up to 187 m) and safe (more than 187 m). The most severe exposures in the sensitive group of society (children, elderly people and individuals with underlying problems in group 4 with a coefficient of 0.92) and adolescents and middle aged in group 3 (with severity coefficient of 0.776).​

Our results showed that group 4 was considered as the most sensitive exposure group in determining the safe distance. Also showed that the use of fuzzy approach to simulating the health consequences of chemical transport can be used.

The number of emergency situations is high in petrochemical industry. These situations cause devastating injuries and loss and a lot of time, cost, facilities, and resources are needed to control all of them. Selection and prioritization of emergencies are important to take the corrective actions. The purpose of this study was to determine the effective criteria in selection of emergency situations and to provide an approach for prioritization of emergency situations based on the defined criteria in petrochemical industries. This qualitative and applied study was conducted in a petrochemical complex in 2018. The Delphi technique was used to identify and prioritize the appropriate criteria. In the next step, a table was designed to score the emergencies. The most important criteria for selection of hazardous emergencies were the damage severity, probability of occurrence, loss or disruptions in production, spatial context of accident, and social effects. The most important emergencies in the industry included fires and explosions in gas discharging units, chemical storage places, and pressurized equipment containing butadiene. Using this approach, high-priority emergencies were identified. This helps managers to plan control measures, analyze these emergencies, and respond to them in order to prevent crisis.

Firefighting is a stressful job with great degree of physical and psychological demands. The effort-reward imbalance and fatigue need for recovery in this occupational group can lead to the serious consequences. The present study tries to assess the influences of the personal variables on the effort-reward imbalance and fatigue need for recovery.   In this cross sectional study, 107 industrial firefighter were recruited in 2018. The effort-reward imbalance and fatigue need for recovery questionnaire were used to collect the required information. The data analyzed by multiple linear regression with SPSS 16 and statistical significance level was less than 0.05. More than 70 percent of the population study reported a desirable level of effort-reward imbalance and fatigue need for recovery status. The results of regression analysis revealed a meaningful relation among personal variables and contractual status with need for recovery index. In addition, a meaningful relation was found between the type of contractual status, sleep disorders and hypnotic drug with over-commitment. However, there was no meaningful relation for effort-reward imbalance.  The results showed a relative desirable status for effort-reward imbalance and need for recovery in the study group. It is recommended to intervene in working condition to obtaining more precise results.

Use of a comprehensive and standard-based scenario is of pivotal importance in conducting emergency exercises. Despite the importance of such scenarios, there is no approved, universal pattern used by Iranian industries for designing them. This study firstly aimed at providing a pattern for developing emergency scenarios. Secondly, a set of scenarios which currently are used by major Iranian industries were selected and the confirmatory of them with the proposed pattern were investigated.
At first the content of ISO 22398 and HSEEP standards were studied thoroughly and, by integrating these two, a new pattern was constructed, next, its validity and reliability were determined. Finally, 61 scenarios used by process industries in Iran were collected and the conformity of them with the new pattern was surveyed.
The extracted pattern contained five main sections and 41 subsections. The conformity of examined scenarios with the proposed pattern showed that only subsections such scenario preparation and scenario implementation were considered in all of the scenarios.
The findings of this study emphasize the necessity of using a universal pattern for developing emergency exercise scenarios. Training of this pattern to individuals who involved in developing emergency scenarios would improve the quality of scenarios used by industries and make them stronger against real emergencies.

emergencies can impose huge dolls on the organizations. Such consequences, due to aggregation of the experts, could lead to the more catastrophic outcomes in the academic environments. Usually, the academic environments are less familiar with the management of the emergencies. The present paper tries to measure the preparedness level against the emergencies in the Hamadan University of Medical Sciences.
a basic checklist was developed based on the ISO 22399:2003. The, an audit team was established and conducted the audit process. Five core element that were investigated included: planning, organizational structure, resources, communication and scenario analysis. These items were scored 0-3 according to the sampling audit evidences.
the overall status of all elements were assessed as the "unacceptable". The least score belonged to the scenario analysis and the most was related to the resources.
regarding the obtained results, it seems that there is a vital need to establishing an emergency management system for Hamadan University of Medical Sciences. The most practical offer is following the accepted standards for implementing an emergency management system.

LPG storage tanks contain of large volumes of flammable and pressurized gases. Release of these fluids can lead to disastrous accidents such BLEVE, fiery explosion. Therefore, identifying the causes, consequences, probabilities and scenarios of accidents using Bowtie technique, that is combination of Fault Tree Analyses (FTA) and Event Tree Analyses (ETA), is imperative and the purpose of this study.
The hazards of the mentioned in Tehran Refinery LPG tanks were identified by Fault Tree Analyses and the consequences of the top event were predicted by Event Tree Analyses. Then probabilities of the events were calculated and the accident route, from causes phase to consequences phase, was drawn by Bowtie diagram.
In total, 21 events and 11 minimal cut sets with their occurrence probabilities and importance measure were determined at the left side of the Bowtie diagram. Also 9 consequences and scenarios of the top event were determined at the right side of the diagram. The occurrence probability of the top event (LPG release of spherical tanks) was calculated 3.45×10-2.
All factors involved in the occurrence of accidents and their consequences are showed in the Bowtie diagram. According to the obtained data, failure of cathodic protection systems and instrumentation, and overflow of tanks are included as important defects of the LPG tanks. Due to the high probability of the consequences, preventing systems such as cooling systems and Fire stop systems are required for installing in the studied unit to reduce the consequences of accidents.

using fossil fuels, some hazards such as explosion and fire are probable. This study was aimed to consequence modeling of fire on Methane storage tanks in a gas refinery using analyzing the risk, and modeling and evaluating the related consequences.
Hazard analysis by PHA was used to choosing the worst-case scenario. Then, causes of the scenario were determined by FTA. After that, consequence modeling by the PHAST software was applied for the consequence analysis.
Based on some criteria, the fire of methane gas tank (V-100) was selected as the worst-case scenario at the refinery. The qualitative fault tree showed three factors including mechanical, process, and human failures contribute in gas leakage. The leakage size and weather conditions were effective on the distance of radiation. Using consequence modeling, thermal radiation was considered as the major outcome of the incident. Finally, for outcome evaluating, probit equations were used to quantify losses and the percentage of fatalities due to the methane gas leakage and fire occurrence. The maximum number of fatalities caused by fire was obtained 23 persons.
In conclusion, the methane gas vessel in the refinery can be considered as the main center of hazard, therefore the implementation of the safety rules, eliminating mechanical failures, personal protection and education, and Effective measures to prevent and fighting of fire are proposed for decreasing the probable losses and fatalities.

A systematic approach is needed for effective coping an incident. In such a system, the preparedness is the top priority. The organization’s readiness depends on some factors, including regular exercises. To conduct a proper exercise it is necessary to have a comprehensive scenario. Despite of repetitive execution of exercises, there is no commonly accepted template for it. The present study aims at selecting preferred method for developing an emergency exercise.
In the present study, ISO 22398 and HSEEP as the two common patterns were compared through quantifying their usability and chosen by AHP. A panel of crisis experts scored the usability criteria of methods and selected the preferred method.
The assessment of usability of both patterns revealed the preference of ISO pattern in comparison with the HSEEP pattern. The HSEEP method had the better score in learnability and satisfaction, but, the effectiveness, efficiency and total score were higher for ISO 22398.
To develop an emergency scenario, it is necessary to follow a suitable pattern. The pattern presented by ISO 22398 is more usable in comparison with HSEEP paten.

Despite of strategic planning for routine operation, many organizations fail to plan for emergency and crisis. Any organization should have a clear mission, pre-defined objectives and strategies for crisis period. Having a well established objectives and strategies can resolve many ambiguities at emergency scenes. Also, roles, direction and leadership will be implemented successfully.
A group of top managers identified the weakness, strengths, threats and opportunities within the organization. Then, this list refined using the Delphi technique and proper strategies were established by SWOT analysis. In the last step, AHP method was utilized for selecting the best choice among three options.
Findings: The main idea in the adaoptive strategy is utilizing the external opportunities for resolving internal weaknesses. External opportunities may includes external emergency teams and neighbors.
For any organization, as the normal situations it is necessary to havethe emergency documented plan and objectives. Such plans should be selecte sistematiclly and updated continuously