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  2. Environmental and Process Risk Management [ENS5161]

School: Engineering

This unit information may be updated and amended immediately prior to semester. To ensure you have the correct outline, please check it again at the beginning of semester.

  • Unit Title

    Environmental and Process Risk Management

  • Unit Code

    ENS5161

  • Year

    2018

  • Enrolment Period

    1

  • Version

    1

  • Credit Points

    15

  • Full Year Unit

     N

  • Mode of Delivery

    On Campus

  • Unit Coordinator

    Dr Ataollah NOSRATI

Description

This unit introduces students to the preliminary planning phase of an industrial development, taking into account safety to workers and the surrounding community, and the broader environmental and social impact of the development. The broad environmental and social issues relevant to planning the location, technology, size and layout of a process, plant or development, incorporating the relevant risk assessment methodologies and compliance with relevant risk and environmental legislation will be considered. Incorporation of the broader issues of sustainability and environmental impact in the design of processes and infrastructure using techniques such as environmental costing, quantitative technical, human & ecological risk assessment and social impact analysis will be emphasised.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

  1. Apply and review a range of physical effects (fire, explosion, toxic release, noise) and relevant vulnerability models to assess consequences from acute system and human failures and also chronic emissions.
  2. Apply hazard identification methods, such as HAZOP and FMEA, to process designs and evaluate the outcomes.
  3. Calculate and assess qualitative and quantitative risk estimates for a range of risk receptors (people, plant, environment, business etc.).
  4. Communicate to both a general and a technically competent audience all human and environmental impacts for a proposed development in the format of a written Environmental Impact Statement, as well as an oral presentation as part of an engineering team.
  5. Compute and assess the likelihood or frequency of major accident events using failure data and/or Fault Tree and Event Tree methodologies.
  6. Demonstrate knowledge of the standards and regulatory frameworks that govern industrial and environmental risk management.
  7. Devise and justify decisions to ensure risks are As Low As Reasonably Possible (ALARP).
  8. Explain and use the concepts of hazard and risk in the contexts of process design and operations, and environmental impacts.

Unit Content

  1. Application of risk control measures to drive risks to ALARP.
  2. Approaches to risk treatment in the process industries: role of reliability, redundancy, defence in depth, safety instrumented systems and emergency response.
  3. Environmental impact statements (EIS), their utility and construction.
  4. Layer of Protection Analysis (LOPA) and its application to simple systems.
  5. Risk acceptance criteria and their application in decision making.
  6. Risk management methodologies (e.g. AS31000) that include hazard identification, consequence and frequency analysis, risk analysis and assessment.
  7. Risk treatment and the risk reduction hierarchy, and the concept of ALARP (As Low As Reasonably Possible).
  8. The societal and industrial context of risk management. Why risk is important and the associated legislative and regulatory frameworks currently in place. The dimensions of risk.
  9. Use of hazard identification methodologies such as HAZOP, FMEA or Concept Hazard Analysis.
  10. Use of modelling in consequence analysis applied to fire, explosion, toxic releases and their impact on vulnerable resources, via vulnerability models.

Learning Experience

Students will attend on campus classes as well as engage in learning activities through ECU Blackboard.

JoondalupMount LawleySouth West (Bunbury)
Semester 113 x 2 hour lectureNot OfferedNot Offered
Semester 113 x 2 hour tutorialNot OfferedNot Offered

For more information see the Semester Timetable

Additional Learning Experience Information

Lectures, tutorials and group based project work.

Assessment

GS1 GRADING SCHEMA 1 Used for standard coursework units

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant Board of Examiners.

ON CAMPUS
TypeDescriptionValue
AssignmentEnvironmental risk assessment report and presentation15%
AssignmentIndustry accident investigation report and presentation15%
TestMid-semester test20%
Examination ^End-of-semester examination50%

^ Mandatory to Pass

Core Reading(s)

  • Growl, D. A., & Louvar, J. F. (2011). Chemical Process Safety: Fundamentals with Applications (pp. xxiv, 723 ). Upper Saddle River, NJ.

Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005)

For the purposes of considering a request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005), inherent requirements for this subject are articulated in the Unit Description, Learning Outcomes and Assessment Requirements of this entry. The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the support for students with disabilities or medical conditions can be found at the Access and Inclusion website.

Academic Misconduct

Edith Cowan University has firm rules governing academic misconduct and there are substantial penalties that can be applied to students who are found in breach of these rules. Academic misconduct includes, but is not limited to:

  • plagiarism;
  • unauthorised collaboration;
  • cheating in examinations;
  • theft of other students' work;

Additionally, any material submitted for assessment purposes must be work that has not been submitted previously, by any person, for any other unit at ECU or elsewhere.

The ECU rules and policies governing all academic activities, including misconduct, can be accessed through the ECU website.

ENS5161|1|1

School: Engineering

This unit information may be updated and amended immediately prior to semester. To ensure you have the correct outline, please check it again at the beginning of semester.

  • Unit Title

    Environmental and Process Risk Management

  • Unit Code

    ENS5161

  • Year

    2018

  • Enrolment Period

    2

  • Version

    1

  • Credit Points

    15

  • Full Year Unit

     N

  • Mode of Delivery

    On Campus

  • Unit Coordinator

    Dr Ataollah NOSRATI

Description

This unit introduces students to the preliminary planning phase of an industrial development, taking into account safety to workers and the surrounding community, and the broader environmental and social impact of the development. The broad environmental and social issues relevant to planning the location, technology, size and layout of a process, plant or development, incorporating the relevant risk assessment methodologies and compliance with relevant risk and environmental legislation will be considered. Incorporation of the broader issues of sustainability and environmental impact in the design of processes and infrastructure using techniques such as environmental costing, quantitative technical, human & ecological risk assessment and social impact analysis will be emphasised.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

  1. Apply and review a range of physical effects (fire, explosion, toxic release, noise) and relevant vulnerability models to assess consequences from acute system and human failures and also chronic emissions.
  2. Apply hazard identification methods, such as HAZOP and FMEA, to process designs and evaluate the outcomes.
  3. Calculate and assess qualitative and quantitative risk estimates for a range of risk receptors (people, plant, environment, business etc.).
  4. Communicate to both a general and a technically competent audience all human and environmental impacts for a proposed development in the format of a written Environmental Impact Statement, as well as an oral presentation as part of an engineering team.
  5. Compute and assess the likelihood or frequency of major accident events using failure data and/or Fault Tree and Event Tree methodologies.
  6. Demonstrate knowledge of the standards and regulatory frameworks that govern industrial and environmental risk management.
  7. Devise and justify decisions to ensure risks are As Low As Reasonably Possible (ALARP).
  8. Explain and use the concepts of hazard and risk in the contexts of process design and operations, and environmental impacts.

Unit Content

  1. Application of risk control measures to drive risks to ALARP.
  2. Approaches to risk treatment in the process industries: role of reliability, redundancy, defence in depth, safety instrumented systems and emergency response.
  3. Environmental impact statements (EIS), their utility and construction.
  4. Layer of Protection Analysis (LOPA) and its application to simple systems.
  5. Risk acceptance criteria and their application in decision making.
  6. Risk management methodologies (e.g. AS31000) that include hazard identification, consequence and frequency analysis, risk analysis and assessment.
  7. Risk treatment and the risk reduction hierarchy, and the concept of ALARP (As Low As Reasonably Possible).
  8. The societal and industrial context of risk management. Why risk is important and the associated legislative and regulatory frameworks currently in place. The dimensions of risk.
  9. Use of hazard identification methodologies such as HAZOP, FMEA or Concept Hazard Analysis.
  10. Use of modelling in consequence analysis applied to fire, explosion, toxic releases and their impact on vulnerable resources, via vulnerability models.

Learning Experience

Students will attend on campus classes as well as engage in learning activities through ECU Blackboard.

JoondalupMount LawleySouth West (Bunbury)
Semester 113 x 2 hour lectureNot OfferedNot Offered
Semester 113 x 2 hour tutorialNot OfferedNot Offered

For more information see the Semester Timetable

Additional Learning Experience Information

Lectures, tutorials and group based project work.

Assessment

GS1 GRADING SCHEMA 1 Used for standard coursework units

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant Board of Examiners.

ON CAMPUS
TypeDescriptionValue
AssignmentEnvironmental risk assessment report and presentation15%
AssignmentIndustry accident investigation report and presentation15%
TestMid-semester test20%
Examination ^End-of-semester examination50%

^ Mandatory to Pass

Core Reading(s)

  • Growl, D. A., & Louvar, J. F. (2011). Chemical Process Safety: Fundamentals with Applications (pp. xxiv, 723 ). Upper Saddle River, NJ.

Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005)

For the purposes of considering a request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005), inherent requirements for this subject are articulated in the Unit Description, Learning Outcomes and Assessment Requirements of this entry. The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the support for students with disabilities or medical conditions can be found at the Access and Inclusion website.

Academic Misconduct

Edith Cowan University has firm rules governing academic misconduct and there are substantial penalties that can be applied to students who are found in breach of these rules. Academic misconduct includes, but is not limited to:

  • plagiarism;
  • unauthorised collaboration;
  • cheating in examinations;
  • theft of other students' work;

Additionally, any material submitted for assessment purposes must be work that has not been submitted previously, by any person, for any other unit at ECU or elsewhere.

The ECU rules and policies governing all academic activities, including misconduct, can be accessed through the ECU website.

ENS5161|1|2