Welcome to Sutton Technical Books. We provide books, ebooks, videos, operational excellence assessments and safety moments for managers, engineers and executives in the process and energy industries — covering chemicals, oil refining, offshore oil and gas and pipelines. Our goal is to provide practical information that will help you design and operate facilities that are safe, efficient and in compliance with rules and regulations.

Some of our more most recent publications are shown below.

Ebook: 52 Process Safety Moments

Every week we publish a ‘Process Safety Moment’. They can be used to start a formal meeting or to provide training and information to those who design or operate a process or energy facility. We have collected the first fifty-two of these Process Safety Moments in an 187 page ebook.

For more information, including the Table of Contents  and a complimentary copy of the five page Introduction , please visit our 52 Process Safety Moments page. To purchase a copy, which is priced at $19.50, please follow this link.

Blog: The PSM Report

In addition to the articles and safety moments that we publish at this site, we also have a blog entitled The PSM Report. We use it to report on current events and news that affects the process safety community.

Recent posts are:

• Chemical Safety Board Changes, and
• Revised BSEE Drilling Rules.

Safety Moment #54: The Process Safety Carousel

In this safety moment we discuss two related issues.

The first is the inherent circularity of some aspects of process safety. For example, discussions on the following lines occur with hazards analyses: Could high temperature in this vessel lead to a serious incident? What is high temperature? It’s that temperature that could cause a serious incident.

A related issue is the subjectivity that is a part of any risk-based type of analysis. The word “reasonable” in the term ALARP (“As low as reasonably practicable risk”) is used as an example.

Health, Safety and Environmental (HSE) Programs

Health, Safety and Environmental activities are often grouped together as if they are a single activity. But the three terms cover a wide range of activities, and have to be managed in different ways. How this can be done is discussed in the topic page Health, Safety and Environmental (HSE).

Some organizations include Quality Management and Security within the HSE framework. It is suggested that doing so is inappropriate — the management techniques and approaches used for these two items are different from those used in HSE. Furthermore, the reasons for not placing Process Safety Management under the HSE umbrella are discussed.

Fundamentals of Process Safety Management

Many of our Safety Moments and Articles are to do with the topic of Process Safety Management. Therefore it is useful to examine what that term means, and also to understand what it is not. Our topic page Process Safety Management provides an explanation of the origins of the discipline, and then discusses its meaning in the context of the three words ‘Process’, ‘Safety’ and ‘Management’.

Safety Moment #28: Catching Samples

One of the most hazardous activities on process and energy facilities is the taking of samples of liquids and gases. This is because, for a short period of time, there is a direct opening from the process to persons and equipment that are taking the sample.

Topics discussed include:

• The types of connections that are used.
• The location of the sample point.
• Good operating practices.
• The design and operation of sample loops.

Safety Moment #3: Flammable Range and Flash Point

For most process and energy facilities fires and explosions represent the greatest risk. Which means that it is vital that those responsible for the design and operation of these facilities have a proper understanding of the terms ‘Flammable Limit’ and ‘Flash Point’. Yet, all too frequently, these terms are used rather loosely and inaccurately. This Safety Moment describes and defines and discusses the meaning of these phrases.