Poor contractor control; failure to follow procedures; lack of planning; poor management and supervision; and simple misjudgments were all major factors in equipment failures.

The study also identified the equipment most likely to fail and cause accidents. Piping systems (25%), reactors (14%), storage tanks (14%), process vessels (10%) and heat transfer equipment (8%) accounted for over two thirds of accidents caused by equipment failures.

The study, a joint research project by Aalto University in Finland and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia1, looked in detail at 549 accidents reported by the Japanese Failure Knowledge Database in 2011.Two thirds of these involved the chemical process industries, of which 284 cases involved equipment failures.

David Brown, CE of the Institution of Chemical Engineers, said: “Accidents caused by equipment failures have many potential causes including contamination, corrosion, poor installation and mechanical failures. But it is worrying to see that human and organisational failures head the list of contributing factors.

“Hopefully, our work over the next few years to introduce a new international qualification for process safety professionals, the development of a virtual safety centre and our ambition to promote higher standards in the corporate governance of process safety will help drive down avoidable accidents”.