International Journal of Research Publication and Reviews, Vol 3, Issue 6, pp 3701-3708, June 2022 International Journal of Research Publication and Reviews Journal homepage: www.ijrpr.com ISSN 2582-7421 ACCIDENTS IN THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY: AN ANALYSIS OF THE HFACS-PEFE MODEL TO EXAMINE THE ROLE OF HUMAN FACTORS Amal S. George a* , Nyzal Moideen b , Sivi Varghese a , Anoop Warrier a , M. S. Khan a a International college of Engineering and Management, Muscat - 111, Oman. b Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kochi - 682022 India. *amal.g@icem.edu.om DOI: https://doi.org/10.55248/gengpi.2022.3.6.40 ABSTRACT One of the most common causes of accidents in chemical industry is human error. In order to minimize the accident frequency and associated damage, a better understanding of the role played by human factor in such accident is prerequisite. The Human Factors Analysis and Classification System- Petrochemical Enterprise Fire and Explosion (HFACS-PEFE) model is established to examine the mechanism of human failure. According to the model, violations, intellectual limitations, inadequate supervision, and insufficient safety culture are the most essential elements in the occurrence of accidents. Both direct causes and latent human failures involved in chemical industry accidents are identified and are then analyzed. An accident database is constructed which includes accident date, location, death and injuries. Relationships between different human factors, which are involved in the HFACS-PEFE framework, are identified by conducting chi-square test and odds ratio (OR) analysis. Different accident development paths and corresponding probabilities are achieved with the help of these relationships. Keywords: Human Factors, HFACS-PEFE, Chemical Industry. 1. INTRODUCTION Human factors are responsible for numerous chemical accidents, including fire safety problems in storage tank farms [Varghese and Renjith, 2022], (Renjith et al., 2007), such that the research on human causes has received a lot of attention in the last decade. [Zhang, 2012], (George and Renjith, 2022). An integrated process safety management system (IPSMS) model was established by Theophilus through incorporating Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS) framework into the process safety management (PSM) system [Theophilus, 2018]. In the IPSMS model, human factors were underlined. The HFACS framework [Shappell, 2001 & 2000] provides an effective tool for conducting human factor analysis in various fields. The framework was initially proposed by Wiegmann and Shappell based on James Reason‟s Swiss Chesses model [Reason, 1997 & 1990]. The HFACS framework identifies the causal factors of accidents and classifies them into separated categories. Figure 1 depicts the original HFACS framework, which was modified from Reason's Swiss cheese model. The human errors are classified into four levels, including unsafe acts, preconditions for unsafe acts, unsafe supervision, and organizational influences. In the framework, all associated personnel factors are categorized into 19 types [Wiegmann, 2015, 2003 & 2001]. The unsafe act is further divided into errors and violations. The former is mainly composed of decision errors, skill-based errors and perceptual errors while the latter composed of routine violations and exceptional violations. The preconditions for unsafe acts include environmental factors, conditions of the operators, and personnel factors. Both physical and technological environments are taken as environmental factors. In respect to the conditions of the operators, adverse mental states, adverse physiological states, and physical/mental limitations are taken into account. Crew resource management and personal readiness are categorized into personnel factors. Main components of the unsafe supervision are classified into inadequate supervision, planned inappropriate operations, failure to correct problems and supervisory violations. The last organizational influence is separated into three main sections, which are resource management, organizational climate, and organizational process.