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The purpose of this paper is to provide graduate students, researchers, governmental and independent agencies with an overview of technological disasters.

Technological disasters are subjects of concern to researchers, academicians, governmental and independent agencies. Disasters are classified into natural and man‐made disasters. For an incident to be classified as a disaster, the disaster criteria should be met. Several disaster criteria have been proposed defining the disasters in terms of casualties, economic loss and environmental impact. The disasters which involve major hazard installations (MHIs) are known as technological disasters. The technological disaster definition, stages, types, criteria, factors, models have been reviewed. This paper presents an overview of technological disaster definition, criteria, stages, models, factors, and prevention.

Although the technological disasters may occur at non‐MHIs, it has been noted that most of the technological disasters involved MHIs and that their impact is not limited to the plants but can extend to neighboring surroundings. The technological disaster consists of three stages: before, during, and after disaster. There are many factors contributing to the technological disasters, some of which are observed clearly while others are partially hidden. The main technological disaster factors were identified as human, organizational and technological errors. Few models have been drawn describing the sequence of development of the technological disaster.

This paper presents an overview on the technological disaster definition, criteria, types, stages, models, factors, and prevention and combines the scattered information on technological disaster into one record.

This paper aims to provide graduate students, researchers, governmental and independent agencies with an overview on the stages and management of technological disasters.

The technological disasters are a subject of concern to the researchers, the academicians, the governmental and independent agencies. The disasters, which involve major hazard installations (MHIs), are known as technological disasters. The information has been collected from several sources such as the technical, and general articles, internet web sites, and internal reports. The technological disaster definition and stages have been reviewed. This paper presents an overview on the technological disaster management cycle.

Technological disasters consist of three stages. The stages are classified into pre‐, during and post‐disaster stages. Disaster management is a collective term encompassing all aspects of planning for and responding to disasters, including both pre‐disaster and post‐disaster activities. Disaster management cycle is an open‐ended process. The four phases comprising the cycle begin and end with mitigation. The stages are not mutually exclusive – there is an overlap. The stages of disaster management can be operative concurrently, because those stages are interrelated; they are not independent entities with one stopping and the next following.

This paper presents an overview on the technological disaster definition and stages. It provides the MHIs management and the related authority with a background on the technological disaster management cycle. It motivates the members of the MHIs, particularly managerial staff, and the emergency planners to continually improve the control of MHIs. It provides the background and basis for further research in disaster and disaster management.

To provide graduate students, researchers, and responsible personnel with an overview on the disaster types worldwide in general and disaster types in Malaysia.

The types of disasters by region for the period 1988‐1997 were obtained from recent published sources. The disasters which occurred in Malaysia have been collected from several sources such as the technical, general articles, internet web sites, and internal reports. The disasters which occurred during the period of 1968‐2004 have been reviewed. The disasters have been classified into natural disasters, man‐made disasters, and subsequent disasters. The man‐made disasters have been classified into technological disasters, transportation accidents, public places failure, and production failure.

Disasters have been classified into natural, man‐made disasters. The regions worldwide have experienced all kinds of natural disasters in last decade. It was pointed out that the occurrence of disasters from almost all kinds of hazards is among the highest in Asia and the Pacific. Malaysia experienced natural, man‐made and subsequent disasters. Malaysia has experienced 39 disasters during the period of 1968‐2004. The natural disasters were 49 percent of total disasters. Most of the natural disasters were resulted from the heavy rains. Malaysia has experienced 18 man‐made disasters. The man‐made disasters resulted in 282 fatalities, and 1,892 injuries.

This paper presents an overview on the disaster types by region worldwide. The paper also presents an overview on the disaster types in Malaysia. This paper combined the scattered disasters into one record. Therefore, there is a need for an authorized body to be responsible for the collecting, arranging, classifying, and storing of all type of the accidents in Malaysia. This experience can be benefited from/at any country.

To provide the graduate students, researchers, responsible personnel at major hazards installations (MHIs) with background on the technological emergencies, expert system (ES), and technological emergencies expert system (TEES) development.

The design and development of an ES is achieved through six recommended phases. The assessment phase represents the problem feasibility and justifications. In TEES, the problem was identified that Malaysia has experienced several technological disasters. The process of acquiring, organizing, and studying knowledge is known as the knowledge acquisition. The qualitative and quantitative knowledge are needed to build the TEES. A general knowledge was obtained from the literature sources. The quantitative knowledge was obtained through a field survey and domain expert interview. The information, which has been obtained from the field survey through the questionnaire, was arranged and coded into software called Statistical Package for Social Sciences. Regression models were derived. The regression models were incorporated into the TEES. wxCLIPs have been used as a medium for the development the ES.

It provides the background and basis for further research in disaster management in Malaysia. The TEES can be employed to control the major hazards at the MHIs through the identification, control, and mitigation programs. The knowledge, which has been put into the system, can be modified, updated, and reproduced.

The TEES is versatile, portable, reliable and applicable to other emergencies applications. The system can be saved on CD and distributed to MHIs managers and related authority. The system, therefore, can contribute to improve awareness through providing information and knowledge to end‐users. The ES also can be used for classroom instructions.

The purpose of this paper is to provide some definition and foundation principles regarding disaster management. The paper also tests the Malaysian major hazard installations through the awareness and application of the Malaysian National Security Council (MNSC) directive 20.

Questionnaire was circulated on 177 MHIs throughout Malaysia. Respondents of various demographic characteristics answered the questionnaires. It is believed that people of different age, sex, educational level, experience, and management levels are expected to have different perception and response to disaster management questions. A total of 65 completed questionnaires were answered.

The analysis of the disaster management questionnaire highlighted that more than half of the MHIs in Malaysia are multinational installations. The analysis revealed that 61 per cent of the Safety, Health and Environment Managers were aware of the MNSC directive 20 and 62 per cent said that the MNSC directive 20 is relevant to their facilities. The analysis further showed that 62 per cent of the respondents think the MNSC directive 20 is essential to their MHIs. However, 31 per cent of the respondents said that the emergency response plan (ERP) is used as an alternative to the MNSC directive 20. In the light of this, more than half of the MHIs are not local organizations; the Safety and Health Managers apparently are familiar with the safety guidelines of their parent organizations. Therefore, the authorities that are responsible for the enforcement of the MHIs' relevant regulations should be vigilant and follow up the MHIs to apply the relevant regulations, which suit the safety culture of Malaysia.

This paper presents an overview on technological disaster prevention. The paper also shows the results of testing of the Malaysian major hazard installations which are aware of the MNSC directive 20. The Malaysian experience can be beneficial.

This paper aims to provide graduate students, researchers and government and independent agencies with an overview on BLEVE (i.e. boiling liquid expanding vapour explosion).

BLEVE has been studied by researchers, academicians, company specialists, and government and independent agencies. BLEVE incidents are collected from several sources such as technical and general articles, internet web sites and internal reports. BLEVE definitions, history, theory, types, hazards, and models are reviewed. BLEVE incidents are arranged and classified into fires, overfilling, explosions, overheating, runaways, overpressure, collisions, corrosion, and damage (derailment).

BLEVE types are classified into cold BLEVEs, hot BLEVEs, and BLEVEs. The major consequences of a BLEVE are thermal radiation from the resultant fireball and the fragments produced when the vessel fails. Several approaches are developed to describe BLEVE theory. BLEVE incidents are classified into explosions, damage (derailment), overfilling, fires, collisions, runaways, overpressure, overheating, and corrosion. The world has witnessed 74 BLEVE incidents in the period 1926‐1986. BLEVE incidents resulted in 1,427 fatalities and 635 injuries. The materials involved in BLEVE were flammable and non‐flammable. The highest frequencies of BLEVE incidents were due to explosions and damage to tanks. Explosion and damage BLEVE incidents resulted in high injuries. Overfilling and fire BLEVE incidents resulted in high fatalities.

This paper presents an overview of BLEVE definitions, history, incidents, types, theory, hazards and models. BLEVE incidents are classified. This paper combines scattered BLEVE incidents into one record.

This paper aims to provide graduate students, researchers, flare design and operational oil companies with an overview on the flare incidents.

The design and operation of flares have been the subject of research and concern to the academicians and to flare design and operational oil companies. The flare incidents have been collected from several sources such as the technical, general articles, internet web sites, and internal reports. The flare incident types and causes have been reviewed. This paper presents an overview on the flare incidents. The paper presents a flare incident at an oilfield. The paper summarizes the causes and the results of the incident.

A lesson was learned that a flashback scenario could occur at the high‐pressure flares unless the flare system was designed properly. A flare system should be designed according to the standard codes. American Petroleum Institute API 521 recommended guidelines on the design of the relief system. John Zinc Company and GKN also recommended guidelines for the installation and protection of flares.

This paper presents the flare incident types and causes. The paper also presents an overview on a flare incident at an oilfield. The paper summarizes the causes and the results of the incident. This information can be beneficial in order to prevent similar flare incidents.

The purpose of this paper is to provide some definition and foundation principles regarding emergency and emergency management and to give an overview on the emergency response effectiveness at an offshore installation in Malaysia.

The primary approach used is retrieval of the archived historical complex B emergency drills exercise records from 1997 to 1999. Retrieval of the historical records was made aimed at establishing a baseline information on the level of compliance with the required standards on emergency drills exercise of all the exercise conducted in the complex B for the three years. The secondary data required to complement the primary data are the level of competency gained by the complex B platform personnel as a result of their participation in their platform emergency drills exercise. A questionnaire survey was conducted where the objective of the survey was to map out the sample of general attitude profile and knowledge competency.

The emergency drills on the Baram B complex are only partially adequate in nurturing effective emergency response preparedness. To achieve completeness and effective emergency drills performed as a conditioning process for an emergency response, the human resources knowledge and competency must be maintained and continuously enhanced. Continuous review for improvement purposes is required. The continuous improvement process should be parallel, covering both human resources and physical infrastructure.

This paper presents an overview on the emergency response effectiveness at a complex B offshore platform. Benefits can be gained from the Malaysian experience.

This paper aims to provide graduate students, researchers, and government and independent agencies with an overview of disaster types.

Disaster types have been the subject of research by and concern to academicians and to government and independent agencies. The paper summarizes the views of researchers and agencies. Disaster types are collected from several sources such as technical, general articles, internet web sites, and internal reports. Disaster definitions, criteria and types are reviewed. Disasters are classified into natural disasters, man‐made disasters, and hybrid disasters. Man‐made disasters are classified into technological disasters, transportation accidents, public places failure, and production failure. The paper presents a comparison between the main types of disasters.

Disasters are classified into three types: naturals, man‐mades, and hybrid disasters. It is believed that the three disaster types cover all disastrous events. No definition of disaster is universally accepted. Several criteria are proposed to define disasters. Understanding of disaster definitions, criteria, and types aids researchers and agencies in the proper classification, good recording, and better analysis of disasters. Disasters have different characteristics and impact; however, disasters have a common element, which is their severity.

This paper presents a definition of and criteria for disasters. The paper also presents an overview of disaster types. The paper presents a comparison between the main types of disasters, and combines various disaster terms into one record.

This paper aims to provide graduate students, researchers, governmental and independent agencies with an overview on static electricity.

Static electricity has been studied by researchers, academicians, company specialists, governmental and independent agencies. Static electricity incidents have been collected from several sources such as the technical, general articles, internet web sites, and internal reports. The static electricity definition, incidents, hazards, and static electricity prevention have been reviewed. The static electricity incidents have been arranged and classified into fire, and explosions.

Static electricity can be the cause of problems in many areas of industry. It presents a source of ignition for flammable gases, liquids and powders. It can cause fires and explosions in tankers, aircraft and petrochemical plant and in printing, pharmaceutical, food products and explosives industries.

This paper presents an overview on static electricity, the incidents, and the methods to prevent static electricity generation and accumulation.