Safety barriers in the chemical process industries: A state-of-the-art review on their classification, assessment, and management

Barriers are used in various forms to assure the safety of chemical plants. A deep understanding of the literature related to safety barriers is essential to tackle the challenges in improving their design and management. This paper first provides an overview of the history of the development of the safety barrier concept. Subsequently, this paper elaborates a systematic review of the definition, classification, evaluation, performance assessment, and management of safety barriers in the chemical process industries. Based on the literature review, this study proposes a practical classification of safety barriers benefiting the identification of performance indicators and the collection of indicator-related data for safety barriers. The safety barrier functions are extended and illus-trated by involving the resilience concept. Performance assessment criteria are proposed corresponding to the adaptability and recoverability of the safety barriers. Finally, the management of safety barriers is discussed. The roadmap for future studies to develop integrated management of safety and security barriers to ensure the resilience of chemical plants is suggested.

Automated summary

This paper provides an overview of the development of safety barriers in chemical plants, including their definition, classification, evaluation, and management. It proposes a practical classification of safety barriers and extends their functions using the concept of resilience. Performance assessment criteria are suggested, and the management of safety barriers is discussed. A roadmap for future studies to develop integrated management of safety and security barriers for chemical plants is also provided.